Cornish dance

Cornish dance (Cornish: Donsyow kernewek) originates from Cornwall, England, UK. It has largely been shaped by the Cornish people and the industries they worked in. In most cases, particularly with the step dancing, the dances were still being performed across the region when they were collected.

Cornish dance can roughly be divided into 3 areas: 'Scoot' or step dancing, 'Furry' or Feast Day dances and dance which you will often find in a 'Troyl', the Cornish equivalent of a céilidh.

Mediaeval toponymy Cornish stone circles and rows are often called maidens. Significantly, medn is late Cornish for stone. The associated legend (of petrifaction for dancing or playing on the sabbath) is clearly post-Christian. The timing of language change from Cornish to English suggests mediaeval naming, though some may be more recent. The stone circles and rows apparently suggested circular and linear dances to their namers, reflecting the popularity of mediaeval rondes and farandoles.

Church statutes The earliest documentary account which may refer to dancing in Cornwall is the statute banning (inter alia) round dances in churchyards issued in 1287 by Bishop Peter Quinel of Exeter.

Cornish verse dramas The Cornish-language Ordinalia of 1375 contains invocations to dance at the end of Origo Mundi and Resurrectio Domini. Later Cornish verse-dramas have similar passages.

Morris and mumming There is copious documentary evidence of morris dancing and mumming from 1466/7 to 1595. Iconography at Altarnun church suggests performance of the Mattachins about 1525.

Country and social dancing The MS of John Giddy (c1740) has music for Minuets, Rigadons, and Hornpipes. The Morval House MS (c1768) and the Francis Prideaux MS indicates familiarity with minuets and a wide range of country dances. By the time of the MS of John Old of Par (1808) some Scottish country dances are also being danced. To these quadrilles, waltzes and polkas were added as the century progressed, as shown by many documentary and MS references.

Community dancing The tune of the Helston Furry dance is used by Weekes in his 1608 madrigal Since Robin Hood, which suggests a late mediaeval origin for such celebrations. Community or Furry Dances are hinted at from 1700 when Edward Lluyd noted that 'Elygen' (Illogan) held its 'feast or furri day the first Sunday before or after St. Lukes' The 1781 journal of Christopher Wallis, Helston Attorney, mentions the Hendre (ancient) Furry Day at Helston. Such community dances, often associated with fairs or religious feasts seem to have been very widespread in Cornwall.

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