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Strip The Willow (square)
I've only ever done Strip the Willow Square on the English ceilidh circuit, to the instructions given by Marie (ending with promenade rather than balance and swing). As the site given by Ian is an English dance archive, "balance and swing" would use the ceilidh version of setting or balancing, i.e. jump, kick, jump, kick, as in Military Twostep (without joining of hands). As in things like Dashing White Sergeant or Eightsome, this would probably transfer into the SCD realm as set twice and spin, as Ian says. On a tangent, English dances have both balancing (as above) and setting, with setting being a relaxed step similar to the pas-de-basque, coming down from things like Playford, but then some dances, such as Balance the Star, have this setting movement in them but call it balancing ... and then there's Contra balancing which is a bit like setting ... and so it goes on ... - James -
Slightly more detailed instructions (reproduced below) can be found on this site http://homepage.ntlworld.com/greenery/BarnDances/ToC.html Strip the Willow Square square. Difficulty: 2 a.. A1: Heads take ballroom hold, galop across 8 steps, men pass back to back; galop back, women passing back to back. b.. A2: Sides ditto. c.. B1 and B2: Head men strip the willow using elbow turns: turn each other 3/4 round by right elbow, turn the woman they're facing (that's the one on their right when they started) by the left elbow, turn each other, the woman who was opposite them, each other, the woman who was on their left, each other, own partner. Always right arm to each other, left to others. d.. C1: All circle left and right. e.. C2: Balance twice and swing partner. Music: 48-bar jigs Some people leave off C1 and C2.
Marie Disiewicz wrote: > We have the pleasure of doing this dance and does someone know who > devised it? Sorry, I'm not reading 'spey as often as I should. My sources tell me that the dance was most likely devised by Eddie Upton, although that Thomas Green hasn't attributed it as such on his website indicates that there is uncertainty. A large number of callers for English Ceilidhs appear to think that, at this stage, it is trad, whoever came up with it in the first place. Of course, all the instructions miss the best bit, which is the 5th and 6th times though, all the men (5th) and then all the women (6th) can simultaneously strip the willow in a square, with a nifty 3/4 right hands across... (tricky to know whether sides or heads gallop first though...) Adam Cambridge, UK. ___________________________________________________________ Inbox full of spam? Get leading spam protection and 1GB storage with All New Yahoo! Mail. http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html