AMD2- Kaitlin Baker

For my second AMD I decided to research German Folk dancing. What I found was much more interesting than I first expected. The link is posted below. Basically, one of the dances is called the German slap dancing fight dance. In the the dance, an according plays the same melody over and over again while a group of men wearing capris style pants, suspenders, and sock bands around their shins slap each other, stomp the floor, and slap themselves in order to create a rhythm to go along with the accordion. They start with two men fighting over a female dancer (who wears dress, apron, and hat with a feather). Then, one by one a man jumps into the slap fight, until their are four men slapping. Finally, one of the female folk dancers jumps in an slaps them all down.

To say the least, this was not what I expected when I looked up german dancing.

        The Second dance was a folk dance where the men wore similar outfits, and the women wore black dresses, aprons and hats with feathers once again. They came onto the dance floor with shouts and yells and proceeded to partner up and dance in a circle with women on the outside and men on the inside. The accordion was the main instrument in this dance once again. The entirety of the dance, the dancers spun in circles. They also incorporated some knee and arm slapping, which seems to be a common practice in german folk dancing. 

        The last dance, and my personal favorite is a german dance done by a group of kids at Oktoberfest. This last dance also uses an accordion for musical accompaniment that plays the same tune throughout the entirety of the dance. The kids line up with a tall pole and partway through the dance, the boys (wearing suspenders of course) have to slap their knee and jump over it. The girls in their aprons and braided hair then twirl and this pattern continues. The kids in this video are not quite as coordinated as the adults in the other dances, but it definitely adds to the entertainment factor. 

       Just to be clear, I do not believe people in Germany go around the streets in suspenders and aprons and feathers in their hair dancing to accordions. I do however find the folk traditions celebrated in festivals such as Oktoberfest very interesting and would enjoy learning more about where and how these dances took root and began.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LEAiGDw220
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddy4LJCC7bk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYNhW2U_zF4