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.
1 Toss Hey: The second time that the 2-stick dancer crosses the
middle, they toss one stick to the dancer they're approaching. The rhythm is
"... & 7 & 8 toss 1 & 2 & ..." .
4 Toss Hey: The second time that the 2-stick dancer crosses the
middle, they toss one stick to the dancer they're approaching, who (when they
get to the middle) tosses it to the next, and so on for a total of 4 tosses.
The rhythm is "... & 7 & 8 toss 1 & 2 toss 3 & 4 toss 5 & 6 toss 7 & 8".
7 Toss Hey: The first time that the 2-stick dancer crosses the
middle, they toss one stick to the dancer they're approaching, who (when they
get to the middle) tosses it to the next, and so on for a total of 7 tosses.
The rhythm is "1 & 2 toss 3 & 4 toss 5 & ..."
This page was written by Mike Miller of the Bassett Street Hounds and
was last edited on 10/22/97.