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 - Little Christmas (Reels) | 120 bars |
| 1 | Circle: all join hands in a circle and advance and retire twice. | 8 bars |
| 2 | Swing, with waltz hold. | 8 bars |
| 3 | 1st top couple house within the set. On the last 2 bars, top couples and their 1st corner couples dance to meet and join in a little christmas. | 8 bars |
| 4 | Swing four, falling back to place on the last 2 bars. | 8 bars |
| House around. | 8 bars | |
| 5 | 1st side couple (L of 1st top couple) house within and side couples and their 1st corner couples form the christmas. | 8 bars |
| 6 | Swing four.
House around. |
16 bars |
| 7 | 2nd top couple house within and top couples form a christmas with their 1st corners. | 16 bars |
| 8 | Swing four.
House around. |
16 bars |
| 9 | 2nd side couple house within and side couples form a christmas with their 1st corners. | 8 bars |
| 10 | Swing four.
House around, doubling the last 2 steps if preferred (this option applies to the House at the end of each Figure). |
16 bars |
| Second Figure - Advance and Retire (Reels) | 120 bars |
| 1 | Circle.
Swing. |
16 bars |
| 2 | 1st top couple house within the set. On the last 2 bars, top couples and their 1st corner couples turn to face each other. | 8 bars |
| 3 | Advance and retire: taking waist hold, facing couples advance and retire twice. | 8 bars |
| 4 | House around. | 8 bars |
| 5 | 1st side couple house within and side couples face their 1st corner couples. | 8 bars |
| 6 | Advance and retire.
House around. |
16 bars |
| 7 | 2nd top couple house within and top couples face their 1st corner couples. | 8 bars |
| 8 | Advance and retire.
House around. |
16 bars |
| 9 | 2nd side couple house within and side couples face their 1st corner couples. | 8 bars |
| 10 | Advance and retire.
House around. |
16 bars |
| Third Figure - High Gates (Reels) | 120 bars |
| 1 | Circle.
Swing. |
16 bars |
| 2 | 1st top couple house within. | 8 bars |
| High gates: the dancing couple makes an arch with gent's L and lady's R hands held. The gent reaches under it to take his corner lady (the visitor) R hand in R. The visitor dances through the arch, making a ˝ turn clockwise (2 bars) to go round the dancing lady, visitor and gent raising R arms to form an arch as she does so. The dancing lady, keeping hold of the gent's hand, dances under this arch and clockwise around her partner, who turns with her (2 bars). The visitor dances anti-clockwise around the gent with R arms still raised, and the dancing lady dances under the arch a second time as the ladies pass each other (2 bars). The dancing lady continues back to place where she and her partner make the final arch under which the visitor passes and dances back to place (2 bars). | 8 bars | |
| 3 | House around. | 8 bars |
| 4 | 1st side couple now dances 2. | 16 bars |
| House around. | 8 bars | |
| 5 | 2nd top couple now dances 2. House around |
24 bars |
| 6 | 2nd side couple now dances 2.
House around. |
24 bars |
| Fourth Figure - The Swing (Reels) | 120 bars |
| 1 | Circle.
Swing. |
16 bars |
| 2 | Top couples:
House around each other. |
8 bars |
| Gents swing all the ladies, turning (2 bars) to pick up and swing their 1st corner lady (6 bars) and on to repeat this sequence with the opposite lady, their 2nd corner lady and their own partner. | 32 bars | |
| 3 | House around. | 8 bars |
| 4 | Side couples now dance 2. | 40 bars |
| 5 | House around. | 8 bars |
| Fifth Figure - The Chain (Reels) | 152 bars |
| 1 | Circle.
Swing. |
16 bars |
| 2 | 1st top couple house within. | 8 bars |
| 3 | Chain: gents chain anti-clockwise and ladies clockwise back to place (12 bars) and swing (4 bars). | 16 bars |
| 4 | House around. | 8 bars |
| 5 | 1st side couple house within. | 8 bars |
| 6 | Chain.
House around. |
24 bars |
| 7 | 2nd top couple house within. | 8 bars |
| 8 | Chain.
House around. |
24 bars |
| 9 | 2nd side couple house within. | 8 bars |
| 10 | Chain.
House around. |
24 bars |
| Sixth Figure - Face the Wall (Reels) | 184 bars |
| 1 | Circle.
Swing. |
16 bars | |||||||||
| 2 | Face the Wall: 1st top and 1st side couples house around each other, finishing with 1st tops in place but facing out of the set, side by side, and with 1st sides immediately behind them, gent behind gent and lady behind lady. | 8 bars | |||||||||
| The other two couples house around each other and fall in behind the first two couples. | 8 bars | ||||||||||
| NOTE: The couple opposite in the set to the couple first in line must dance into the third position in the line, so the line-up is: | |||||||||||
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| Cast off and house back to place: gents cast off to the L and ladies to the R and dance 2 tight circles, the leading couple forming a four hand arch in the centre of the set on the 8th bar (8 bars). The following couples dance through the arch and house anti-clockwise back to place. | 16 bars | ||||||||||
| 3 | House around. | 8 bars | |||||||||
| 4 | 1st side couple now leads 2. with 2nd top couple. 2nd side couple dances third into line. | 32 bars | |||||||||
| 5 | House around. | 8 bars | |||||||||
| 6 | 2nd top couple now leads 2. with 2nd side couple. 1st top couple dances third into line. | 32 bars | |||||||||
| 7 | House around. | 8 bars | |||||||||
| 8 | 2nd side couple now leads 2. with 1st top couple. 1st side couple dances third into line. | 32 bars | |||||||||
| 9 | House around. | 8 bars | |||||||||
| STEPS The normal Clare-type reel step is used throughout. |
| SOURCES I first danced this set with Donncha Ó Muínneachaín at his Birmingham workshop in January 1991. He called it the ‘Mazurka Set’ and taught it as a 7 Figure set, as it is given, under the name ‘Myserks’, in Larry Lynch’s book, ‘Set Dances of Ireland Tradition and Evolution’, the last Figure being a Hornpipe identical to that danced at the end of the Caledonian. But whenever I have danced it at ceilis, both in England and Ireland, the Hornpipe has always been omitted so, as this now seems customary, I have followed suit. |