RURAL SPORTS (Johnson, vol 4, 1748 - I have it from Hunter's Moon) Barnes. Meter: 2/4, Key: A T hree couple longways; 2 beats to each bar. MM quartnote - 114; 3x(AABBCCDD) progression: 3-1-2 A1: Lines go forward and back, then Partners change places. A2: Lines again forward and back, then Partners both-hands-turn once (all improper). B1: 1s (leading couple) cross and cast down to middle place proper, 2s moving up improprer, then circle left with 3s. B2: 1s gate down through 3s, then circle RIGHT with 2s. C1: M1 with threes, W1 with 2s, straight hey for 3 across the room; the first change is left shoulder with dancer of same sex. C2: Changing ends (M up, W down) repeat C1; first change is R shoulder; finish in middle places proper. D1: 1s cross L shoulder, M down, W Up, pass first corners R shoulder; M1 continues round and below bottom Couple back to his middle place, proper, while W1 does the same round and above top Couple; at the same time those first corners cross L shoulders into each other's places and turn individually right to face across the set. Then (5-8) all R-H-turn once the dancer they now face (M2&M3 at the top; W2&W3 at the bottom, 1s in the midle.) D2: Changing ends; repeat D1 in the reverse direction (1s cross R, go L shoulders around their second corners, who then cross R shoulders to face their Partners in progressed places while M1 continues round and above the set and W1 does the same round and below to their progress places; then all L-H-turn their partners once. Do twice more; finishes with everyone in original place. NOTE: Leading couple will need to skip in D1&2 (in which their movement is 'cross corners' as diagrammatically described by Nicholas Dukes in 1752) and it is recommended that the whole of C&D be skipped if space permits. Deliberate changes have only been made in the movements for the other Couples, to add interest and convert the original 'triple-minor into a set dance. In this version, the first part of D1 & 2 is in effect 3 changes of a diagonal straight-hey-for-4. On Thu, Aug 26, 2010 at 11:22 AM, wrote: > Rose wrote (about "Rural Sports"): > >> ...every bit of angular momentum carefully accounted for. > > I don't know the dance, but this phrase makes the old biophysics major in me salivate. It's from Johnson's "A Choice Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, Vol. 4",1748. Given its age, I assume there's no problem with me posting it to the list, since a couple of people have mentioned they're not familiar with it and I'd love to see it get more attention. Below is the version that appeared in the CDNY ball booklet, with my own notes in parentheses. 3 couple set, longways, proper A1 16 Lines go forward & back, then partners cross by R and face in A2 16 Lines go forward & back, then partners 2-hand turn once around (all improper) B1 16 1s cross & cast down to middle place (2s moving up) and circle-L once with 3s B2 16 3s gate 1s down and around, then 1s circle-R with 2s at top C1 16 1st man down and 1st woman up into straight heys across set, starting L-shoulder C2 16 Changing ends, 1s straight heys across, starting R-shoulder. 1s finish in middle place, proper D1 8 1s cross L-shoulder in middle and then pass long 1st corners R-shoulder; while long 1st corners pass L-shoulder (completing a diagonal hey for four) and end in each other's places, turning R to face in, 1st man continues (rapidly) down below bottom couple and around to return to middle place, 1st woman does same above with top couple 8 All R-hand turn the dancer they now face: 2nd and 3rd men at top, 1s in middle, 2nd and 3rd woman at bottom D2 8 All repeat D1 in reverse: 1s cross R-shoulder (or pull by with R hand) and then pass long 2nd corners L-shoulder; while long 2nd corners pass R-shoulder (completing a diagonal hey for four) and end in each other's places, turning L to face in, 1st man goes around top couple and 2nd woman goes around bottom couple to return to middle place 8 All L-hand turn partners I can only describe the meanwhile figure in D as "cracked-out" (a technical term) but when it works it's amazing. What seems like a miscellaneous collection of right-shoulder and left-shoulder crosses turns into a hey in a completely unexpected direction. The 1s come out of the heys in C and into these enormous very fast orbits around an entire other couple, and then all that energy gets wound up into a tight spring of a right-hand turn that propels them into orbits again--in the opposite direction! But somehow it all feels like going in the direction that makes the most sense. Even coming out of the circle in B2, if you drop hands a little early it becomes very obvious that the man is heading down and the woman is heading up and then the heys fall into place. Someone put a tremendous amount of thought and care into engineering this dance just so. It's delicious. --Rose _______________________________________________ ECD mailing list ECD@bacds.org http://www.bacds.org/mailman/listinfo/ecd