The International Minstrel Troupe known as WOLGEMUT perform their sexiest song, "The Dance of the Green Man" at the 2010 Florida Renaissance Festival, March 7, 2010, at Quiet Waters Park in Deerfield Beach, Florida.
The seductive strains from Ruschpfeiffe, Drums, and Dudelsack (bagpipes) brought the audience out of their seats to show off their stuff, including the Masala Gypsy Dancers and little Lady Emily.
With Michael Gartner (aka "Micha") playing the Rauschpfeiffe and leading the group, Daniel Williams (aka "Jakob") playing percussion (big drum, cymbals, etc.), Michael Heubner (aka "Albrecht") playing the side drum, and Chris Klecka (aka "Klecka") proudly playing his new Dudelsack (German Bagpipes).
You have my sincere apologies for the excessive pans, zooms, and camera jiggles. Yes I know they are annoying. I again made the amateur mistake of trying to cover too much of the spread-out action with a single camera. I hope the artists' performances can overcome my poor videography for your enjoyment. I'll try to be better with future posts, but this was a unique performance I didn't want you to miss.
As Micha explains, "Wolgemut" is not just the name of their band, but an ancient German word that means "To be in a good mood". Hopefully this video will help make you just a little bit Wolgemut yourself!
For more great music and information about this band, check out Wolgemut on Facebook, MySpace, or their YouTube channel, or go to their website at www.wolgemut.net.
The image of the Green Man Dancer in the ending credits of this video is from the UK Morris Dance Team, "The Wild Hunt Bedlam Morris". More information about this Morris Dance Team can be found at: www.wildhunt.org.uk
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Some background information on The Green Man motif: A Green Man is a sculpture, drawing, or other representation of a face surrounded by or made from leaves. Branches or vines may sprout from the nose, mouth, nostrils, or other parts of the face and these shoots may bear flowers or fruit. The Green Man may also be represented by dancers in costumes or masks representing imagery or impressions of foliage with a human-like face. The Green Man motif has many variations and is found in a wide variety of cultures around the world, typically related to natural vegitative spirits and deities throughout the ages. The Green Man is most commonly interpreted as a symbol of rebirth or "renaissance", representing the cycle of life and rebirth each spring. Figures dressed as a "Green Man" are common in a ceremonies, festivals, and celebrations of many different cultures worldwide. The Green Man imagery has made a popular resurgence in modern times, with artists from around the world interweaving the imagery into various forms of graphic arts, performances, and dance. In recent years, Green Man imagery and symbology has also been adopted to represent conservation, ecological awareness, and stewardship of the natural world. Green Man imagery is used with many modern festivals, movements, and organizations. Parallels have been drawn between the Green Man and various deities and mythical figures. Mythical figures such as Cernunnos, Sylvanus, Derg Corra, Green George, Jack in the Green, John Barleycorn, Robin Goodfellow, Puck, the Green Knight, the Yuletide Spirit, Father Christmas, even Robin Hood and Peter Pan, all partake in some aspects of the Green Man's legendary nature. The Codex Mendaciorum, a history of the early British tribe, the Fracti Saxorum Quadratorum, includes an allusion to the ritual expression of the legend of the Green Man in a section headed Homo Virens, Certamen et Natura. This part of the manuscript is fragile, with many gaps and poor legibility. What follows is a reconstruction by the eminent folklore sociologist, Dr Esme Paluka:
"The Green Man is a deity venerated for his powers over the forces of Nature. The dance starts in Winter, when the Green Man is resting, and mankind scattered [dancers in the crowd]. The music stirs the Green Man, and the dancers try to control him by bringing him into the set. Virile sticking with partners and opposites shows the opposing forces which the Green Man tries to control [Spring].
By the second move, Stars, the Green Man has partially succeeded in getting the dancers to work together in threes. The heys show the dancers co-operating more fully [Summer], but by Autumn the dancers are fragmenting in the move Green Sticks, dancing in opposition to each other and the Green Man. The Green Man almost dies, but at the last moment, the dancers relent and raise him up, and he dances away to hide for the Winter."
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Of course in this Wolgemut performance, the dancers are spontaneous and are not attempting any kind of ritualistic expression of nature, but they certainly do seem to be moving to the power of nature, or at least the power of the music...
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