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Terms You Need to Know & Understand
For English Country Dancing
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Back to back
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Facing another person, move forward passing right shoulders
and fall back to place passing left. May also start by passing left and
falling back right.
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Balance back
- A single backward step.
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Both hands
- Face and give hands right to left and left to right.
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Cast
- Cast off is to turn outward and dance outside the set.
Cast up (or down) is to turn outward and dance up (or down) outside the set.
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Circular hey
- Dancers face each other as directed (i.e., face partner
or face along the line) and pass each other alternately right/left/right
a stated number of times (i.e., 2, 3 or 4 changes of a hey). Usually
done without hands, the circular hey may also be done by more than
two couples facing alternately and moving in opposite directions-usually
to original places. Hey
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Chassé
- Slipping step to right or left as directed.
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Clockwise
- In a ring, move to your left; in a turn single, turn to
your right.
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Contrary
- Your contrary is not your partner.
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Corner
- In a duple minor or two-couple set, the dancer diagonally
opposite, i.e,
1st man and 2nd woman
1st woman and 2nd man.
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Counterclockwise
- The exact opposite of clockwise: in a ring, move right;
in a turn single, turn to your left.
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Cross hands
- Face and give left to left and right to right.
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Cross over
- Cross with another dancer passing right. Cross over
one couple is to cross as above and go outside below one couple, ending
improper.
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Double
- Four steps forward (or back), closing the feet on the fourth
step.
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Fall (back)
- Dance backwards.
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Figure (of 8)
- A weaving figure in which dancers pass between two standing
people and move around them in a figure 8 pattern. A full figure of 8 returns
the dancers to their original positions; a half figure of 8 leaves them
on the opposite side of the set from their original positions. In doing
this figure, the man lets his partner pass in front of him.
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Forward
- Lead or move in the direction you are facing.
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Gip, or Gypsy
- Two dancers move around each other in a circular path facing
outward or towards the center as directed (4 bars).
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Hands across
- Hands are given to corners diagonally across a set
and dancers move in the direction they face. Three hands across:
two dancers join hands, third dancer places his/her hand on top.
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Hands three, four, etc.
- The designated number of dancers form a ring and move around
in the direction indicated, usually first to the left and back to the right.
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Hey
- A weaving figure in which two groups of dancers move in single file
and in opposite directions (see Circular hey and Straight hey).
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Neighbor
- The person you are standing beside.
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Opposite
- The person you are facing.
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Pass
- Change places with another dancer by moving forward; pass
is by the right shoulder unless otherwise indicated.
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Poussette
- Two dancers face, give both hands, and change places as
a couple with two adjacent dancers. One pair moves a double toward the
right wall, the other to the left wall. In this half-poussette, couple
pass around each other diagonally. To complete the poussette, move
in the opposite direction. Dancers end in original places.
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Right and left
- This is like a circular hey, but dancers give hands as
they pass (handing hey). Right and left is found in many original
dance descriptions, but Circular hey is the term used by Cecil Sharp to describe the movement.
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Single
- Two steps in any direction, closing feet on the second
step.
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Straight hey
- In a Straight hey for three, the first dancer faces
the other two and passes right shoulders with the second dancer, left shoulders
with the third, the other dancers moving and passing the indicated shoulder.
On making the last pass, each dancer makes a whole turn on the end, bearing
right if the last pass was by the right shoulder, left if the last pass
was by the left, and reenters the figure returning to place. Each dancer
describes a figure of 8 pattern.
In a Straight hey for four, dancers face alternately, the two
in the middle facing out. Dancers pass right shoulders on either end and
weave to the end opposite. If the last pass at the end was by the right,
the dancer turns right and reenters the line by the same shoulder; vice
versa if the last pass was to the left. Dancers end in original places.
Hey
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Swing
- A turn with two hands, but moving faster and making more
than one revolution.
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Turn
- Face, give two hands, and make a complete circular turn
to place, clockwise unless otherwise indicated.
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Turn by right / left
- Dancers join right (or left) hands as directed, move forward
quite around, separate, and fall to place.
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Turn single
- Turn in four steps, clockwise (i.e., to your own right)
unless otherwise directed.
From English Country Dancing, An Introduction, Notes gathered from friends and edited
by Daniel Siegel, on the occasion of the 75th birthday of the Country Dance
and Song Society. Published by the Fourth Wednesday English Country Dancers,
Kensington, Maryland, 1990. These definitions are based on Cecil J. Sharp's in
The Country Dance Book, parts 2 & 6. If you'd like more information and diagrams of some of these movements, see
the introductions to these books.
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