Tune: The Idiot (Stan Rogers), as (ABCD)3 (A=first figure, B=second figure, CD=chorus/sticking).
Sequence: Once to Yourself, Rounds, Chorus, Linear Hey, Square Hey, Chorus, Linear Bombast, Square Bombast, Chorus.
Chorus: Start in a square set, and remember where you are! Step throughout. Each dancer moves to the centerline of the set as if about to pass left shoulders with their partner, while spinning 270 degrees over their right shoulder. (You'll end up on the centerline of the set, facing your partner.) Stick in pairs in this line, backhand high and forehand low. Now move to the next spot counterclockwise in the square from where you started, spinning again over your right shoulder. (Those on the ends of the line go forward and to their right, spinning 270 degrees; those in the middle of the line go back and to their left, spinning 450 degrees.) Stick across the square set, backhand high and forehand low. Repeat the whole sequence a total of four times, ending back where you started.
Rounds: During the B music, cast out and dance in a clockwise circle, going around twice and ending where you started.
Linear Hey: Spin from a square set into a line (as in the chorus). Do a hey for 4 in that line, starting by passing right shoulders. End where you started in the square set.
Square hey: Pass right shoulders across the set, turn out 270 degrees to face someone up or down the set, pass left shoulders up/down the set, turn out 270 degrees to face someone across the set, and repeat.
Linear bombast: The first time through, spin from a square set into a line (as in the chorus); otherwise, middles dance clockwise around each other 360 degrees (as if their right shoulder blades were attached). Middles then pass the ends by the right as ends pass the middles and then each other (by the right, becoming middles). Repeat the entire sequence a total of four times, ending where you started in the square set. Helpful hint: after the second time through the initial line will be inverted.
Square Bombast: Start from a square set. Each dancer will move one place counterclockwise around the square and then turn out over their right shoulder. First corners (the diagonal pair that includes the person closest to the musician's right hand) will go there directly, but second corners first pass right shoulders in the middle of the set and then go to their progressed place. Repeat this a total of four times to get back to your original place.
This page was written by Mike Miller of the Bassett Street Hounds and
was last edited on 06-Dec-2001.