An Early Frost -- for Philippe

In her last book of dances, Serendipity, Fried Herman writes about the character of the dance. "Do English Country dances give much pleasure? Yes, most of them do. The ones that are boring—in tune and/or movements—tend to be forgotten after some time. However, that does not mean that all English Country dances give us the same kind of pleasure. "Some dances are just a bit of fluff. And how important these dances can be in a program! There’s great enjoyment in just moving to an uplifting tune without much brainwork…. "The next step up are dances—again, with good tunes—with a bit more meat in them. Something into which we can sink our teeth. Think of Another Nancy’s Fancy, Mr Beveridge’s Maggot, Face the Music Sion House, Up with Ailey. To dance these dances, we need a bit more understanding of how the tune and movements fit together. "Yet another step up are the complicated dances so much loved by experienced dancers: The Phoenix, Ah Belinda, Musidora, Fain I Would, Spring Garden, Norbury Park, etc. "And now we come to a very special category of dances, one I am also interested in, the category of 'serious' dances. "Can a dance be serious? Yes, it can. But how can you know whether a dance is serious? Often the title of a dance will suggest the dance’s character, hinting that the dance is more than an amusing light diversion…." In my view, An Early Frost by Philippe Callens fits into this category of serious dances. The title, with its allusion to the devastation wrought by AIDS, is the first giveaway; Bob Pasquarello’s music, the second—so tender, tinged with sadness and hope. It was a pleasure to see An Early Frost danced by its choreographer at the 2018 Lenox Assembly, joined by a hall-full of friends absorbed in its patterns and touched by the tune so expressively played by the band Alchemy: Karen Axelrod, Rachel Bell, and Eric Martin. –Paul Ross