These notes are based on those produced by many folk dance clubs. High speed 'thrashing about' on the dance floor is reserved for ceilidhs - where you need to know what you are doing!
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top of the set is always nearest the music (the band or other source of sound!). In a longways set the men will have their left shoulders towards the top, the ladies their right. Sometimes a caller will deem the top to be elsewhere so that sets can fit into the room better - typically when sets can fit better across the hall. When forming longways sets it is polite to join at the bottom end. Joining elsewhere can cause chaos if the set has already taken hands four (paired off into groups of four people).In all dances, unless otherwise told, ladies are always on their partner's right.
Calls and alternatives - and an explanation of how to do them. Allemande Right or Left: otherwise known as a right or left hand turn. The arm should be bent upwards and weight given to assist the turn. Often a turn is once around, back to where you started. Sometimes it is a half turn, one and a half, or two or more turns. Back to Back/ Do Si Do: Face your partner and move forward passing right shoulder, move across to the right (passing back to back) and come backwards to place. In some dances the instruction may be for left shoulder. During this entire move you should continue to face in the direction in which you started. Balance/Set: Step to the right and step to the left twice before a swing unless the caller tells you to do it only once. In a line it may be step and hop on one foot and kick the other across, or a small step forward on your right foot and back on the left, or holding your partners right hand stepping forward and back. When the dance is in waltz time the balance is a swaying movement, forward and back, holding inside hands with your partner. Box the Gnat: A couple meet giving right hands they change places with the lady going under their raised arms and turn to face each other still holding hands, this means that they swap places and end up facing back the way they came, facing each other. Swat the Flea is less common where you use left hands instead of right. Basket: In a circle of up to eight people, men with their arms around the back of the ladies waists and ladies with their hands on the men's nearest shoulder, pivot around to the left. Not recommended if you have slipped discs or other weaknesses - tell the other people not to be too violent. Done with some enthusiasm at ceilidhs, the rotation can be quite fast. Ladies feet have been known to leave the ground. The rotation should be around a single point on the dance floor, not wandering off in any direction, with right feet kept close in to the centre if only four people are involved. California Twirl: Starting when couple are moving in the same direction side by side, man's right hand to ladies left raising hands she turns left and moves to his place while he moves a step forward and turns right and moves into her place. You both end up facing the opposite direction and have exchanged places with your partner, but still holding same hands. (Couples start and end this move both facing the same direction as each other, and side by side.) Cast: Face up (or down occasionally) the set and move up and around, away from the other line towards the bottom of the set. A double cast - face up the set and cast with your partner all the way around to the left or right using promenade hold. Chassay: A sideways movement, either in a ballroom hold, taking two hands or nearest hand moving to the right or the left. Corner/Contra/Neighbour/Shadow: The person next to you who is not your partner (therefore on ladies right or man's left). Will usually be of the opposite sex! Cross over: Cross over the set passing the opposite person (often your partner) by the right shoulder and then turning to face back in. Figure of eight: You and your partner dance a figure of eight around another couple. Leading through that couple (lady goes first) crossing with your partner, go round behind the person who was next to your partner and into your partner's place, (this far is a half figure of eight). For a full figure of eight you continue, crossing again with your partner to get home - ladies first in the crossing, as before. Gypsy: Two dancers walk around each other shoulder to shoulder gazing into each other's eyes. Can be in either direction but usually rotating clockwise (right shoulders adjacent). Often 'melts down' into a swing - you will already be rotating in the correct direction if told to do this! Grand Chain: Move around the set by passing right hands with your partner, left with the next, right with the next, etc. (Men go anticlockwise, ladies clockwise). Start by facing the person you are dancing with (often your original partner) give right hands and pull by each other (passing right shoulders). Someone else should be coming towards you with their left hand outstretched. Weave the ring is a right and left grand chain but without touching hands. A wrong way grand is simply a grand chain but men move clockwise and ladies anticlockwise. Grand Square: Danced starting from a square formation (four or six couples). Causes far more problems than it ought to because it is rarely explained properly to beginners. Easier with a diagram! The main square becomes in effect four smaller squares for the purposes of this figure. Each person moves ONLY around the four sides of his or her small square. Most often, the move is immediately reversed. It is important to keep close to your correct path on the dance floor. When there are six couples (quite rare) four of them keep close to their partners and move as single entities. Usually, in time with the music, it is two/three steps, turn, two/three steps, turn, two/three steps, turn, two/three steps (back where you started). Each turn here is just a rotation (at corners of the small square). Holding hands occurs as you move either forwards or backwards alongside another person (along the dotted lines). For example, the head couples will be holding inside hands as they undertake their first move (inwards to meet at the centre of the large square). The side couples will initially move on their own towards a corner of the large square.
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Half Pousette: A way for two couples to change places. Hold hands with your partner as though for a two hand turn and one of you pushes to move forwards while the other moves backwards, the move should be on a diagonal towards the other pousetting couple and having moved a double out (two steps out) you fall back diagonally into the other couples place. To do a full pousette you keep moving so you get home (back where you started from) having gone around a complete square.
Half/Full right and Left through: Danced by two couples, frequently facing across the set to your partner, but sometimes facing up and down the set. Facing as directed you change places with the person you are facing giving right hands as you pass (by right shoulders), then turn to your neighbour on the side and change places with them giving left hands acknowledging them as you do so, do not turn your back on the person with whom you have changed position (this is known as a courtesy turn). Full R & L through face across again giving right across and left on the side to finish up where you started. Improper: Starting the dance on the opposite side to where you would normally, i.e. man on the ladies side and the lady on the men's side. In a longways set this could be couples 1 or 2, in longways sets it could be couples 1, 3 and 5, or couples 2 and 4 etc. Sometimes the 'mens line' will be told to do something despite that it contains ladies - the mens line is the one that originally had all the men in it...... Ladies Chain: Couple facing couple, the ladies give right hands to each other and pass to give left hand to the opposite man who helps them turn around, the ladies give right to each other again, then left to their partner who also helps them to turn round. Ladies may put their right hand behind their back, to be held by the man's right as he sweeps them around. Pass through: Walk forwards past the facing dancer passing right shoulders. Promenade Hold: Standing side by side with your partner, facing in the same direction, holding hands across in front of you, right to right, left to left. Promenade: Holding hands as above. In a circular or square formation usually the promenade is anticlockwise (sometimes called Ballroom direction) which means the man is on the inside and the lady on the outside. A half promenade applies either to square sets, or a longways set, where you promenade across the set and then turn as a couple to face in. Reel/Hey: A weaving figure, dancers moving by passing right shoulder then left shoulder along the line, when you get to the end you turn around (counting that as passing someone) and work your way back. Often causes a great deal of trouble but is very simple once grasped! Usually, start by facing your partner and passing right shoulders. Pass the next person left to left, then right to right, etc, all the time moving in the same direction. At the END of the line of dancers who are 'reeling' you turn around and on the way back pass the first person coming towards you with the SAME shoulder as you passed the last person before you turned around. Simple when you get the hang of it, and often danced quite fast. Think of it as passing right/left/right/left/turn/left/right/left etc. Reels can be for as few as three people or for many more! Right or Left Hand Stars: Usually danced sedately by two couples. Give right hands across holding the opposite person's hand, or left hands for a left hand star. Again giving weight will help. Sometimes all the men or all the women (3 or 4 or 5 or more) in a set will be required to do a part or whole right or left hand star - and sometimes as they sweep around they 'scoop up' their partners (or another person) putting arms around waists. The people being 'scooped up' are usually ladies and they should put nearest arms on the shoulder of the man who has (in some fast dances) almost swept them off their feet. Square Through: This is similar to right and left through but without the courtesy turns, but is danced more quickly. A left square through simply starts with left hands - but is rare. Star Ladies Chain: Ladies move halfway around the set in a right hand star. The opposite men give them their left hand and turn them around into another right hand star to meet their partners, who turn them in the same way. Sometimes, instead of going half way round in their star, the ladies go 3/4 round - and sometimes as they are rotating in the star (in the middle of the set) the men nip smartly around on the outside to another mans place. Star Through: With a man facing a lady he holds up his right hand (like a policeman stopping traffic) and she holds up her left so they touch palms. Each moves forward, the man turning right after passing her and the lady left after going under their raised arms, the couple end up holding hands both facing the same direction (compare with California Twirl and Box the Gnat which are both quite different). All three moves achieve a rapid change in position and/or orientation of a dancing couple. Strip the Willow: Great fun, and often danced very fast at ceilidhs and with violent turns - especially if everyone knows what they are doing......! The end couple turn each other by the right (with an elbow hold keeping thumbs tucked under) once and a half to get to the other side, then turn the next person on the side by the left, go back to their partner for a right turn (in the middle of the set), the next person on the side by the left and so on to the bottom of the set, turning everyone of the opposite sex on the side by the left and partner by the right. At the end the working couple need to turn half or once and half to end up on the correct side. Remember the golden rule - right to your partner in the middle, left to everyone else on the side.Strip the willow in a circle (square formation) can be even more fun - two opposite men start by turning 3/4 by the right, left to their 3/4 lady (the one who was diagonally to the man's right), by the right in the middle of the square (two men again), by the left to their respective 1/2 lady (opposite where the men first started) and so on back to their partner. Can be very fast.
Swing: Stand facing your partner so right shoulders are in line, place right feet side by side outside your partners to act as a pivot, then use your left foot to push you around similar to riding a scooter in a clockwise direction giving weight as you do so. Various arm holds are used, the most common is a variation of ballroom hold. Cross hand hold is used for some dances e.g. hornpipes. It is important that both dancers respect their partner's capabilities when swinging and ensure it is safe to release the hold before doing so. Can be very fast and some ladies may get seriously giddy - men should not let go until they know it is safe to do so. With practice, the man's left hand and the ladies right can be free - the only real contact being the man's right arm FIRMLY around the ladies waist (or above it). Imagine you are rotating around a point on the floor - do not move sideways in any direction. At the end of a swing the lady should be on the man's right and facing in the same direction.There are many other moves.
Dance Figures Becket formation A longways set, but instead of partners standing opposite each other they stand side by side with the lady on her partners right facing across the set to another couple. The progression is up one side of the set, across the end, and back down the other side. Circle A ring of couples facing inwards, each lady on her man's right, as usual. Longways Set A line of dancers, with partners facing across the set taking hands four from the top forming rings of four, first couples are No.1 and second couples No.2 (l's moving down the set (away from the music) and 2's up, until you reach the end and have nobody to dance with (you are then a neutral couple), though in some dances they have to be awake to join in some bits even though they are neutral. Wait out one turn of the dance and come back in, if you are at the bottom you come back in as 2's and at the top as l's. Some dances have the first couples swap sides, this is known as an improper set, remembering to swap sides again when you get to the end and change numbers. Longways Sets A certain number of couples in a Longways set, i.e. 3 couples or up to 8 couples in one set. Sicilian Circle Couple facing couple around the room in a large circular formation. Remember which way you are facing around the large circle - you will usually move only in that direction to progress to subsequent couples coming the other way. Square Set Usually four couples in a square formation, each couple forming one side of the square. The couples are numbered anticlockwise, number one nearest the music. Couples facing up and down the room are head couples those facing across the room are side couples. In some dances there can be two side couples on each side, but only one head couple at either end (total six couples). It is still then called a square set despite being rectangular......If a dance 'falls apart' then reform the set and wait for an appropriate time to restart, never drop out and sit down!!
