This week, there is no story involved. This is the other type of lore that Dundes discussed. This week dance. But the “folk dance”. Not classic dance, so not the waltz, not ballet, not the dance of the kingly courts, but popular, folk dance, in Europe, peasants, in the USA, minorities or ethnic groups. Because remember, the USA has no peasants. Choose any form of ethnic, or popular dance (tap, break, Irish Step, Mexican folkloric, English Morris Dancing Scottish, Sailors’ Hornpipe, Country and Western, Line dances, Hip Hop, Cajun, tribal, Australian Aborigine, clogging, etc and post a short essay 200 to 300 words as follows. Do not use numbers, just include these data. 1. Name it 2. Describe the basic steps or movements in a non technical way. 3. Describe the history (origin) 4. Who did it then, does it now? (example belly dance was Middle Eastern street girls, but is now more often Western Housewives). Men? Women? Both? 5. Why do they do it? 6. What do YOU think of it. Why did you pick it? A What Did You Notice journal is different from a typical journal because it pairs introspection with community research. Each week you will be given a prompt that will ask you to explore a different genre of folklore in a different medium. Give yourself 45 minutes to completely immerse yourself in the piece of folklore (in this case dance). Then, write about 250 words answering the questions aboveas a response to what did you notice? Your answer should include the source(s) that you found, observations you made, as described above, how you reacted to the sources and observations, your analysis of them, and your personal thoughts on the activity. Remember, this week, no stories, just dance.
