| The 6/8 notation is, as in the previous case, related to musical form, not to rhythm. For this reason there are cases where measures of 3/8 or 9/8 have been applied (see Vol. 1). However, every 3/8 cluster has equal stress and is parallel to the even shifts in support between right and left foot during normal gait. The dance meter, the regular libration of the body center of gravity, consists of a relatively slow or soft thesis followed by a somewhat stronger arsis. The relationship in terms of duration is /T:A/=/2/1/ which corresponds to  in the music. The following figure describes the elementary pattern:
Fig. 3
The difference between an evenly divided (2/8) and an unevenly divided (3/8) dance beat stems from the following: In the first case, the stretching takes place when the main stress is located in the middle of the foot, whereas in the case of the uneven beat, the stretch starts when the stress is located in the front, i.e. under the ball of the foot.
Framed by the elementary pattern realized without deviation by the female dancer, the male dancer is free to engage in more complex step figures resulting in cases of composite rhythm. Such step figures carry the rhythmic implication of the normal beat /T:A/=/2:1/ combined with its inversion /T:A= 1:2/. The examples below (fig. 4) illustrate the relationships between dance meter and selected step figures in cases where the movement sequence represents transformation of the elementary pattern. The figure also demonstrates a certain analogy to these relationships in the musical phrasing, i.e. in the pattern of bowing:
Fig 4
These examples are only seemingly complex. Steps and phrasings are in principle identical to those belonging to the gangar in 2/4 meter. Owing to the uneven structure of the beat, however, certain transformations in duration and stress of movements are generated. It is, for instance, easy to recognize that the phrase  is analogous with  . Some have argued that the former pattern actually is a case of "hemiola" rhythm i.e. a 3/4 against the background of 6/8 meter. The third 1/8 note of the phrase, which invariably has an upstroke, in this particular context often sounds as if it carries a heavy accent. Largely, however, the bow has the same stress and speed as when there is no legato connecting the note to the following beat:  .
There is one particular feature in the style of playing, namely the transformation of the phrase  into  , which might have contributed to the hemiola interpretation mentioned above. Although frequent, it is definitely not a stable pattern. It is also more common in Telemark than in Setesdal. Apart from specific features of this kind, the style of playing is largely similar to that of the gangar in 2/4 meter. The tempo however tends to be slightly faster. |
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