These dances are in longways sets (ie a line of men facing a line of women, men's line is on the right from the caller's point of view). Some are for specific numbers of couples, others are more flexible.
Boston Tea Party
6 Couple Longways (or 5 or 7)
32 bar jig or reel
Easy
A1 (8) Advance and retire
(8) Top couple galop to the bottom
A2 (8) Advance and retire
(8) Same couple galops back to the top
B (32) Everyone face up and take inside hand with partner, except
top couple who face down (stay on own sides):
Top couple (and only the top couple) dip and dive to the bottom.
Everyone else, as they pass the dip and dive they cast off. Top
couple makes an arch at the bottom, other couples come through
the arch to progress. Swing to use up any remaining music
Country Bumpkin
4 Couple Longways
32 bar jig or reel
Easy
A1 (8) Man 1 and lady 2 set to each other twice, man advancing as he sets
(8) Man 1 swing lady 3 and return to place
A2 (8) Woman 1 and man 2 set to each other twice, woman advancing as she sets
(8) Woman 1 swing man 3 and return to place
B1 (16) Couple 1 lead down the middle, separate and come back to the
top behind their own lines
B2 (8) Couples 1 & 2, couples 3 & 4 circle left only (not back to the right!)
(8) Couple 1 cast to the bottom, everyone else moves up
Downsides
4 Couple Longways
32 bar jig or reel
Easy
By Peter Foster (adapted from Upsides)
A1 (16) Top couple galop down the middle and back
A2 (16) Couples 1 & 2, couples 3 & 4 do right hand stars and left hand stars
B1 (16) Couples 2 & 3 do right hand stars and left hand stars while the
other couples swing
B2 (16) Top couple lead a single cast, make an arch at the bottom, everyone else
come through the arch (progression)
The cast off needs to be fairly efficient, as the dance restarts with the new
couple charging down the middle and collecting anyone who is still coming through
the arch
The stars and swing sequence is from Upsides
Falling Masonry by John Kirkpatrick 5 Couple Longways (but see note) 32 bar jig or reel Easy A1 (8) Advance and retire (8) Pass through but do NOT turn around (stay facing out) A2 (8) Retire and advance (8) Pass through backwards (no peeking!) B1 (4) Couple at the top galop to the bottom, everyone else move up (4) Couple at the top galop to the bottom, everyone else move up (4) Couple at the top galop to the bottom, everyone else move up (4) Couple at the top galop to the bottom, everyone else move up B2 (4) Couple at the top galop to the bottom, everyone else move up (4) Couple at the top galop to the bottom, everyone else move up (8) All swing partner In B1/B2, each couple in turn galops to the bottom. Then the original top couple go down one more time, which is the progression. Make sure the next couple goes down at the right time, even if the previous couple haven't quite reached the bottom yet. When doing this dance for non dancers (at weddings, parties etc) I don't insist on 5 couples. Instead, I change B1/B2 to simply continue the galoping down the middle until the music runs out.
The Fire Hose Reel
Longways for 5 or so couples
Jig or reel, any length (the dance is not very structured)
Easy
(8) Advance and retire
(8) Advance again and take hands: take partner with man's right and
woman's left. Then men reach their left hand over the joined hands
and take the free hand of the next woman. Check: everyone is
holding 2 people, only the men have their arms crossed. Top woman
and bottom man have a free hand
Now, no-one is to let go hands for a long time:
(??) All raise their joined hands to make a tunnel. The top woman goes
through, dragging everyone with her. When she gets to the bottom
she turns right and goes clockwise around the others. The bottom man
needs to *keep still* - do not move, do not turn around, do not do
anything: as the others continue moving clockwise they will wind up
around the bottom man until everyone is in a solid clump. Then...
Bottom man (in the middle of the mess, can't move and probably can
hardly even breathe) needs to unwind the set. To do this, he should
crouch down and make his way through to the outside. When he gets to
the outside he turns left and leads everyone around anticlockwise into
a circle (a reminder, no-one is to let go hands during any of the
winding/unwinding moves)
From the circle, everyone swing partner and reform into a longways
set with different couples at top and bottom.
This is a fun dance with the right crowd. Sets tend to wind/unwind at their
own pace, so I don't usually try to keep the sets together.
Galopede Longways for up to 8 couples 32 bar jig or reel Easy (very easy) A1 (8) Advance and retire (8) Pass through A2 (8) Advance and retire (8) Pass through B1 (16) Swing partner B2 (16) Top couple swing to the bottom, everyone else move up
Haymakers Jig
Longways for 4 couples (or 3 or perhaps 5)
32 bar jig or reel
Easy
Top man and bottom woman are first corners
Top woman and bottom man are second corners
A1 (8) First corners right hand turn
(8) Second corners repeat
A2 (8) First corners do si do
(8) Second corners repeat
B1 (8) First corners honour
(8) Second corners repeat
B2 (16) Just the top couple do a single cast to the bottom, everyone else
move up (progression), everyone swing partner
An honour is a really fancy bow or curtsy. I like to tell people that the
second corners must do a fancier honour than the first corners.
There are many, many, many versions of this dance. This particular one is
probably the shortest and simplest. I suggest 4 couple sets: any more and
there is too much standing around doing nothing.
OXO Reel
6 couple longways
32 bar jig or reel
Easy
A1 (8) Advance and retire
(8) Turn partner right hand
A2 (8) Turn partner left hand
(8) Advance and retire
B1 (16) OXO:
top 2 couples circle left and right
next 2 couples star right and left
bottom 2 couples circle left and right
B2 (16) Top couple swing to the bottom, everyone else move up
Designed for 6 couples but more are easily accommodated: either
add more stars/circles (I've done OXOXO) or have more than 2 couples
in the various stars/circles.
Snowball Jig
5 couple longways
48 bar jig or reel
Easy
A1 (16) Top couple right hand turn, then left hand turn
A2 (16) Top 2 couples, star right and left
B1 (16) Men 1,2,3 and women 1,2,3 do arches:
Hold hands on the sides, 2 and 3 raise hands to make
arches, man/woman 1 goes under the arch and goes around
the centre person, finishing in original place (centre
person needs to turn under their own arm to avoid breaking
anything). Then man/woman 3 goes under an arch made
by 1 and 2. (Note that this all takes place on the sides,
you are not dancing with your partner in this figure)
B2 (16) Top 4 couples advance and retire twice (couple 5 need to
fight the temptation to join in!)
C1 (16) Everyone circle left, once around
C2 (16) Top couple lead a cast off, make an arch at the bottom, everyone
else come through the arch (progression)
It takes more than 16 beats to complete the cast off, but that's all
right as the dance can still restart on time with the new top couple
Speed the Plough
4 couple longways
32 bar hornpipes - step hop throughout
Easy (except for the step hop)
A1 (8) Top couple take inside hands and advance and retire to
woman 2 (can do a quick circle if desired)
(8) Top couple repeat with man 2
A2 (16) Top couple down the middle and back (they can go a
long way, it's 8 step hops down, then 8 back)
B1 (16) Top couple lead a single cast, make an arch at the bottom, everyone else
come through the arch (progression). All face across
B2 (16) Plough the field: pass through and keep going. After 8 step hops,
turn around and come back. Encourage the dancers to do "free form"
ploughing in random directions
Thady You Gander
4 couple longways
40 bar jig (suggest playing a 32 bar tune AAABB)
Easy
A1 (16) Top couple take right hand in right and face down.
Lead down to the bottom, cross over (woman in front
of the man), come to the top behind the lines.
Finish at the top on the wrong sides
A2 (16) Top woman lead the 3 men around the women's line
A3 (16) Top man lead the 3 women around the men's line
B1/ (32) Strip the willow: top couple turn once by the right
B2 arm, turn man/woman 2 by the left, meet in the middle
and turn right etc until you get to the bottom. Finish
on your own sides
40 bars is an unusual length. Simplest is to take a 32 bar tune and
add an extra A or B. I suggest AAABB, because then if you forget to
play the extra A you still have time to play an extra B.
Virginia Reel
Longways for 6 or 7 (or possibly 8) couples
32 bar reel, 32 bar jig, 16 bar march
Easy
(reel)
A1 (8) Advance and retire
(8) Turn partner right hand
A2 (8) Turn partner left hand
(8) Turn partner both hands
B1 (8) Do si do partner right shoulder
(8) Do si do partner left shoulder
B2 (16) Top couple galop down the middle and back
(jig)
C/D(64) Strip the willow: top couple turn by the right arm, turn
man/woman 2 by the left, meet in the middle and turn right etc
until they get to the bottom. Then swing back to the top and
keep swinging until...
(march)
E1/2 (32) Top couple lead a single cast, make an arch at the bottom, everyone else
come through the arch (progression)
Some bands play reels throughout and leave it to the dancers to make it fit. I like
to have distinct tunes for the various parts of the dance.
Waves of Tory
5 couple longways
48 bar reel
Medium
A1 (8) Advance and retire
(8) Pass through
A2 (8) Advance and retire
(8) Pass through
B1 (16) Swing partner
B2 (16) Top couple lead a single cast, make an arch at the bottom, everyone else
come through the arch (progression)
C1/C2 (32) The waves: couple that is now at the top turn around and go under
an arch made by the next couple, go over the next couple, under the
next etc. As each couple gets to the top they turn around and go
under. Similarly, as each couple gets to the bottom they turn around
and go under. Continue until the couple that started the waves get
back to the top. The others continue until they too get back to where
they started the waves.
Note that the progression happens before the waves: the original top
couple is at the bottom when the waves start, so when the waves finish
that couple will be at the bottom
In the waves, when turning around I suggest doing a california twirl (swap sides,
man turning the woman under their joined hands). That way there is no need to let
go hands and you always have man on the left, woman on the right.
There is only just enough time to do the waves, so you can't dawdle. In the cast off,
remind the top couple not to go too far, otherwise the cast off will take too long and
dancers will struggle to finish in time.
Note that there is no need to wait until the cast off is completed before starting
the waves: the first couple through the arch can start the waves as soon as they get
to the top.
The dance can be made a bit more forgiving by moving the swing to the end. That gives
people much more time for the waves, and those sets that finish quickly just get
a longer swing.
Any comments - email pfoster@pcug.org.au
Last modified 29 June 2008