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Issue 1364: Dance intensity

Object
The Foula Reel (Dance)
Submitter
Sean Goddard
Assigned to
Eric Ferguson
Priority
Normal
Disposition
Fixed
Description

Hello,

I would like to know more about how Dance Intensity is worked out. Is there a formula?

I am working on a conference paper regarding English Folk Dances and this seems an area that I would like to explore. Some English dances have changed over time where the second couples are dancing more and this seems an ideal way of expressing it.

best wishes Sean

Previous Actions

  • Date  Jan. 29, 2018, 9:43 a.m.
  • User  Unknown

New issue submitted

  • Date  July 29, 2018, 1:09 a.m.
  • User  Murrough Landon (murrough)

Assigned changed to »murrough« (previously »None«)
Disposition changed to »Fixed« (previously »New«)

Hi, I just spotted this old issue which no one seems to have replied to - at least via the issue system. Sorry about that.

The intensity was originally suggested by Eric Ferguson who Im sure has a description of the scheme somewhere. At some point I wrote my own notes about it which are at http://my.strathspey.org/u/murrough/docs/DanceIntensity/ if you are still interested. Cheers, Murrough.

  • Date  July 29, 2018, 3:30 p.m.
  • User  Eric Ferguson (EricFerguson)

Assigned changed to »EricFerguson« (previously »murrough«)

The notion “dance Intensity” (DI) was introduced to give a quick indication of whether a dance is intense (dancing nearly all the time) or relaxed (lots of standing still). These extremes could also be called strenuoous versus boring. In a social programme, checking the DI values can help to avoid putting too many strenuous or boring dances in a row.

The definition is simple: when the dance has been danced all the way through, what fraction of the time has each dancer been dancing? If all dance all the time, DI is 100%. The lowest I remember having seen is 25% (“Lassies of Dunse” and some others). Sometimes M and W dance different numbers of bars, DI then uses the average, Obviously, DI can never exceed 75% in a 3C/4L dance, as one couple is always standing out.

Murrough’s notes on the server gives an excellent and detailed description.

Eric