Tune: Shave the Donkey (Bampton) as AB(ABB)4 (A=figures, B=sticking).
Variants: The Hounds have danced this with 8 by having two dancers enter each hey.
Sequence: Dance on, Chorus for 2, Out and Swing, Chorus for 2&3, Stars, Chorus for 3&4, Linear Bombast, Chorus for 4&5, Dogbones, Chorus for 5&5.
Chorus: Start a left-shoulder hey, sticking backhand high with the dancer you're about to pass by the left, backhand low with the dancer you just passed, forehand high with the dancer you're about to pass by the right, forehand low with the dancer you just passed, and repeat. When you reach the end of the set, stick high with Harvey (an imaginary invisible dancer), then turn around as you stick low. Stick high with the dancer coming toward you, low behind with Harvey, and then you'll be back in the hey. The chorus for 2 will have 16 clashes (half of them with Harvey). In the remaining choruses, you will dance each hey for 16 clashes, then a dancer will join the bottom of the set and you will continue for another 16 clashes. At the end of the chorus, turn left and face the dancer with whom you did the final forehand low. You will (usually) end the chorus in a different spot than you started. Remember where you end! Helpful hint: when joining the set, even-numbered dancers face in with a "backhand high", and odd-numbered dancers face out with a "backhand high to Harvey".
Out and Swing (for 2): Pass right shoulders, dance out and loop around to your right, transfer your stick into your left hand and approach your partner. At the beginning of the phrase, reach around your partner's waist with your right arm and swing, ending back in place.
Stars (for 3): Shift slightly to your right and do a left-hand star for half the music, then a right-hand star back to where you started in the line.
Linear Bombast (for 4): The middles dance clockwise around one another 360 degrees (as if their right shoulder blades were attached), then pass right shoulders with the end they were originally facing. Ends pass the middles and then each other (by the right), then do as the middles did. At this point the line will be inverted. Repeat this whole sequence and you'll be back to where you started in the line.
Dogbones (for 5): Dance out to your left, swerve right and loop left, then head back to the line. Pass through so that 2 dancers go between 3, swerve right and loop left, then head back to where you started in the line.
This page was written by Mike Miller of the Bassett Street Hounds and
was last edited on 10/21/00.