A most surprising occurrence last night at Radio Riel at the Rock. Lady Protector Diamanda Gustafson was DJing. (I missed the audio on the first half, as I was also watching the end of a movie—but I can vouch that the second half was fantastic!) The conversation turned to various forms of social dance not yet available in SL, such as the polonaise, the quadrille, and even a short English Country Dance set (not mentioned, though no doubt also desired, would be a square dance and a contra dance set).
Currently there is a relatively short list of couple dances from major animators: waltz, tango, salsa, and ballroom. Alexicon Kurka, however, produces a polka, and has recently introduced several Greek dances, including a hasapikos (or perhaps a syrtaki, but it is called hasapikos by Mr Kurka) that can be coordinated in a line:
Left to right: Hotspur O’Toole, Searra Weatherwax, Gabrielle Riel, Eladrienne Laval, Annechen Lowey, Otenth Paderborn, Myfanwy Davies, and Iason Hassanov (I’m not sure I have Miss Davies’ name correctly, and I would be happy to receive correction.)
Yes, Otenth, in fact you DID spell my name correctly! You should be proud of yourself – Welsh is almost as incomprehensible as Gaelic, Most people who encounter my name say something to the effect of “Huh? What’s a My-fanny?? And just in case anybody wants to know, the pronunciation is My-VAHN-wee.
I very much enjoyed the dancing, DJing and especially the musical selections from Ms. Gustafson. I hope to have the pleasure of hearing that luscious voice again! And about the dances, I’m fairly certain Frau Lowey got the party going (she is quite the instigator) with an exhilarating polonaise at a recent event. It was not her event, but she might have information about the dance if you’re interested. I’m fairly certain I’ve seen a square dance in the course of me freebie-surfing, it’s probably floating around in my inventory.
That wasn’t a real polonaise, it was a conga line. *grin*
Ah, this is better, being able to respond directly. The kinetoscopic references I mentioned privately are here, and are of varying styles. Some are a dancer or pair of dancers in a studio setting; other presentations are those of re-enactors in a ballroom. They should, however, provide sufficiently clear reference for an animator or animators to create something new and exciting. The appeal of a niche market can be powerful….
Postscript
References for ‘Hole in the Wall’, which could be sold to the whole medievalist crowd as well as Victorians:
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/dance/Hole_in_the_Wall.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC1at92jfvo
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/7482