Missive to Musicians and Dancers
From Mistress Deonna von Aachen, OL
Event Steward, Knowne Worlde Dance and Music Symposium
Musicians and Dancers, pay heed. A wonderful, fun, relaxing opportunity is fast approaching. Teachers from far and near are on their way for a long weekend of dancing and music, color and pageantry. See and learn about the amazing research and reconstruction of 300 years of dances. Active classes, roundtables, playing and lecture, we expect to have it all. Classes are now up on the website.
Dancing starts Thursday evening, June 20, with an Informal evening of dancing and music. Gate opens at 5pm, dancing starts at 6:30 at the parish building of St. Peters church at 61 Hamilton Street in Saratoga Springs. This will be an evening of old favorites, so look over your list of French, English, German and Italian dances through 1651 and be ready to sign the request list.
Gate opens at 8am on Friday and Saturday morning at Universal Preservation Hall with classes starting at 9 at both UPH and the parish hall which are about 2 blocks away from each other. 4-5 tracks of classes for dancers and 2 tracks for musicians for all levels of ability will be offered both days. Evening balls begin at 7:30 each night, and a Saturday afternoon beginner’s ball is scheduled, which will offer a chance to perform those dances that you learn during the day. Dances will not be taught during the balls but may be called quietly.
Sunday will offer 3 hours of classes as well as a possible trip to the National Museum of dance, just 2 miles away, a nice relaxing morning long lunch break and the final ball from 2-4.
Who will you see and hear? Not just teachers from throughout the US and Canada, but also musicians both in and outside the SCA. Representatives from the Boston ensemble Renaissonics will be with us, offering master classes, as well as improve and bowed strings classes, and will join us to play for the balls on Saturday and Sunday. The Bahkail Branslers, Musica Tramontana, and the Peascod Gatherers will also be offering their talents and expertise to move the dancers along. Musicians who are not members of these bands will also have opportunities to play either for teachers during the day or join in some sets offered to all comers. Care to provide background music during breaks or lunch? There will be opportunities to do that as well. And finally, a visit by iSebastiani on Saturday night will set the stage in more ways than one, for the grand ball.
Have you been working on a new dance? Friday evening you will have an opportunity to show us all in the way of a bit of competition. The presentation should be new (within the past year) reconstruction of a period dance up through the 1602 dance treatises. Judging will be based on more than knowing the steps however. Poise and timing, attention to one’s partner, decorum and grace, manner of movement and the beauty of the dance at court is the aim.
The website is updated often so take a look at www.kwdms.org for specifics on directions, classes and teacher lists. Dayboard will be provided on Friday and Saturday. Come for the weekend or come for the day but be certain that if you like to dance, or if you think you’d like to dance or if music is your passion, then this is the event for you.