A Barn-Dance is a lovely way to celebrate a wedding, birthday or anniversary - or just have a bean-feast or annual do. Rick Townend is a barn-dance caller, and works with his own barn-dance band or, if he is already engaged for the night of your party, he can put you in touch with other callers and bands.
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Some of the straight-forward dance patterns are some of the oldest which we human beings have danced - making a circle within which some of the dancers do something special, holding up hands in an arch for other people to go under, making lines down which the lead dancers pass. The caller's job is to make this happen so that the gathering of people can enjoy themselves and each get to meet the others. Of course the dances can be taken to a great degree of complexity, and if this kind of dancing is your passion, you will already know about its history and the different strains which have led to the dances we know today. Anyone who has read or watched on TV the works of Jane Austen will know that Cotillions and Country dances were part of the general culture of the gentry at the beginning of the 19th century. Thomas Hardy made some accurate descriptions of local traditional music and dance.
Many of the basic movements and terms
are well-known - here are a few:
"Swing your partner" - in ballroom hold or with hands crossed.
"Doh-si-doh" - walk past your partner (right shoulder to right
shoulder), step
to
the
right (passing back-to-back - dos-á-dos) and walk backwards to your place
again.
"Promenade" - you and your partner cross hands in front, and
walk
round the circle
to your home position
"Grand chain" - in a big circle, face your
partner, give him or her your right hand, pull them past and - still facing
the same way - reach out your left for the next person; pull them past and
carry on right - left - right etc. till you meet your partner again round the
other
side of the circle or, in 'Lucky 7', stop at the seventh and get a new partner!
"Top Couple" - with lines of dancers, the couple nearest
the band are the 'top
couple'
"Cast Off" - the top couple separate and each go down the
outside of their row; the other dancers follow in line. Often the top couple
make an
arch when they
get to the bottom of the 'set' and every one else goes under, finding their
partner again in the process.
"Turn out the Dish-rag" - in a circle of four with everybody
holding hands,
one
couple
raise their
hands
to make an arch; the other couple go under and then by a process of everyone
twisting round - but not letting go hands - they 'wring out the dish-rag',
by which everybody
ends up at last in their original place.
Fancy a go?
Contact Rick at:
Tel: 01732 458261
Email: rick@ri cktownend.co.uk [NB please remove the space in this email address
before using - it is only there to try and prevent 'spam']
Rick regularly works with:
Grassroots - bluegrass music
the Medway Minstrels: Dave Arthur (melodeon/guitar/banjo/percussion), Gill Sands (guitar/banjo/mandolin), Nick Sands (double bass) - English/Irish/Scottish/American Old-Time music
He is also available to call for other bands