Morningstar (for 3)

Source: Originally a single-stick dance by the Shropshire Bedlams. Collected by the Hounds from a Mixed Morris Ale workshop videotape in 1988. Adapted by the Hounds to a double-short-stick dance in 1990, and adapted again to a dance for 3 dancers and 4 sticks in 1991.

Tune: Morningstar (Bledington) as A(AB)3A (A=sticking, B=heys).

Variants: The Hounds have danced this as a double-short-stick dance for 4 and for 8.


Formation: A triangular set of 3, two dancers with 1 short stick and one dancer with 2 short sticks.

Sequence: Once to Yourself, Stick in Pairs, 1 Toss Hey, Stick in Pairs, 4 Toss Hey, Stick in Line, 7 Toss Hey, Stick in Line.

Stick in Pairs and Stick in Line: These are derived from the double-stick version of Morningstar. The 2-stick dancer does the "usual" double-sticking. The 1-stick dancers stick as if they were the left and right halves of one person who was doing the usual double-sticking. (The 1-stick dancers are actually doing the original sticking of the Bedlams' dance.)

Stick Tossing Heys: The 1-stick dancers back away from each other while the 2-stick dancer moves between them, turns right, and starts a right-shoulder hey for three. Dance a whole hey, but leave out the very last loop (there won't be time for it), ending back in the same place in your triangle and facing in the proper direction for the next sticking. The stick tosses (described below) will move the extra stick one place counterclockwise in the triangle each time through the hey. Helpful hint: to avoid "bunching up", if a stick is to be tossed to you, don't move toward the center until the stick is tossed.

This page was written by Mike Miller of the Bassett Street Hounds and was last edited on 10/22/97.

[Back to Mike's Border Morris Notes]