Study Notes Copyright © William Lynch 2007
| First Figure - The Star (Polkas) | 144 bars |
| 1 | Quarterhouse: Taking waltz hold, couples dance 2 bars in place then turn 2 bars on to the next place on their R, dancing - step, hop, step, hop, instead of 2x3s. They repeat this 4 bar movement into each place and back home. | 16 bars |
| 2 | House around: for the first 2 steps, the gent reverses the lady towards the next place on the R. Couples then house 6 bars back to place. | 8 bars |
| 3 | Top couples:
R hand star: dancers join R hands in the centre and wheel clockwise around to place. |
8 bars |
| Swing, with waltz hold. | 8 bars | |
| Ladies chain R hand in the centre, L elbow to turn the opposite gent, R hand in the centre again and back into waltz hold with partners. | 8 bars | |
| House around each other, reversing the first 2 steps. | 8 bars | |
| 4 | Quarterhouse.
House around. |
24 bars |
| 5 | Side couples now dance 3. | 32 bars |
| 6 | Quarterhouse.
House around. |
24 bars |
| Second Figure - Show the Lady (Polkas) | 112 bars |
| 1 | Quarterhouse.
House around. |
24 bars |
| 2 | Top couples:
House around each other. |
8 bars |
| Square the house:dancing couples slide to face the couple on their R, make ¼ turn clockwise and slide to the position opposite their own place (4 bars) then house back home. | 8 bars | |
| 3 | Quarterhouse.
House around. |
24 bars |
| 4 | Side couples now dance 2. | 16 bars |
| 5 | Quarterhouse.
House around. |
24 bars |
| Third Figure - Ladies Chain (Polkas) | 112 bars |
| 1 | Quarterhouse.
House around. |
24 bars |
| 2 | Ladies chain: all take R hands in the centre, hook L elbow to turn the opposite gent, take R hands in the centre and back into waltz hold with their partners. | 8 bars |
| 3 | Swing. | 8 bars |
| 4 | Quarterhouse.
House around. Ladies chain. Swing. |
40 bars |
| 5 | Quarterhouse.
House around. |
24 bars |
| Fourth Figure - The Slide (Slides/Polkas) | 176 bars |
| 1 | Top couples:
Lead around each other, with crossed hand hold in front. |
8 bars |
| House around each other with waltz hold. | 8 bars | |
| Square the house twice. | 16 bars | |
| Slide and half chain: with the same hold, couples slide in to the centre and back dancing 1, 2, 1, 2 and back, 2, 123 and ladies chain across to the opposite gent and take waltz hold. | 8 bars | |
| House around each other, new couples. | 8 bars | |
| Slide and long chain: couples slide to the centre and back and ladies chain across to L elbow turn their own partner (8 bars). Ladies again chain R hand in the centre, L elbow with the opposite gent, pass back R to R and into waltz hold with their partners (8 bars). | 16 bars | |
| House around each other. | 8 bars | |
| 2 | Side couples now dance 1. | 72 bars |
| 3 | Quarterhouse.
House around. |
24 bars |
| Fifth Figure -The Hornpipe | 160 bars |
| 1 | Quarterhouse.
House around. |
24 bars |
| 2 | Circle and changeover: all join hands in a circle and advance and retire three times, dancing in, 2, 3, stamp and back, 2, 3. On the last 2 bars the gents drop R hand hold with their partners, dance in 1 step, lifting their L arms overhead to bring the lady on the L behind and into place beside them, dance out beside their new partners and take waltz hold. | 8 bars |
| 3 | Quarterhouse
House around. Circle and changeover. |
32 bars |
| 4 | Quarterhouse
House around. Circle and changeover. |
32 bars |
| 5 | Quarterhouse
House around. Circle and changeover. |
32 bars |
| 6 | Quarterhouse.
House around. |
24 bars |
| STEPS The Square the set movement in the Second Figure is danced with a sliding step - 1, 2, 3, pivot; the pivot being danced on the gent’s L and lady’s R foot the first time, so allowing the step to change foot for the second slide. |
| SOURCE William (Hammy) Hammond, Cecil Sharp House, London, October 1994. Hammy did say that the changeover described in the hornpipe above has only recently come into use. Before that, the changeover was usually danced as described in the Study Notes for the Newmarket Mezerts, but it is interesting to find that the newer version is now also being danced, with a variation in timing, in the Sliabh Luachra. The set, as Hammy has it, differs in some detail from the version obtained by the Brooks Academy in April of the same year and described by Eileen O’Doherty in “The Walking Polka”. Readers could find it interesting to compare the two. |
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