5-Couple Dances

Links to dances on other pages

Airie Bennan  

Bishops Hey       

Composed for the Country Dance group at Bishops Cleeve in Gloucestershire.

Closing Thyme           

Dance: Colin Hume, 1999.         Music: 5 x Wakefield Hunt (jig)

On November 27th 1999, Wild Thyme had their Farewell Dance at The Grange Hall, Southam, Warwickshire.  See my essay The Wild Thyme Legacy.  I was privileged to MC the event, and the other callers were Hilary Herbert, Barbara Kinsman and Andrew Shaw.  The tickets had been sold out for months, with a long waiting list, and the whole event went very well (except the above dance).

The original line-up had Bob Barrett on bass guitar and Elvyn on guitar, but by the time the band became well-known it was John Blomfield on melodion and percussion, Elvyn Blomfield on keyboard, Dave Brown on fiddle and Tina Brown on bass guitar.  Both Bob and Dave were there for the final dance, and the band played wonderfully well.  They had chosen all the tunes, which meant in most cases they had automatically chosen the dances — but I wasn't going to let them get away scot-free.  I wrote a dance to “Wakefield Hunt” and tried it out there for the first time.  It was a real disaster — none of the sets got through it.  Since then I've removed the crossing over in the B part and got people through it with no trouble at all.  Alan Davies feels it's rather too simple now, and wanted to be sure that I would publish both versions to give people the opportunity to call the harder one if they wished.

The Hunter's Moon album may be no longer available, in which case you can find a recording of Wakefield Hunt on the CD “Dance and Danceability” by The Assembly Players.

The Fifth Dimension           

Format: 5 couples longways.

Progressed position is 5, 4, 1, 3, 2.  Repeat the dance four more times.

People find the A part particularly disorientating.  Observe your neighbour as you make the right-hand star.  Take it once around in 8 steps — the normal amount — then first corners cast out left shoulder to pass that neighbour left shoulder to start half a hey.  After the two-hand turn half-way, look for that same neighbour to make the left-hand star.  If they were on your right for the first star, they'll be on your right for the second star.

Going at Sixty       

Dance: Colin Hume, 2007, for Doug Young's 60th birthday
Music: 8 x 32 bar American reels.  Suggested tune: Richmond Cotillion.
Sequence: Break, figure twice, break, figure three times, break.

The dance was commissioned by Pat Petersen, who writes…

Doug and I married in our mid-40's, both of us for the first time, proving that it's never too late.  Former dairy farmer hooks up with ex-rock opera conductor!  We can't remember whether we first met playing early music or dancing, but we continue to enjoy doing both, as vocation and avocation.  Doug plays old-time music on banjo as well as being a skilled player of recorder, cornetto, shawm, and curtal.  I play various early winds, teach recorder and early music, and dabble in banjo-uke.  We both love to sing.  It's my fantasy that in our dotage, as the last bits of memory fade, Doug will sing yet another song that I've never heard him do before.  When we're not dancing or playing music, we're pottering around in the garden.

Golden Dolphins       

Dance: Sue Carter, 2005.  Music: Colin Hume, 2008.

To expand upon the “Morris Dolphin Hey” in B1, same-sex dancers, for example man 2 and man 4, act as one and they keep the same relationship to each other throughout: man 2 is always above man 4.  Their cast is an individual turn out of the set so that man 4 actually takes the lead at the start.  Men 4 and 2 pass left shoulder with man 1 and then right shoulder with men 5 and 3, so essentially there are two heys for three up and down the set.  My thanks to Tom Hinds for clarifying this.

To expand upon the “whole figure eight” in B2, the middle couple cross right and the man goes round the bottom four dancers while the woman goes round the top four dancers, then they cross left and turn left to go round the other four dancers, finishing where they started.

Sue originally wrote this to be danced as a waltz, but changed her mind.  The stars and gipsies were the other way round, but that didn't flow well into the two-hand turn.  You need plenty of width for this dance, otherwise the dolphin hey becomes an up-and-down movement where it's difficult to see the shape and how you fit into it.

Inchmickery  

Kevin's Celebration Waltz       

Dance and Music: Colin Hume, 2018.

I was commissioned by Sandra Randall to write a dance for Kevin Mears' 60th birthday which was in November 2018, and as they were coming to my House Party weekend the next day I wanted to be able to call it then.

I've known Kevin for many years — he was in the Jovial Beggars when I joined the team, along with most of his family — so I knew what a good dancer he was.  Sandra wanted a challenging dance (very risky to request that of me!) for 5 couples — I've written twelve 5-couple dances, but never to a commission.  She wanted it to reflect the many aspects of Kevin's dancing, including a Morris hey for his Morris dancing, a dolphin reel for his English dancing, a box circulate for his Modern Western Square dancing, and most importantly the move from Pat Shaw's beautiful dance “Miss de Jersey's Memorial” where the ones lead down for two waltz steps, turn in to face up and continue moving down backwards, then the same back again.  I decided the dance would therefore have to be in waltz time, and I managed to fit everything in except the box circulate.  I put the “Miss de Jersey” move in upside down so that no-one could accuse me of copying Pat Shaw!

I called the dance to the music of Keeping Thyme on the Friday evening with Kevin and Sandra dancing at the top of the first set, and it was an immediate success.  In fact it was the first dance to be requested at the Raffle Dance the next evening so people had a second chance to try it, and they all danced it really well.

Levi Jackson Rose           Updated 5-Jan-24

Format: 5 couples in a circle

Bernie Chalk was an Englishman who specialised in calling American Squares and Contras, and called frequently in The States.  In 2024 Joe Wilkie provides the following background information:

Levi Jackson Rag was the inspiration for Levi Jackson Rose.  Until just a few years ago, the Berea College Recreation Extension, and later the Berea Folk Circle, held an annual dance weekend at Levi Jackson State Park in London, Kentucky.  Pat Shaw wrote Levi Jackson Rag (I believe at the request of Dr. John Ramsay, Director of the BC Recreation Extension) in the 1970s.  It was written to accommodate the dance hall at Levi Jackson, which had four posts in the dance floor.  The dance made the posts more of a feature than an annoyance and dancers would rush to be in one of the sets dancing around one of the posts.

In 1984 or 1985, John Ramsay asked Bernie Chalk to write a follow-up, also designed to be danced around a post.  It was written as a five-couple dance to echo Levi Jackson Rag.  I don't know whether October Rose was written to go with the dance or if Bernie just used an existing McLain Family tune.  I was privileged to be in the group of Berea College Country Dancers who did the final workshopping of the dance with Bernie while on tour in London (England) in September or October of 1985.

I've since found a sheet dated 7/6/93 headed “Berea College Alumni Country Dancers” which says:

The Berea College Country Dancers worked out the dance details with Bernie while they were in London.  Ruth McLain composed the tune October Rose just for this dance.

I had picked up a version of this dance from somewhere years ago, so when people were asking about it on the Trad Dance Callers' List and Jonathan Sivier gave the same version, I felt I was safe to publish it here.  But then other opinions surfaced.  I thought is was single file in A2; other people said the men made a star.  I said the balance was forward and back, which would be sensible going into a single file, but if the men are making a left-hand star then balancing right and left (towards partner and away) might be preferable.  And I had it as a double progression (the women finishing two places to their right) whereas other people thought it was only a single progression.  David Millstone found these instructions somewhere on-line (though I take issue with the “limping steps” which should surely be a buzz step) which does have a double progression.

Joe Wilkie then wrote:

These instructions are correct, but I've never heard of anybody doing elbow turns.  I was on the tour where we performed at the Royal Albert Hall.  We workshopped the dance with Bernie in our hotel lobby while on that tour, but we did not perform it at the RA Hall.  Although it was customary at the time, at least in our circles, to give credit to everyone who had any input, this really is Bernie's dance.

Hugh Stewart gave this description from the record sleeve of “Dances From Appalachia #3” (“Jacket design by Ruth McLain Riopel” -- she of the tune “October Rose”):

A1 1-3  Allemande left with corner

      4-6 Allemande right with partner, 1¼ turn, men then make a left hand star while retaining partner's right hand

      7-8 All balance right and left

A2 1-4 Men left hand star half around WHILE ladies, dropping partners hands, dance half around the outside of the set clockwise

      5-8 Partners swing

B1 9-16 Ladies “peel” off out of the swing to pass behind partners while the men, making a ring of five, raise their arms high to form arches.

           The ladies pass thru their partner's left hand arch then in front of the next man, going clockwise around the ring and out thru the next arch and in thru the next.

           Here the women join hands in their own ring of five and move to the left to form a “rose” by backing thru the fourth arch while retaining hands. The men lower their arms in front of the ladies.

B2  9-16 The “rose”, or inside basket, circles left 1½ to the men's original spot using a buzz step

So this mentions the women moving one more place before forming the rose, which agrees with what Joe Wilkie said.  Finally click the image on the right to see the Colorado Dancers performing their version, which they say is for 4 to 7 couples though they have 5 in this performance.  The video comes from 2015.  The dance is uncredited, they do it to the correct tune, and they also have the ladies slide one more place to their left before forming the basket so their new partner is their original corner.

I've modified my instructions to reflect all this.  But the notes that David Millstone found refer to a Playford weekend in Edinburgh in April 2010 and say that there are also differing instructions obtained from “Rocky Mountain Dancers” Salt Lake City, Utah at Billingham International Folklore Festival 1966 and from internet site of the Webster Groves English Country Dancers — so there are still more leads to be followed up!

Marjorie's Request  

Miss Claire Moir           

Format: 5 couples longways, 1, 3 & 5 improper

I originally had a simpler first half for the B section:

I tried the dance for the first time at Whitby Folk Week in August 2007 and Trevor Monson said this part was too simple, especially as the top couple then did another cast.  So I changed it and tried the revised version there a couple of days later.  When I asked the dancers to vote on the change no-one voted for the simple version, but I'm giving it here as an option in case you are calling for less experienced dancers but still want to dance to Dave's lovely tune.  The tune is recorded on the first Skylark CD which also contains an excellent selection of American reels and jigs and a superb performance of “De'il tak the warr”.

Dave Brown explains:

Claire Moir from Scotland is a friend of ours who travelled with her fiancé Gerard (a Kiwi) and us through Africa in 2004.  They were the only two left at the end of our trip — everyone else dropped out.  They were married in New Zealand in March 2006 and Patience travelled to the wedding.  I couldn't go so I wrote three tunes — Miss Claire Moir (Maiden name — Waltz), Mr & Mrs Eden (Married name — Strathspey) and G&C (Initials and the chords in the tune — Reel — last track on the Connections CD.)  I recorded the music and made it the backing track to a DVD of pictures of mountains in New Zealand and Scotland.  They loved it!

The Morland Waltz       

Format: 5 couples longways

Progressed position is 2, 4, 1, 5, 3, so the original ones have a second turn being active as the original twos start at the top.  The middle couple are in both 3-couple sets, so they need to look in all directions.  The dance can also be done as an ordinary 3-couple set, with the music played 3 times through.  In fact I've called it with one 3-couple set and one 5-couple set, and the instructions worked for both.

The Morland Folk Dance Week started in 1986, and for the first six years Ian Jones and I shared the calling.  In 1992 I was unavailable, calling on my first trip to the States, and from then on Ian has worked with a variety of callers.  I wrote “A Trip to Morland” for the first week, so naturally I wanted to write something for the 25th, and this was danced there with Ian calling and Deo Volente (Dave and Victoria Yeomans) playing.  A year after starting The Morland Folk Dance Week, the indefatigable Joneses started The Morland Scottish Dance Week, and one of the two leaders was John Drewry — the best-known composer of Scottish dances.  John wrote “The Morland Reel” for this occasion.  He has invented many new moves for Scottish dancers, including “Corners pass and turn”, and I wanted to use this in my dance.  It's often used in a Strathspey, but it would appear (no doubt to the horror of the RSCDS) that any Strathspey can be turned into a waltz, so I was fairly sure the figure would work that way.  (I'm referring to the figures, not to the tunes — no doubt some could and some couldn't.)  I tried it out once and found that most dancers were getting there too soon in most phrases of the A-music, so I wrote a completely different tune with 3-bar phrases rather than 4-bar phrases for everything but the “Corners pass and turn”, and it works fine.

Don't believe any Scottish dancers who tell you that “Corners pass and turn” should be done with a right-hand turn.  The first appearance of “Corners pass and turn” in an RSCDS publication was Moment of Truth, Book 37, in which the corners turn with both hands.

The President's Farewell       

The dance was written in memory of Cyril Papworth, President of the Round, and first danced at his memorial dance, February 2002.

I came across it when I was leading a Playford Weekend at Belstead House near Ipswich, Suffolk.  The Saturday evening dance was usually a raffle dance: everyone has a ticket and if I draw out your ticket you choose the next dance.  The second ticket of the evening was Hugh's.  “The President's Farewell”, he said.  “I've never heard of it”, I said.  “Here it is”, he said, and handed me a sheet of instructions.  After I'd called it I decided I liked the dance, and now Hugh has given me permission to put it on my website.  I suggested the tune “The Cambridge Waltz” and he raised no objection.

The Sea Caves  

Ten Year Tested           

Format: 5 couples longways

The Kafoozalum Tenth Birthday Party Dance at Cecil Sharp House in 1989 was a great success, attended by 255 people.  Here you see Malcolm, Chris, Colin and Peter — complete with celebratory cake.  I called a dance written specially for the event.  As befits the occasion, the dance is for ten people, the lines of music are ten bars each and a couple of bars of Peter Jenkins' favourite tune are included: no prizes for guessing what or where.

Actually I now realise I have to qualify that for non-English readers who may not know the chorus of the song “Nellie the Elephant” — The first two bars of this are quoted in the clapping sequence.  Click the first button below to hear the original song (I've started it at the chorus) and the second to watch some Americans dancing and playing it — rather differently from the way we would do it in England!

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