Clogs and baggy trousers, wide checked skirts
and white caps - is not this our picture when
we think of Dutch folk dances? But this
costume belongs only to one dance and one
part of the country; even there the women
are coming to prefer 'a pleated black skirt
which gives a slim and even elegant outline'.
And who would suspect the sober Dutch of
such a dance as the Cramignon, a chain dance
that winds 'in and out of the houses and inns
of the village' behind a brass band?
Dr. Elise van der Ven-ten Bensel devoted
her life to the study and preservation of
Dutch folk dances. Together with her
husband, another noted folklorist, she filmed
the traditional customs of the country and
organised folk-dance schools. In this book,
after a lively and amusing essay on Dutch folk
life, the author describes four typical dances,
with their step-notation and music, and four
charming colour plates show the traditional
costumes for each dance.
