Unbibliography: A List of Non-Period Dances

The Bear Dance

This appears to be an SCA invention. There are no references to any dances of its type in period.

Sans Serif / SCA Maltese Bransle

The sans serif was choreographed in Caid by Mistress Huette in 1979, who passed it on to Rowan while she was in Caid, who brought it out to Lochac. It has mutated over time, as these things tend to do.

In parts of the SCA, a "variegated" maltese bransle is taught, to the same "Schiarazula Marazula" music used for the Sans Serif. It is also occasionally known as the Turkish or Saracen's Bransle.

Karabouska

This is derived from a folk dance of the same name, which in turn derived from a tune written for a poem that was originally penned by a 19th C Russian poet. It has since mutated outside and inside of the SCA into something approximating its current form. (Greg Lindahl’s dance cheat sheets contain more details than this if you wish to look them up). In any case, it’s modern!

Strip the Willow, Hole in the Wall, Road to the Isles

Karabouska has already infected the SCA in Lochac -- I hope that these three dances do not. Hole in the Wall is a country dance, from the 1695 edition of Playford. Strip the Willow is a type of reel, which originated in Scotland well out of the SCA period, while Road to the Isles is an SCA invention derived from two Scottish Country Dances. If you really must do a "longways dance for as many as will", try any of the Basse Danses listed here, or if you run out, reconstruct another one from Guglielmo, Domenico, Tholouze, or Brussels.

Mannschaft Pavane

Another SCA invention, this one I have seen quoted as "SCA traditional". It was invented by a committee, as is fairly obvious from looking at the dance.

Figured Pavanes (Rowany Pavane,
Earl of Salisbury Pavane, etc).

There are some references in period to figured pavanes, in fact the Quatrin Pavane is given as a figured pavane in some references, however the ones danced locally are not documentably period. There appear to be no concrete descriptions of how figured pavanes were done in Period.

Saltarello
"La Regina"

The documentation for this dance is extremely sketchy. It is known that the dance was a period saltarello dance tune. There are woodcuts from the period depicting a pair of dancers performing a dance that may or may not be a saltarello. The saltarello steps are a subject of debate amongst current dance scholars -- there are several ways in which they could have been done, but none of these have been proven. The inventor of the dance has done a very good job in constructing a dance that was possibly done in period, however the evidence is generally insufficient to prove that this dance (or any other dance) was done this way.

The dance was originally choreographed by Geffrei Louarn de Kaermeriadec, and appeared in issue 7 (November 1990) of The Letter of Dance.

Il Canario -- The Lochac Version

This dance borrows some of the steps from Caroso's and Negri's Canaries dance, but is invented from those steps.

For a more demonstrably period looking choreographed canary, have a look at Aemilia's Il Canario instead.

Courantes

The only concrete evidence as to how courante steps were performed is in Arbeau's Orchesographie. The dance agrees with the step description, but as Arbeau gives no choreographies, the choreographies listed have been invented.

The evidence for the Lochac Courante is fairly substantial, more so than La Regina, as it keeps strictly to the steps as described by Arbeau. It is basically an SCA invention of a dance in a known period style.