The Girl Guides’ Folk Dancer Badge

One of the pleasures of writing a blog is to dive down any rabbit hole of interest, and this week’s interest is the varying requirements for a Girl Guide to earn her Folk Dancer Badge. Elsie Oxenham was both a Guide leader and a Camp Fire Guardian, and taught English folk dances to both of her groups. Which dances? Well, any that she knew, I suppose (including rapper sword), but now we have some further information starting in 1929 as to what dances a girl would be expected to demonstrate mastery of, and how these requirements changed over time with changing politics and interests.

This post would not have been possible without the brilliance of “Leslie,” whom I do not know but who I embrace as a spiritual sister. Leslie has done an amazing and comprehensive job of documenting the history of the Girl Guide movement. Check out her home page and particularly the history of the founding of the Girl Guides in 1910 by Agnes Baden-Powell at her elder brother Sir Robert Baden-Powell’s request.

Here is an early but undated image of Agnes Baden-Powell. You’ll see her “smart” uniform—here “smart” doesn’t mean fashionable or dashing as it can in other contexts, but “well-turned-out,” as an officer would look on the parade ground.  Note the well-fit coat with belt that was worn over a well-fit skirt, the hat, the tie, and the vaguely military-looking badge. This is attire that shapes the girl or woman into the image of the male officer—but without the physical freedom of trousers or a loose-fitting skirt, although Leslie writes that this early uniform was actually comparatively practical for the gently-born ladies who led the local Patrols. This was parade dress for leaders in the organization; while engaged in out-door activities in the 1920s, Girl Guides seem to have worn middy blouses and loose skirts over long dark stockings. Here’s a girl in a 1909 uniform (pre-standardization) courtesy of Leslie.

In the first draft of this post, I used the word “troop” to refer to the smallest unit of Guides, until I realized that the correct word was “Patrol.” A Patrol is a group of six to eight Girl or Boy Scouts (this is an American source). But Patrolling is also the action a soldier or group of soldiers takes to walk the perimeter of an area that is desired to keep secure. Baden-Powell’s vision for the Boy Scouts was for engaging, out-of-doors activities that, very loosely speaking, also trained for future officers and soldiers. Leslie tells us that in 1910 there were 6,000 registered Girl Souts. Baden-Powell created the Guides offer girls the opportunities they craved to hike, camp, fish, and learn useful things like first aid, tying knots, and Morse code—but all within the confines of conventional female modesty.

—Tying knots! An obsession with the early Scouting movement and even in the early days of the detective novel, when the sleuth could deduce the guilty party by the type of knot employed on the victim’s shoes. But there is still a need to know the knots that hold versus the knots that can be loosened swiftly—or even knots that provide “a mechanical advantage when tightened,” such as The Trucker’s Hitch (also known as the Lorry Knot, the Haymaker’s Hitch and so on), which Animated Knots says is “a valuable knot used for securing loads or tarpaulins.” Here’s how to tie it. And please do click through to watch this meditative essay by Ylvis (the lads who brought you “What Does the Fox Say?”) entitled, “The Trucker’s Hitch.” There’s even a folk dance element to this video!—

 

 

 

 

But I digress, though not for the first time! Get yourself a nice cuppa—this is a long post.

General Comments and Observations on the Badge Requirements

1. The information below comes from Leslie’s page on historic badge requirements—she does not state her metric, but I assume that she is showing each time the requirements change.
2. Leslie’s sources come from different Guide publications; I will not provide details nor comment on these, as my focus is on the dances, especially the ones categorized as English.
3. You will note changes in dance requirements that are clearly influenced by politics—I will not comment on these. In addition to national politics there may well have been politics within the Guides themselves, with some people at various times more interested in, for example, expanding the Welsh dance requirements than the English ones.
4. Dance requirements are also based on new publications coming along, particularly for the Welsh dances. Presumably the availability of recorded music would also be a factor. Obtaining all of this via post would have been a bit of a bother. Likewise purchasing and storing a gramophone or engaging an accompanist—and Oxenham shows us a lot about good versus indifferent musicians!
5. Only Scottish girls were explicitly encouraged in these badge requirements to present dances “of local interest.” Did the Guide leaders think that there were no local or regional dances in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland? This is a dense and complicated topic that we will not explore at present. However, see note 14, below.
6. Over time we will see changes in the list of approved dances, particularly for the English dances where more difficult dances like Newcastle hop on and then off the requirement list. Some of these could be due to the publications issue listed above, but…
7. Changes in dance requirements may also have driven by the average ages of Girl Guides at any given time. At first, Guiding seems to have been aimed at the 12-17-year-old girl, but over time, even with the introduction of the junior rank of Brownies, the average age seems to have dropped. However, the English dance requirements fluctuate more than the others.
8. Changes in requirements could have been affected by changes in the interest levels and teaching abilities of Patrol leaders or the examiners. As the mainstream physical education curriculum moved away from folk dance, adult leaders who were learning material in the Thirties, Forties, Fifties, etc., may have been less experienced or interested in teaching some of these dances—however, while this argument may hold for the English dances, it does not hold for the Welsh, Scottish, or Ulster ones, which remain relatively unchanged in skill level.
9. Note that at no time are morris or sword dances included in the English set of examination dances. These do require more skill/experience to teach or perform, but other dances with footwork were included in badge requirements. Perhaps what we are seeing is some politics oof prohibiting women and girls from performing in public what were considered to be the men’s dances. While Sharp supported women dancing morris in women-only sets, after his death, misogyny in the English folk dance world increased. More charitably, even Sharp noted that morris, in particular, could be difficult for the growing child—perhaps these dances were considered over-taxing for the girls. Or their leaders!
10. I haven’t found information on how the examinations were conducted, particularly since most of these dances are for multiple dancers. Did an examiner come to your town or village and your Patrol would exhibit and she would grade? Or—and this I think is more likely—did your Patrol travel to a nearby larger city where many Patrols would gather in a sort of jamboree, and those girls present who had selected dance X to be examined in would all dance it together, wearing numbers so that the examiner could give each girl marks? That would be more fun! Much more of a Girl Guide experience. Plus, you’d be dancing with strangers so that it would be harder to give or receive subtle physical clues; you’d have to really know your dance.
11. The physical education curriculum in British schools drove most of the badge requirements and, as we know, Cecil Sharp’s English dance repertoire was a main force behind the P.E. curriculum through the twenties, at least. We will not find international folk dances here!
12. I have yet to find an equivalent to Leslie’s page for the American Girl Scouts. I do not know how important folk dancing was to the Scouts, but the American P.E. requirements, driven by Luther Halsey Gulick and Elizabeth Burchenal, focused on dances from many lands, not just England or even the British Isles, so presumably badge requirements did as well. My sister recalls learning the Mexican Cucaracha and the Italian Tarantella for her badge in the mid-1970s.
13. Badges change because of changes in the girls’ interests, or changes in society, or changes in what the adults feel should be the purpose of the badge. For example, the American Girl Scouts currently offer many badges associated with cyber-security, or multi-cultural awareness, but I haven’t been able to find that they offer any separate folk-dance badge.
14. The Patrol badge, which could be sewn on to the Company or Patrol Flag of any Company or Patrol where at least four Guides have passed tests, was different from the individual In 1921 the tests for the Patrol Folk Song and Dance Badge were that at least four girls could: “1) Be able to dance four Country Dances, if possible those peculiar to [the] County or District; 2) be able to sing (together) four Folk Songs, if possible those peculiar to [the] County or District.” This focus on the local tradition at the Patrol level might be a nod to the fact that investigating these traditions might be easier for the adult leader to engage in than for the girls themselves, particularly when thinking about issues of chaperonage, etc.
15. I’ll conclude this post with a brief comparison to the Guide’s Folk Singer badge, the requirements of which are substantially (in my experience as a dancer and a musician) higher than those of the dancers.

Finally, I’ll add that, in my opinion, the folk dance was and is a challenging badge to obtain—not so much because of the skill set, although that is considerable—but because, unless the Guides put out a compendium long-playing record and booklet, each Patrol would have to purchase books and music from a variety of sources. This might be eased by a decision that your Patrol would only focus on dances from a particular country, but it is still a formidable road block, especially in the early, pre-Internet years.

The badge requirements are given in red type. My comments are in black. Before we begin, note the actual badge shown below–that of a solo girl dancer in a vaguely Scottish-y position. (Click on the image to see it bigger.) Much later badges show a sort of plaid flying out behind her left shoulder. By contrast, the American Girl Scout folk dance badge showed a couple in vaguely Scandinavian attire (Gulick & Burchenal loved Swedish dances for a lot of complicated reasons).

 

 

 

 

The first badge requirement Leslie gives us is. . . .

July 1929 – Folk Dancer Badge

The dancer must be able to perform the following country dances in any place in the set required by the examiner. One dance to be chosen from each of the following lists:

[There is only one list of six dances, all taken from The Country Dance Book, Graded Series, vols. 1 and 2. The dances are: Haste to the Wedding (second version), Picking up sticks, Goddesses, Rufty Tufty, Gathering Peascods, If all the World were Paper. Personally, I do not see these as being of equivalent physical or mental difficulty! The requirements then continue with the following original parenthetical: ]

(The standard of dancing required for this Badge should be approximately that required by the English Folk Dance Society for their Elementary Country Dance Certificate. Folk dances from any recognized national folk dance society’s books may be substituted for the above. Those issued by the Scottish Country Dance Society are published by Paterson, and obtainable from Scottish headquarters.)

So, got that? The attributes are a pretty high performance standard, the dancer must be able to perform in any place in the set, there is ambiguity about whether the girl or the examiner chose the dance, and there is a suggestion that Scottish dances could or possibly should be performed by Scottish girls—that is, that there is some nascent nationalism: but only for Scotland.

The next change that Leslie documents is. . .

1932 – Folk Dancer Badge

Here the English dances are grouped in pairs or trios and most of them come from the Graded Books II, III, and IV. The Scottish suggestions are the same as previously. Note the subtle stress difference in the level of the requirement from “must” to “should.” I surmise that the girl picked the group that she would be examined in. The group with Haste to the Wedding is easier than the other groups. The performance standard is as above.

The dancer should be able to perform the following country dances in any place in the set required by the examiner:

Rufty Tufty or Epping Forrest or Sellinger’s [sic] Round.

Goddesses or The Maid Peeped Out or Lady Spellor

If All the World were Paper or Mage on a Cree

Gathering Peascods or Sage Leaf

Haste to the Wedding or Nancy’s Fancy or Pop Goes the Weasel

Picking Up Sticks or the Black Nag

1938 – Folk Dancer

Well, those 1932 requirements for the English country dances were clearly too much, either for the girls themselves or for their teachers and examiners! Now we have a big shift back to easier dances. Note also the change in the level of proficiency—it is no longer the EFDS Elementary Certificate standard.

The dancer should be able to perform the six dances published in Volume I, Graded Series, in any place in the set:

Brighton Camp, Galopede, Nancy’s Fancy, The Black Nag, Gathering Peascods, Rufty Tufty; and also three of her own choice selected from Five Popular Country Dances: Durham Reel, Twin Sisters, Haste to the Wedding (Hertfordshire), Circassian Circle, Thady you Gander.

The dancer will be expected to perform the movements accurately, rhythmically and with due appreciation and enjoyment of the musical and individual character of each dance.

The requirements then go on to state that “[d]ances from any recognized Dance Society’s books of any other country may be substituted for the above. [Emphasis added.]” Because the next phrase references again from what publisher the Patrol could obtain Scottish dances, I do not think that the phrase “any other country” is equivalent to “folk dances from many lands,” in part because I do not think that there were organized societies at the time that promulgated, say, Spanish dances. I think the phrase means “any other entity in the Commonwealth.” This will become clearer as the years roll on.

The next badge where we see a difference comes from. . . .

1943 – Country Dancer

Right off the bat with the title of the badge we’re dealing with a different slant: not “folk dancer” but “country dancer.” What did this difference mean to Headquarters? Was this an acknowledgement that the girls were explicitly focusing on social dances rather than, for example, morris and sword?

The badge requirement begins. . .

Perform, in any position in the dance, six of her own national dances, chosen from any of the following groups:

—And let’s take another detour here and note that there is a long-standing and contentious discussion about what is a “folk dance” versus what is a “national dance.” I believe that it has boiled down to a feeling that all citizens of a particular nation would/should/could be able to perform or at least recognize the “national” dance—i.e., the Tarantella for Italians, the Czardas for Hungarians—but that each “nation” could have various regional (or other sub-division) “folk” dances that only some groups would know or perform. I’m highlighting the word “nation,” because that is itself a hotly contentious issue, with the many re-divisions of lines in the Balkan areas, in particular. In the U.S., there have been bitterly-contested debates over whether the national dance should be the polka or the square dance—but that of the West or of New England?—and I believe that that issue is currently on the shelf, though individual states have named their own official state dance: that of Hawai’i is the Hula; that of Pennsylvania, the polka (probably influenced heavily by the votes from Pittsburgh, my home town and home to numerous accordion-playing immigrants); that of North Carolina the Shag; that of Kentucky Clogging, and so on.—

Back to Guiding for British girls in 1943. Here are the requirements from that year.

Perform, in any position in the dance, six of her own national dances, chosen from any of the following groups:

England – Brighton Camp, Galopede, Nancy’s Fancy, The Black Nag, Rufty Tufty, Gathering Peascods, Durham Reel, Twin Sisters, Haste to the Wedding (Herefordshire), Circassian Circle, Thady you Gander.

Wales – The Welsh Reel (at least six figures to include Towards the Harp, Round Three, Cross Hands, Round Two). Music and instructions published by Stainer and Bell. . . The music can be obtained on a gramophone record.

Scotland – Petrolella [sic], Circassian Circle, Triumph, Dunbarton’s Drums, Duke of Perth, Eightsome Reel, Jenny’s Bawbee, Monymusk [purchasing information follows].

Northern Ireland – Rinnce Mor or Bridge of Athlone; Waves of Torey [sic] or four steps of solo jig, Siege of Carric or four steps of solo reel; Lannigan’s Ball or four steps of any set dance; Walls of Limerick or Siege of Limerick; Kerry Reel. Book recommended The Irish Folk Dance Book by Peadar O’Rafferty [publication details].

The dancer will be expected to perform the movements accurately, rhythmically and with due appreciation and enjoyment of the musical and individual character of each dance.

So, the badge is called Country Dancer and the nations are only England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. This is the first time we have seen clear requirements for Scotland and any requirements at all for the other two nations. We have not gone afield from Great Britain.

1950 – Country Dancer Badge

Here we see changes in the requirements for the dances from England, Wales, and Scotland. England has relaxed her requirements; Wales has added to hers with a new publication.

Perform in any position in the dance:

England – Haste to the Wedding (Herefordshire), Merry, Merry Milkmaids, and four other English country dances of her own choice.

Wales – [A repeat of what we see in 1943, including publication and gramophone information, with the addition of. . .] And any four dances from the book Dewch I Ddawnsio (Come and Dance), a book of Welsh dances by Alison D. Howie, published by the University of Wales Press, Cardiff.

Scotland – The Duke of Perth, Monymusk, and four other Scottish country dances of her own choice. [Publications info upon application to the Secretary, SCDS.]

Northern Ireland – [No change from previous.]

The performance quality statement remained as previously.

1953 – Country Dancer Badge

A couple of changes here to the Welsh requirements as well as the first mention as to what girls not residing in Great Britain could do.

Perform in any position in the dance:

England – [No change.]

Wales – The Welsh Reel (six figures, including the Bridge and Swing corners, commencing with Towards the Harp and ending with the Circle or Towards the Harp again. [Publication info.] Croen y Ddafod Felan – solo poker dance from Dewch I Ddawnsio [reiteration of publication info]. The Lord of Caernarvon’s Jig (set dance for 8). Evan’s Jig (longways progressive). Any other dance from the Welsh Gift Book or from Welch Whim and Other Dances (The Gwynn Publishing Co., Llangollen).

Scotland – The Eightsome Reel as taught by the Scottish Country Dance Society, Jessie’s Hornpipe, The Diel amang the Tailors, Dalkeith’s Strathspey, and two Scottish Country Dances of her own choice, one of which should, if possible, be of local traditional interest. All the above named dances can be obtained in single copies, published by the Scottish Country Dance Society [address].

Northern Ireland – [No change.]

Overseas – Any countries in the Colonial Territories may, if they so wish, substitute local dances. The Overseas department at Imperial Headquarters should be informed.

Performance requirement unchanged.

A lot going on here and more questions than answers! First, what does that “local dances” mean to the Overseas girls? A Maori Haka? No, I don’t think so, not only because the Haka is still regarded principally as a men’s war dance but because I don’t think that dances of indigenous peoples would have been regarded as appropriate to British Girl Guides. But I’d love to know more about this!

Second, England is falling well behind in terms of its difficulty requirement; the dances of Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland all involve footwork, some of it complex, and the Scottish requirement is asking the girls to look for dances from their own district or region. Note that the SDS and its requirements are now officially acknowledged, not just with publication information but with the phrase “as taught by”—in other words, toe up to Miss Milligan’s line! (Miss Jean Milligan was the Scottish Cecil Sharp, although she would prefer that the names were reversed.)

Third, the Welsh requirement really shows the extent to which some of these approved dances are based on the ease of obtaining publications (and presumably gramophone music as well).

1965 – Country Dancer Badge

Take part in the dances in one of the following sections, performing in any position:

England – Thady you Gander, Newcastle; four other English country dances of her own choice.

Wales – [No changes.]

Scotland – The Eightsome Reel as taught by the Scottish Country Dance Society, River Cree, Monymusk, The Reel of the 51^st Highland Division; and two Scottish Country Dances of her own choice, one of which should, if possible, be of local traditional interest.

Northern Ireland – [No changes.]

Overseas Territories – Local dances may be substituted. The Overseas department at Commonwealth Headquarters should be informed.

Note: i) The dancer is expected to perform the movements accurately, rhythmically and with due appreciation and enjoyment of the musical and individual character of each dance.

       ii) The dances named are give to show the standard but at the discretion of the tester other dances of equivalent scope may be substituted.

So here England has rallied, upping the difficulty level by adding in Newcastle. Scotland is still evolving, adding in the very popular Reel of the 51^st, devised by Scottish soldiers in a WWII POW camp and retaining that focus on the girls’ investment in or research into local traditions. Overseas dancing remains unclear and undefined. More authority is given to the local tester, who now apparently does not have to report in to HQ.

1978 – Country Dancer Badge

Take part in the dances in one of the following clauses, performing in any position:

• England: Yorkshire Square Eight, Norfolk Long Dance (Community Dances Manual 2), Butterfly, Trip to the Cottage (English Folk Dances for School and Junior Youth Clubs). Two other English dances of your own choice.
• Wales: [The only change is to drop the publication The Welsh Gift Book—perhaps it was more difficult to find at this point.]
• Scotland: [Same requirements; some different publication information.]
• Northern Ireland: [No change.]
• Overseas: [No change.]

The style requirement was dropped but the substitution one retained.

1983 – Country Dance Badge

Take part in the dances in one of the following clauses, performing in any position:

• England; Pins and needles, Cumberland Square Eight, Nottingham Swing, Waltz Country Dance. [Note that this requirement is to know all four dances.]
• Wales: The Llanover Reel – six figures including ‘The Bridge’ and ‘Swing Corners’, commencing and ending with ‘Towards the Harp.’
• Scotland: The Eightsome Reel as taught by the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, River Cree (book 8), Fidget (book 16) and either Berwick Johnny (14 in the Graded Book) and Mrs. McLeod (book 6) or two Scottish Country Dances of your own choice, one of which should, if possible, be of local traditional interest.
• Ulster: Rinnce Mor or Walls of Limerick or solo reel; Bridge of Athlone or Harvestime Jig or Light double Jig.
• Overseas Territories: [No change.]

The dances named are given to show the standard but with permission from the tester you may substitute other dances of equal scope and difficult.

If you use a wheelchair, either self-propelled or assisted, you may choose four dances, each one to be of a different formation.

Unpacking the above, first we note the difference in address: the use of the word “you” shows that the reader of these requirements is now the girl herself, not the Patrol leader. Here we also have the first acknowledgement of differently-abled dancers (although remember that Elsie Oxenham showed us a performance by a group of blind Guides more than half a century before this publication). England has lowered its standards again, but Scotland has raised hers, in the sense that you can no longer buy the dances it lists as single publications; you would have to buy either two books in each either/or category or show your two optional dances. The badge itself has been renamed from “Country DancER” to “Country Dance.” To me this says that now you demonstrate mastery over the material, rather than ownership of the activity.

And, finally, the 1991 Folk Singer Badge—one that to me calls for a high level of musical proficiency.

1. On any instrument accompany three camp-fire songs sung by yourself or others. Each song must be in a different key.
2. Sing four songs, each from a different land. At least one song should be in a foreign language. [The prior, 1978 requirement included being able to introduce it and discuss its origin. I don’t think that a song like Kumbaya would count in this context.]
3. Either improvise a second part or an accompaniment to a well-known song chosen by the tester (she will let you have the wor[ds] and tune before the day of the test).

       Or

4. Sing an original song, the words and music of which you have written yourself.
5. Take your own collection of the wor[ds] and music of twenty or more songs to the test. Know where the material comes from, such as song books or [t]apes and records currently published by the GGA (these could belong to the unit).