Brief Encounter
5 couples longways
Barrie Bullimore on trad-dance-callers list
Really a ceilidh dance 


A1: On right diagonal, those who can, right hand turn  halfway; 
    straight across all left hand turn halfway
       

     On right diagonal right hand turn  halfway; 
     straight across all left  hand turn halfway

[all men are at bottom, ladies at top, 1st man and 5th lady in  middle]
 
A2:  Middle couple (not partners) gypsy & swing  (their brief encounter) 
     while...
     ends in 4's right hand  star, left hand star
 
B1   Original 1st lady and 5th man 
     (woman is in second  place on men's side, 
     man in fourth place on women's side) cast out and around nearest end, 
     followed by the others as they come out of the star.  
     Middles  tag onto the end of their own sex line
    (set finishes upside down and proper)
 
B2    Couple 1 lead up the middle to the top.   
      They cast followed by the others to invert the set.
 
BARRIE SEZ:
When I call this dance I identify "the important people" by asking the  
dancers to face on the right diagonal and then say "If there's someone there  
you're not important! it's the top lady and the bottom man"  

It's these  identified  "important people that I ask to cast out of the stars.

I also tell dancers that it will always be the same person on the right  
diagonal as this is a great help if dancers are slow getting back into lines
for the next turn of the dance.
 
The dance goes well to Judy Morningstar's "March of St Timothy"
 
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Brief Encounter by Marj Hendy (1996) (any AABB reel)
5 couple longway set -- PROPER
A1  On the right diagonal (if someome is there), pull by right.  Face 
straight across and pull by left. Same again (like Beneficial  Traditions). 
This 
leaves four ladies at the top, four men at the bottom,  and a couple in the 
middle who are NOT each other's partners.
A2 -- on the ENDS star right and then left -- MEANWHILE the couple in the  
middle has a "brief encounter" -- gypsy and swing?.
B1 -- Original first woman (now in 2nd place on the men's side) and  
original fifth man (now in 4th place on the women's side) "unwind" their star,  
casting up and around the short end (for the women) and casting down and 
around  the short end (for the men), and leading their same sex star buddies
back 
into  line -- the "brief encounter" couple split and tag on to their 
respective  unwinding stars.  Everyone's original partner should magically
appear 
as  the lines re-coalesce.
B2 -- The original TOP couple (now at the bottom) leads up the center to  
the top, and casts back down (peel the banana) to invert the set.  
And the dance begins again with A1 -- pull by on the right diagonal.   
There is NO recovery time.