THE ARMAGH SET
Study Notes Copyright © William Lynch 2007
CORNERS AND CORNER COUPLES
(X = gent O = lady)
1st corner |
X |
O |
2nd corner |
|
couple |
O |
X |
couple |
|
1st corner |
2nd corner |
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X O |
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Home place |
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| First Figure - Back-to-back with Opposites(Jigs) | 104 bars |
| 1 | Lead around, with crossed hand hold. | 8 bars |
| 2 | Ladies dance around clockwise within the set, the gents dancing in place, to face the opposite gent (4 bars) and dance back-to-back with him, passing R to R and falling back L to L (4 bars). | 8 bars |
| 3 | Gents dance around anti-clockwise within the set, the ladies dancing in place, to face their own partner and dance back-to-back with her as before. | 8 bars |
| 4 | Swing with waltz hold. | 8 bars |
| 5 | Half chain: partners take R hand in R and ½ turn (2 bars). They then chain back home, gents moving clockwise, and take waltz hold. | 8 bars |
| 6 | Swing. | 8 bars |
| 7 | Gents dance around and dance back-to-back with the opposite lady. | 8 bars |
| 8 | Ladies dance around and dance back-to-back with their partners. | 8 bars |
| 9 | Swing. Half chain. Swing. |
24 bars |
| 10 | House around. | 8 bars |
| Second Figure - Crossover (Jigs) | 128 bars |
| 1 | Circle: all take hands in a circle and advance and retire twice. | 8 bars | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Swing. | 8 bars | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Crossover: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 4 | Swing. Circle. Swing. |
24 bars | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Crossover: the whole movement is repeated, top couples again leading. | 32 bars | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Swing. House around. |
16 bars | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Third Figure - High Gates (Reels) | 216 bars |
| 1 | Lead around. | 8 bars |
| 2 | Double star and swing four: top couples face their 1st corner couple, and all take R hands across. They dance around for 4 bars, turn inwards, take L hands across and dance back to place (8 bars). They then take crossed hand hold behind, L arm over and R arm under, each gent holding the other gent’s R wrist with his L hand and the ladies taking similar hold to form a basket and swing four, falling back to place on the last 2 bars. | 16 bars |
| The movement is repeated, top couples with their 2nd corner couples. | 16 bars | |
| 3 | Top couples: High Gates:1st gent takes inside hands with his partner to make an arch and gives L hand to 2nd lady’s R hand as she dances across to him and through the arch. He follows her round to make a second arch through which his partner dances and he follows her round to repeat the first arch. 1st gent follows 2nd lady round and, as she dances through the arch, her partner dances in to take both ladies’ hands to form a circle. |
8 bars |
| Circle and pass through:they dance round clockwise to face their own places (4 bars), drop hands, pass through with 1st couple in the centre, and the ladies turn under the gent’s R arm into place (4 bars). | 8 bars | |
| Swing. | 8 bars | |
| High Gates: the movement is repeated with 1st lady dancing across to 2nd gent. | 8 bars | |
| Circle and pass through, with the 2nd couple in the centre. | 8 bars | |
| Swing. | 8 bars | |
| 4 | Double star and swing four. | 32 bars |
| 5 | Side couples now dance 3 (1 |
48 bars |
| 6 | Double star and swing four. | 32 bars |
| 7 | House around. | 8 bars |
| Fourth Figure - The Square (Jigs) | 128 bars |
| 1 | Circle. | 8 bars |
| 2 | Dance at home. | 8 bars |
| 3 | Corners: dancers separate and face their corners (gent’s
L and lady’s R), advance and retire (4 bars) and dance back-to-back, passing
L to L and falling back R to R (4 bars). They advance and retire once again (4 bars) and dance around each other face to face, anti-clockwise, and back to face partners (4 bars). |
16 bars |
| 4 | Dance at home. | 8 bars |
| 5 | The Square: top couples and their 1st corner couples face each other, drop hands and dance past, gents on the outside and ladies L to L (2 bars), turn in place to face partners (2 bars), dance past R to R (2 bars), ¼ turn in place again (2 bars), dance past with gents on the outside (2 bars), turn to face partners (2 bars) and dance past (2 bars), and the ladies turn under the gents’ R arms into place (2 bars). | 16 bars |
| 6 | Dance at home. Corners. Dance at home. |
32 bars |
| 7 | Square, this time side couples with their 1st corner couples. | 16 bars |
| 8 | Dance at home. | 8 bars |
| 9 | House around. | 8 bars |
| Fifth Figure - Gents Chain (Reels) | 136 bars |
| 1 | Lead around. | 8 bars |
| 2 | Dance with corners: top gents take waltz hold with their 1st corner ladies and dance in place while all others dance on the spot (6 bars). Dancing couples separate and dance back to their partners (2 bars). | 8 bars |
| 3 | Swing. | 8 bars |
| 4 | Dance with corners, side gents and their 1st corner ladies. | 8 bars |
| 5 | Swing. | 8 bars |
| 6 | Gents chain: top gents dance in and ¾ turn R arm in the centre (4 bars), dance out and ½ turn their 2nd corner gent L arm to face 2nd corner lady who has ½ turned anti-clockwise (4 bars), ¾ turn her R arm to face their own partners (2 bars) and dance back to place inside the side gent to turn their partners a full turn L arm (4 bars), drop hands and turn anti-clockwise into place (2 bars). Side gents remain in place throughout this movement. | 16 bars |
| 7 | Swing. | 8 bars |
| 8 | Dance with corners, top gents and their corner ladies. Swing. Dance with corners,side gents and their corner ladies. Swing. |
32 bars |
| 9 | Gents chain, side gents this time, top gents remaining in place. | 16 bars |
| 10 | Swing. | 8 bars |
| 11 | House around. | 8 bars |
| Sixth Figure -The Hornpipe | 80 bars |
| 1 | House around. | 8 bars |
| 2 | Gents in and out: they dance in 1 step, ½ turn clockwise 1 step, dance out 1 step and ½ turn anti-clockwise 1 step (4 bars). The movement is then repeated. | 8 bars |
| 3 | Dance at home. | 8 bars |
| 4 | High gates: top couples take inside hands and the gents take their 1st corner lady’s R hand in their L and make an arch which the top lady dances through. The gent follows her round to make the second arch which the corner lady dances through. Top lady dances through the third arch and all turn into place. | 8 bars |
| 5 | House around. | 8 bars |
| 6 | Gents in and out. Dance at home |
16 bars |
| 7 | High gates, side couples leading. | 8 bars |
| 8 | House around. | 8 bars |
| STEP The step used in the Jig figures is the ‘down’ or polka-type jig step. |
| SOURCE Connie Ryan, at Cecil Sharp House, London, February 1997. I telephoned Connie four days after this workshop to query some minor discrepancies between how we danced it on the day and how Pat Murphy describes it in “Toss the Feathers”. There is one slight error in the book version in that the Half Chain (First Figure) should start with ½ turn rather than ‘one turn’ to get the gents going clockwise. Otherwise Connie intended the set to be danced as described by Pat, and I have reflected his intention in these Notes. |