Mordred's Lullaby

Bassadanza, choreographed by Rosina del Bosco Chiaro (V. Stephens), May AS XXXIII (1998).
For one couple.

Steps: all done "in 6" = reverenza, sempio, doppio, continenza, ripresa, passo (an unornamented step, timing varies in this dance), volta del gioioso, mezavolta.
Start:  For one couple, start separated, Man on left side of hall, Woman on right. There should be 33 steps ahead, 8 to the left, 5 to the right of where they are at the end of the Intro.
 

      Introduction (8 bars)
Man enters with 6 passi (2 per bar) getting to his starting position.
One bar no movement.
Woman enters with 6 passi, ending beside the man, to his left side (eg she is in the leading position.)
One bar, she takes his hand.

      Hush Chorus (8 bars)
(Singing starts, 1st word is "Hush")
Riprese Left + Right, 2 Sempii, 3 Dopii, Volta del Gioioso (don't take hands here)
(For those that have done Rostiboli, this is the same as the 2nd part, where they get to dance together.)

      Verse 1 (8 bars)
Reverenza L
1/4 turn to Left and Woman leads single file both doing Sempio Left, Sempio Right, Doppio Left, Doppio Right, ending with Mezavolta
Man leads, both doing Sempio Left, Sempio Right, Doppio Left, Doppio Right, Man only ends in Mezavolta,
Reverenza Left.
(They are facing each other now.)

      Loyalty Chorus 1 (4 bars)
Woman circles clockwise around man with 4 doppii starting the first on the left.
(They are still facing each other now.)

      Verse 2 - push/pull (8 bars)
Sempio Left, Sempio Right, Doppio Left, Man moving backward, Woman forwards),
Volta del Gioioso
Sempio Left, Sempio Right, Doppio Left, Man moving forwards, Woman back,
VoltaTonda (Sempio Right, Sempio Left, Doppio Right clockwise)

      Loyalty Chorus 2 (4 bars)
Take right hands, and Sempio Left, Sempio Right, Doppio Left,
Take left hands, and Sempio Right, Sempio Left, Doppio Right, Woman ending with a Mezavolta
(They are now side by side facing up the hall again, Woman on the left.)

      Hush Chorus (8 bars)
Done as before. Take hands to start, no hands at end.

      Loyalty Chorus 3 - Wheel (4 bars)
Woman circles clockwise around man with 4 doppii starting the first on the left,
  as Man does 8 steps, in a smaller clockwise circle, inside the woman's circle.
(Now side by side facing forward, Woman on the left, as before, but spaced furthur apart, and don't take hands.)

      Verse 3 (8 bars)
Sempio Left, Sempio Right, Doppio Left, Doppio Right,
Man does Ripresa Left, Ripresa Right
  as Woman does Doppio Left, Doppio Right, in a half circle around him
(Woman is now to the right of the man, facing down the hall, he is still facing up)
Sempio Left, Sempio Right, Doppio Left, Doppio Right, Man backing up, Woman going forward.
(Woman is still to the right of the man, facing down the hall, he is still facing up)

      Loyalty Chorus 4 (4 bars)
Woman circles clockwise around man with 4 doppii starting the first on the left, ending with MV,
  as Man does Ripresa Left, Ripresa Right ending with Mezavolta, and again Ripresa Left, Ripresa Right ending with Mezavolta
(Now side by side, facing up the hall, Man on the left, (so leading).)

      Hush Chorus (8 bars)
Done as before, except Man leading.

      Exit (8 bars)
Woman 4 passi (1/bar this time), going behind man and off to the left. She can continue to use the man's music to move further, but should have turned to look at him by the end of her 4 passi.
Man 4 passi (1/bar), going off to the right, and turning to look at the woman at the end.

End in stillness. No Reverenza. No, I mean, really, no reverenza!


Notes

This was choreographed to music of the same name by Heather M. Dale (Mistress Marion of Heatherdale), and is specific to that music.

Although the steps used are 15th C Italian, the dance is too far removed from the genre to really be considered a choreography in that style. It should properly be considered a 20th C bassadanza.

There are 3 verses in the dance, 4 Loyalty choruses which all have a circle in them (and consist of the word "Loyalty" in the song), and 3 'Hush Choruses', which always have identical steps, and start with the word "Hush" sung to it.

The intensity is high. The song (and dance) is about Morgan raising her son to hate as she does. There should be a strong sense of connection between the two, but this doesn't always have to be eye contact. (I would say that Morgan looks at Mordred more, but really sees her revenge, while Mordred looks at Morgan less, since he is being taught to be "independant", but really is focused on her even if he is not looking at her at the time.) No extra ornamentation should be added, and undagiarre and campegiarre should be minimal or non existant. The Volta del Gioioso should be one that does a complete circle back to place (such as how I normally teach them), not one that ends further to the right.) The riprese in the Hush choruses may be better as a single step rather than two.



Recording

The Trial of Lancelot - There is a bit of music before the dance starts - start with the hum ...

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