Mairie and Fiona's Wedding

Tune: Mairi's Wedding (traditional) Set: 4 dancers, 28 ¼“ (medium) sticks(?), single steps Source: Snowbelt Morris Chorus: (needs description) Figures: double hey, pinwheel, bent rounds, linear hey, binary hey

Detailed Description

This dance was taught to us by Snowbelt Morris in the summer of 2015.

Chorus

Clash forehand high on the sides. Continuing moving the sticks in the same direction, corners clash in the middle while opposite corners hit the ground (unless the ground is likely to be damaged by sticking, in which case stick is waved in general direction of ground). change direction to clash backhand high on the sides. All turn to face opposites. Clash forehands high across, forehand center / ground outside, then backhand high across.

Figures

Double Hey

This is an old (and rare) hey variant, which I learned as part of the Wakefield Dancers (a traditional English/Playford Country Dance Demonstration group. There's considerable discussion about what is actually meant by the term, but this is how Tom Bohrer taught it:: Top couple casts and does a figure eight back to place. Meanwhile, 2nd couple crosses up through the middle to start their figure eight, ending back in place. Sticks on shoulder throughout.

Pinwheel hey

Start by turning opposite with left hand, with center pair clashing sticks forehand in passing. Continue as for a standard 4-person linear hey. If approaching another dancer by the stick hand, clash forehand. If approaching by left shoulder, turn by the left half-way.

Bent Rounds

Sides turn towards each other and trade places, clashing forehand up and backhand down. All facing clockwise, dance halfway round. Sides turn (if necessary) to face and trade places again, clashing up and down. All facing clockwise, continue dancing to place.

Linear Hey Cheat

All jump to places before first beat to do a standard 4-person linear hey, clashing forehand high while passing on the ends, and backhand high in the center. We originally wrote this figure clashing both high and low, but don't recommend it with long sticks.

Binary Hey

Squire clashes backhand high, forehand low while backing down and across the set with neighbor crossing up. (Neighbor travels forward). Meanwhile the opposite pair cast out and across to the squire's side. Continue as for double hey done sideways. Each dancer must turn and dance backwards through the set as they reach the squire's position in order to make the backhand high clash in the center.

Tune