Canterbury Fair would not be complete without the Grand Ball. This is the opportunity for any Faire-goer to dress up in their finest finery, and show it off on the dance floor.
There will also be a Welcome Dance in the Main Hall on Monday evening. The planned dance list is shown here.
And then there is the live music for these dances. We will need musicians for the dance bands - see here.
The Dances in the Ball
There will be five sets of dances:
Set 1 (from Arbeau)
- Mixed bransles (Cassandra, Pinagay, Charlotte, La Guerre, Aridan) *
Set 2 (from Playford)
- Hearts Ease **
- Jenny Plucks Pears *
- Wherligig ***
- Woodycock *
- Goddesses *
- Stingo *
Set 3 (from Negri)
- La Caccia (La Sirena) *
- Canario ***
- Tassel Kick * (the galliard competition wherein competitors vie to dance a galliard and gracefully brush with their foot the famed tassel as it is hung some considerable distance above the floor)
Set 4 (more Arbeau plus other French/Flemish)
- Belle Qui Tiens Ma Vie/Known World Pavane *
- Queens Alman *
- Danse de Cleves **
- Black Alman *
- Official bransle *
Set 5 (from Caroso)
- Contentezza d'Amore ***
- Il Conto del Orco ***
- La Castellana **
- Gracca Amarosa ***
- Spagnoletta **
The stars beside each dance are a difficulty rating:
* you can dance this even if you don’t know it beforehand.
** dance this one if you have some idea of how it goes, or you have a partner who does know it.
*** you really need to know it reasonably well in order to dance it. If not, look on and enjoy the skill of those expert dancers.
Between each set there will be some time to top up your drinks, adjust anything that might need adjusting, and generally chat. Also in the breaks between sets there will likely be other activities: some demonstration dances, or incidental music.
The Dances in the Welcome Dance
The list of dances is:
- Set 1
- Simple Bransles
- Mimed Bransles (Washerwomen, Peas, Hermits, Shoes, and Horses)
- Set 2
- Dargasson
- Earl of Essex Measures
- Known World Pavane (also in the Ball)
- Black Alman
- Set 3
- Grene Gynger
- Orynge
- Temperans
- Petit Rose
- Set 4
- Petit Vriens
- Sellengers Round
- Prenes en Gre
- Ly Bens Distonys
Don't Forget the Music
Dancing requires music, and the best dance music is live music, freshly squeezed on the spot by a resident dance band. We try to use live music as much as we can, but this depends on having willing musicians to put in the time and effort to learn the music and bring their instruments to Faire.
If you want to be one of these fine people, please send an email to cfmusicians@sg.sca.org.nz, with your instrument(s) and how good you think you are. Scores of the dance music are being assembled in this Google Docs folder.