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6. THE DANCE INSTRUCTION BOOKS
7. TOM AND JOAN FLETT IN WYRESDALE, 1960
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I am indebted to Mr Alan Nowell for much of the following general
introduction.
Wyresdale is a rural area about 5 miles south-east of the county
town of Lancaster. It runs from the Forest of Bowland down to the
sea and contains no large towns. Lancaster is nearby.
Newspaper Advertisements and flyers from 1792, 1793, 1796
announce the dancing master activities around Lancaster of John
Winder, "late a pupil to Mr. Holloway, London" who has "just
returned from London and intends to open a school". An advert from
1801 says the same and is printed by "Jackson, Printer". Could
this be the same Jackson as H.S.J.Jackson 1835 MS also in
possession of the family?
A newspaper advertisement from Sept. 1831 announces "Winder &
Sons' Juvenile Ball" at the Theatre Royal, Lancaster. Later
the same month we find that "Messrs Winder's Ball.....went off
very well".
There exists a group photograph of the later Winder band from
1910. It shows a double bass, a harp, 4 violins, two cornets and
two clarinets. It is known that they played for dancing around the
Lancaster area. The Morris Dance "Kick My Arse" to the tune of
Greensleeves was collected from them by Cecil Sharp in 1911.
It would not be stretching the evidence at all to suppose that
James Winder was part of an earlier incarnation of that band, and
it is possible that his instrument, at least on some occasions,
was the clarinet, as his brother Edward’s certainly was.
Other people are involved in deeper research into the musical
activity this family and of N.E. Lancashire, and their findings
will throw further light on the subject in due course.
See the privately produced mixed media CD “Edward Winder His Tune
Book, 1834” Cock Robin Music CRM 186, (2007) by Chris Pollington
and Lindsay Smith. c.h.poll@btinternet.com
Alan Nowell, a resident of Wyresdale, had in his turn become
interested in the three-handed jig dance variously known as “Old
Man’s Morris” “Kick My A**e” (sic) “Greensleeves”, which had been
collected in Wyresdale, from one James Winder and others, by Cecil
Sharp in 1911.
A “lucky coincidence” (as with the Fletts account above) led him
straight to Bill Winder, James’s grandson, who showed him the book
from which Sharp had copied the air for the Greensleeves dance,
and some others. There were seven old MSS in all including,
amongst some West Gallery items, MS HSJ Jackson 1823, MS James
Winder 1835, (both on VMP) and some printed items (Goulding &
Dalmain, Preston 1801, Frgc 1792, to view on VMP).
In 1994 he was informed by Jean Seymore of East Lancashre of the
MS John Winder (Dancing Master) 1789, in the possession of Wilf
Wrigley, Bernard Wrigley’s step brother. Based not least on the
internal evidence within the MSS, matching tunes and versions and
references to the “Kick My Arse” dance etc. this MS is positively
connected with the Wyresdale MSS despite having sojourned for an
indefinite time with the Roberts family in Shropshire.
It was inferred by Alan Nowell that it had been written before
John Winder went to London to learn the art of Dancing Mastering
from a Mr Holloway, Posh Metropolitan Dancing Master, from where
he returned in 1792 and set up as a Dancing Master on his own
account.
Chris Partington, 2007
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Dated 1789
Shropshire, England
Transcribed into ABC Music Notation for The Village Music Project
by
Taz Tarry, 2003
Referred to by VMP code as "JWDM" (for John Winder, Dancing
Master)
Go to ABC file
Go to PDF
of transcription
Inscribed on the endpapers:-
"John Winder, Book, April 1789."
"In all thine actions and intentions see that God thine Alpha and
Omega be"
"John Winder hand and pen"
Also inscribed, sideways in a different hand, "William Roberts."
There are no further inscriptions.
This is a book of 54 dance tunes reported by Alan Nowell to be in
the possession of Wilf Wrigley, Bernard Wrigley's step brother,
who comes of the Roberts family of Shropshire.
All the tunes are for one voice.
It is clearly connected to the large MS collection from the Winder
clan of Wyresdale, in Lancashire.
Cecil Sharp apparently copied a tune (“Greensleeves” aka “Kick My
A**e”) out of one of these MSS in 1911.
It is written in a bold hand, with one or two additions at the
back of the book in a different hand, possibly Wm. Roberts.
Contents roughly categorised, in descending order of frequency:-
7 Jigs and other 6/8 tunes
7 Airs
5 Plain Hornpipes
5 Country Dances in common time
4 Reels
3 Jigs in 9/8
3 Scots Measures
2 Triple Hornpipes (3/2)
2 6/4 tunes
2 Minuets
2 Marches
2 Rigadons
2 Country Dances in 3/4
As the newspaper advertisements of the time show, three years
later, in 1792, John Winder was advertising his services as a
dancing master around Lancaster and vicinity. The dances that he
mentions are rigadoons, various minuets, the gavot, allemandes,
cotillions, hornpipes, and English and Scotch country dances. My
rough categories above would have to be renamed somewhat to fit
that list of dance types, but except for what might have been
added learning at Mr Holloway’s tutelage in London during the
intervening short period, the relatively small number of tunes is
varied enough to serve his boast.
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Dated 1823
Wyresdale,Lancashire, England.
Transcribed into ABC Music Notation for The Village Music Project
by
Chris Partington, 2003
Referred to by VMP code as “HSJJ”
Go to ABC file
Go to PDF
of transcription
This is a manuscript music book of 193 mainly dance tunes at one
end, and church music at the other. It is long and thin and has
four staves per page, executed with what looks to be a five-nibbed
ruling pen. There are dance instructions with some of the tunes.
All the tunes are for one voice.
Contents roughly categorised, in descending order of frequency:-
65 Jigs and other 6/8 tunes
33 English country dances in common time
20 Reels
13 Scottish Reels
11 Waltzes
11 Airs
10 Marches
7 Jigs in 9/8 time
6 Quadrilles in 6/8 time
6 Scots Measures
It will be seen that in here there are no minuets, rigadons,
triple hornpipes, cotillions, gavots, allemandes or 6/4
tunes. At least they are not indicated and I have not recognised
them. There are 6/8 quadrille tunes, indicated in the title, so
there may be common time quadrille tunes that I have not
recognised.
This represents a fairly typical northern English tune book of the
period.
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Dated 1834-42
Wyresdale, Lancashire, England.
Transcribed into ABC Music Notation for The Village Music Project
by
Chris Partington, 2004
Referred to by VMP code as “JaW”
Transcribed into ABC Music Notation for The Village Music Project
by
Go to ABC file
Go to PDF
of transcription
The MS is(?) in the private collection of the Winder family.
This written by Chris Partington, September 2004.
The main part of the book is 11" wide and 7" tall, with six
pre-ruled staves per page, bound together with another much
smaller book 11" wide and 5" tall with four pre-ruled staves per
page.
The smaller book seems to have been bound-in at random, as it is
inserted between two pages dated May 9th 1835 and May 16th 1835,
yet itself contains dates of 1841 and 20th June 1842.
The MS contains 347 items in total, mainly dance tunes, but also
some airs and marches.
The breakdown into tune types is as follows, but please bear in
mind that deciding which particular pigeon hole a tune belongs in,
can be very subjective:-
Jigs 58
Airs 41
Country Dances 39
2/4 Marches 37
Reels 33
Hornpipes
24
Waltzes 24
Quadrilles 20
Minuets 16
Quicksteps 13
Rigadoons 10
Misc. 8
Triple HPs 6
Strathspeys 5
Slip Jigs 4
Set Tunes 4
Scots Measures 3
Cotillions 2
1. Appellations changed their meanings over time and distance.
2. Jigs is really too all-encompassing a description, as it
includes mostly Country Dances in 6/8, and some Cotillions,
Quadrilles, Airs etc., as well as jigs, Irish Jigs, Jiggs, Morris
Jigs, Scottish jigs, barn dances, "a jig for a reel or country
dance etc."!
3. Country Dances means those in common time.
4. Hornpipes (common time) in this collection don't include any
written down as being dotted, but may include some or not,
depending how you play them.
5. A Quickstep in the early 19thC context usually means a march in
6/8 time, sometimes in 2/4. I mean it as a 6/8 march.
6. Triple HPs = 3/2 time signature and similar.
7. A Set tune, by my ever (r)evolving set of definitions, is a
tune in common time for a quadrille figure.
It will be seen that there are some rigadons, minuets, triple
hornpipes and cotillions, all of which are unusual for this late
date, and this may indicate the influence of John Winder, who is
referred to within the MS.
I am certain that my photocopy is in reverse order and I have
numbered the tunes accordingly.
There are quite a few inscriptions amongst the tunes, all of which
I have included in the abc transcriptions.
Evidential inscriptions are as follows:
(Tune Number)
006-"1834"
007-"1834"
124-"Nov 9th 1840"
137-"1841 James Winder"
147-"James Winder, Feb.1st 1841"
157-"Easter Sunday 1841"
158-"James Winder, 1835"
161-"May 2nd 1841, James Winder"
188-"May 9th 1835"
210-"James Winder 1841"-(this is in the smaller book)
214-"20th June 1842"-(this is in the smaller book)
223-"May 16 and the year 1835"
288-"Jan 19th 1836"
325-"James Winder 1836"
340-"Wyresdale"
345-"James Winder"
He also tells us:
Eight times that various tunes are for "Clarinette Primo"
014-"Learners begins with 3 sheepskins"
011-"Thomas Houghton's way of playing it"
017-"John Winder Dancing Master's way of playing it"
Many times he comments on the quality of the tunes."A Gud
Reel"etc.
It can be seen that the dates are out of order, meaning that
either the tunes were not entered in strict order, or that they
have been mixed up since. However, I am certain from the
handwriting and the evidence above, that all the tunes were
entered by one man, James Winder of Wyresdale, within the
eight year period 1834-42. It would serve no purpose to try and
dis-entangle exactly in which order they were entered.
James Winder was born in 1817 at Hawthornthwaite, so wrote the MS
between the ages of 15 and 23.
He was one of eleven children, and the brother of Edward Winder,
who also produced a MS.
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Dated 1834
Not available on the Village Music Project website, this collection has been issued in CD form, with audio, abc files, and biographical notes by Chris Pollington and Lindsay Smith. Cock Robin Music, CRM 186, c.h.poll@btinternet.com
Born 1817, one of eleven children and the elder brother of James Winder. Died of typhus in 1839 aged 22 years.
It contains 218 tunes, many of which are as the James Winder MS,
but many I have not seen before. A notable tune is “A Grand
Dance”, which is “The Ribbon Dance” aka “The Floral Dance”.
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Music publishers from Playford onwards could count on a steady
sale of dance instruction books.
As well as the larger compendiums, most published a small book of
24 or so “new” tunes and dances each year.
These printed booklets are part of the Winder papers. They contain
dance tunes, each accompanied by a set of dance instructions, and
are typical of their period.
Missing the title page and the last four tunes, it was erroneously bound with the title page belonging to "Preston's 1801", but has now been correctly identified
Transcribed into ABC Music Notation for The Village Music Project
by Chris Partington
Go to the ABC file. With Dance
notation
Go to PDF of transcription
Further information on the Goulding page
This is tunes 73-88 of S,A & P Thompson's 24 Country Dances
for the Year 1792
Minus its cover and some pages.
This fragment contains some 16 printed tunes
Transcribed into ABC Music Notation for The Village Music Project
by Chris Partington
The ABC file of the complete book of
24 can be found on the Thompson
page, along with further information
"Preston's 24 Country Dances
for the year 1801,with proper tunes and directions to each dance
as they are performed at Court,Bath and all Public
Assemblies.London,Printed and sold by Tho.s Preston at his
Wholesale Warehouses 97 Strand.
Where may be had Budd's
annual collection of 14 favorite Cotillions & Country Dances
with their proper figures, adapted for the Harpsichord or Harp,
humbly dedicated to the Nobility and Gentry."
Go to ABC file of the complete book of
24, which can be found on the Preston page
Transcribed into ABC Music Notation for The Village Music Project
by John Adams (2017)
with proper figures and
directions to each Dance, performed at Almack's, Bath and all
Public Assemblies. price 1.0
London, printed by
Goulding and D'Almaine No 20 Soho Sq, & to be had of ?
Willis, 7 Westmd St, Dublin
Go to ABC file. With Dance
directions.
Go to PDF of transcription
Also see the Goulding
page
Transcribed into ABC Music Notation for The Village Music Project
by Andrea Kirby in 2000, and Anne Wride in 2017.
Initially ten tunes only, file now comprises all 24. The title
suffix has been changed from "(p)G&D" to "G&D_1826"
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The following is a verbatim transcription, which we have been
given permission to use, of the notes made by Tom and Joan Flett
concerning a field trip to Wyresdale in the north of Lancashire in
March 1960. Part of the purpose of the trip seems to have been to
investigate what was then still known of “The Greensleeves Dance”,
which had previously been collected from the Winder family and
others by Cecil Sharp in 1911.
The Fletts were also interested in Dancing Masters and other
dance related issues, as their line of questioning demonstrates.
Their method was simple and effective. They seem to have had a
series of specific questions which they asked of each respondent.
This brought responses which could be compared against each other.
There were also questions that led to more general responses. They
were told about the Winder family’s country dance band, and shown
the music books belonging to John Winder, Dancing Master, of 1785,
and other members of the family. It illustrates how much could
still to be learned, even in the second half of the 20th Century,
about English Country Dance as distant as the late 18th Century :-
We visited Dolphenholme on our way north to Dentdale, and were
wondering how to start looking for information about the Wyresdale
Greensleeves Dance - we only had the names of the people from whom
Cecil Sharp collected it. We decided to go up to Abbeystead for
lunch, and on the way met Mr. Percy, who looked a likely source of
local information. We stopped and talked to him, and it turned out
that his wife belonged to the family from whom Sharp got the
dance! After a brief lunch, we returned and I spent half an hour
or so talking to Mr. Percy by the roadside, where he was hedging.
Mr. Percy came into the dale in 1913; previously he and his
parents lived in Heysham. I asked him particularly about the
“Greensleeves Dance” - this was apparently the local name for it.
He had never heard it called a Morris Dance. So far as he knows,
it hasn’t been done for about 40 years.
The dance was just done on special occasions, usually at weddings,
but sometimes at a social or a birthday party. In his young days
there were only two or three people who did it, but from what Mr.
Percy has heard old people say - people who were 70 or 75 when he
was in his teens - there were quite a number of people who could
do it in the old days. “It was a popular sort of a jig” [but note
that he has never heard it actually referred to by old people as a
“jig”] And in the old days, people danced it quite frequently.
It always was a man’s dance, by its very nature; a woman in skirts
couldn’t get her leg over the ring of hands - and even if she
could, she wouldn’t. [But Mr. Percy didn’t appear to think there
was anything inherently wrong in a woman dancing it for he said
that he had no doubt some of the “rock-and-roll crowd” could dance
it - and he didn’t seem in the least worried by such a prospect].
Mr. Percy’s wife’s uncle was James Winder [now dead], one of the
two dancers named in Cecil Sharp’s MSS. He was a fiddler, as was
also his brother, Mrs. Percy’s father.
And their father, Mrs. Percy’s grandfather. Mrs. Percy still has
her grandfather’s music MS, from which Sharp copied the
Greensleeves tune. Apparently the old man (the grandfather) had a
dance band which occasionally played for local dances.
[it is interesting to note that Mrs. Percy’s grandfather played
the cello in a string band for the church services in
Wyresdale church before the organ was installed there. The
instruments are still preserved in a glass case in the vestry
there]
The other people who performed the Greensleeves Dance were John
Winder, Bartle Doddin, all now dead. Mr. Percy has never heard of
a dancing-teacher in Wyresdale.
When Mr. Percy began to go to dances in Wyresdale (ca. 1913), the
programme usually started with a waltz, then followed a Barn
Dance, and “a set of lancers”. Other dances in use were
Quadrilles, Waltz Cotillion, Polka, La Varsoviana, Schottische,
Military Two-Step, Veleta, Highland Scottische, Cottagers, and (on
odd occasions) Sir Roger de Coverley.
In Over-Wyresdale the dances were held in Abbeystead School - about 3 in the winter- and also in a “Corporation Hut” there. Mr. Percy was often MC at these dances.
Wedding Celebrations were usually held in the farm. The
supper was held in the house and dancing took place “in the
hayloft over the cows - they didn’t mind”. The dancing went on in
the hayloft while the supper was going on, few people went in to
take supper in relays; Someone would come to the hayloft and
call for so many people to go in to supper in the house.
I asked Mr. Percy if the older people danced at these weddings. He
told me that in general they didn’t. “The older people, of the
same generation as the bride’s parents
didn’t dance much”. The bride’s parents “had their cronies in for
a bit of cardin’ in the front end of the house” while the
younger people danced in the hayloft.
Mr. Percy has no recollection of ever having seen step-dancing in
the dale.
Cottagers. It is about 40 years since this was done in the dale.
It is a “change-partners” dance, probably something like the
following:
Woman
1
Man2
Man
1
Woman2
(I) RH and LH star
(II) Spin in a baby basket as in the
Lancers
(III) Pick up the other man’s partner, and waltz
on to meet the next couple.
But I am not sure of this method of progression, for Mr. Percy
also said that the man moved ------ while the ladies
moved ---- thus
-------
-------
[He actually drew these two arrows in the dust on the car
paintwork!]
Swinging-6 and Square-8 Mr. Percy has heard of his
mother talk of these dances - they were performed by her mother
(I.e. Mr. Percy’s grandmother) and the people of that generation.
But this refers to the old village of Heysham, and not to the
Dale. Another dance known to Mr. Percy’s mother was the
Polka-Mazurka.
Sharp’s visit to Wyresdale. Mr Percy can still recall
Sharp’s visit, and the comment passed on it by his wife’s family.
Born and brought up in the dale. Her husband, who only died three
weeks ago, was also a dale man, and was one of the few who took
part in the Greensleeves Dance.
Greensleeves Dance I asked Mrs. Brown particularly
about this dance. She told me that it was not danced very much in
her time, and when it was done, it was usually done by the same
people, James and John Winder and Bartle Doddin [James Winder and
Bartle Doddin are, of course, the men named by Cecil Sharp.
John Winder was the brother of James Winder, and died only a month
agao]. “They would do it, these certain people, more or less just
to let people see it”. Mrs. Brown has never heard it called a
Morris Dance.
I asked Mrs. Brown on what soprt of occasion it would have been
danced. I gather that it was rarely done at dances, but was not
infrequent at social evenings.
Local Programme of dances I asked her about the dances done
in her young days. They included Lancers, Quadrilles,
Varsovianas, Circassian Circle, Cottagers, and Highland
Fling. But she is quite certain that she has never heard of the
Swinging-6 and the Square-8, nor of the Polka-Mazurka. Nor did
they dance any reels.
She volunteered the information that Cottagers was done, and
said that in this “you go round the room and change partners” [ I
did not ask her about this point]. They generally had it for a
finish-up dance.
The Highland Fling was a couple dance.
Dancing teachers She had never heard of one in Wyresdale.
Harvest Home This was a general gathering in the village
hall, first a tea, then a dance.
We travelled down to Wyresdale to see Mrs. Percy’s family MSS, and
whilst there we learned some of the family history.
Mrs. Percy’s father, Edward Winder was one of five brothers, the
others being James, John, Richard, and Tom. All are now dead.
James and John were the two who danced the Greensleeves Dance for
Cecil Sharp.
Edward Winder’s father was James Winder of Greenbank (Knowsley
Farm), Over-Wyresdale. The MSS were written ca. 1830 by an Edward
Winder of Greenbank, who was presumably the father of James Winder
(i.e. was Mrs. Percy’s great-grandfather). The MSS mention also a
“John Winder, dancing-master”, possibly Edward Winder’s brother.
It is in the family tradition that Edward(?) and John were brought
up at Wyre House Farm.
Mrs. Percy’s father told her of John, the dancing-master. He
lived at Garstang in a little cottage [opposite the Ribble bus
station]. They do not know whether he was a full-time teacher, or
whether he travelled around the area. He died before Mrs. Percy
was born. Although he was married, he had no family.
Mrs. Percy has never heard the Greensleeves Dance called a Morris
Dance. In her family it was just called “Greensleeves”
Mrs. Percy has heard her father talk of the Swinging-6, but has
never heard of the Square-8.
Mrs. Percy and her husband have never seen a broom dance or the
kibby step.
Mrs. Percy has a photograph of a band which played for dances
around Dolphenholme; her father and two uncles played in it. The
instruments were: 4 fiddles, bass cello, a large harp, two
cornets(?) and a piccolo.
Cottagers was always the last dance at dances about 40 years
ago. Their description was very vague, but it was something like
the following:
2 couples dance RH and LH star
The man takes opposite lady (?) and waltz on till they meet
someone else.
There was a baby basket in it.
A very hurried call to confirm certain things.
1) The 3-Reel was repeated as often as the dancers pleased.
2)”Step-dancing” took place only in the 3-Reel [This is false; see
Mr. and Mrs. Bayne’s (?) account of Billy Sunter’s solo
step-dance.]
3) Swinging-6. They confirmed that Diag. 3 of my previous notes is
correct [I was doubtful about the ’nearer’ hands], I asked them
about the phrasing. The forward & back & ladies’ cross was
definitely 8 bars in length, and the same back, But I could not
determine the length of the spin-ups with partners.
4) The Highland Fling was not progressive.
5) Re the competition for the best set of people dancing
Swinging-6, Mr. Akrigg saw this advertised in a newspaper, over 50
years ago. The newspaper was probably the Lancaster Guardian.
6) I asked Mr. Akrigg about the brush dance mentioned by Mrs. Raw.
He demonstrated this roughly with a walking stick. Tune:
‘Keel Row’
I. Stand with head of broom on floor, handle in hand. Do some sort
of step-dancing for a (preferably) very short time.
II Pass legs over broom handle in usual way. Not too fast,
or perhaps with a little step-dancing in between passes.
III Hold broom upright, and slip-step round it, first to
left, then back to right, (holding broom with both hands).
A Wyresdale man, one of the few people left of this sort of age
who was born and brought up in the dale.
Saw “Greensleeves” [not “the Greensleeves dance”] fairly
often in his younger days. It was “done for fun mostly” at such
occasions as the “Annual Ball” in a big roomat Wyre House in
Dolphenholme Bottom. There were relatively few in Wyresdale who
could [or would?] do it, but he has seen old people doing it when
he was younger - always men only. He never heard it refered to as
a “Morris dance”
The other dances done in his young days in Wyresdale were
Quadrilles
Lancers Waltz Cotillion
Swinging-6
Cottagers Highland Scottische
Highland
Fling Waltz
Polka
Barn Dance
La Varsoviana
Polka-Mazurka
He has heard of the Caledonians and Sir Roger de Coverley
from other people in the dale, but never seen them. He has never
heard of a Square-8.
He has never heard of a dancing-teacher in Wyresdale.
There was no annual fair at Dolphenholme within his recollection.
Born and brought up at Swainshead Hall in Wyresdale, and lived in
Wyresdale until these last ten years or so. His father was a
cousin of Mrs. Percy’s father.
Greensleeves Mr. Winder danced “Greensleeves” [not “The
Greensleeves Dance”] quite often with Bartle Dodding and John
Winder, and also with one of these and Septimus Brindle (who is
still active, aged ca 70). It was not infrequent for someone to
ask to see it at some gathering, and he was usually called into it
as one of the three dancers. “It was a bit on the rough side”. It
was most often done at weddings or parties, but was also
occasionally done at dances. Mr. Winder last performed it about 20
or 30 years ago, but I am pretty certain he could still do it. He
has never heard of it being referred to as a Morris dance. [There
was once some Morris dancing in Wyresdale, associated with
plaiting a maypole. But I suspect that this was Esperance Morris,
or some of Cecill Sharp’s disciples from elsewhere.]
The following is, I think, a very reliable description of the
dance as he performed it. I was a bit dense on this occasion, and
misunderstood him at first. In consequence he explained the
movements much more carefully than he might have done had I been
quicker on the uptake.
Figure I. The 3 men join hands in a ring and dance
round to the left, & back to the right, using a slow galop
step (i.e. slip-step).
Figure II. They now dance round to the left again in the
same manner as before but now each man in succession raises his
right leg over his own right hand & his right-hand neighbour’s
left hand. The number of legs on which they are supported is thus
reduced to 3 as they move round (each man hopping as soon as
his leg is up). They then stop and lower their legs, and repeat
this in the opposite direction, raising the left legs.
[Mr. Winder said that this figure required a little care - it was
easy to receive a kick in the mouth!]
Figure III. They now release hands, and begin to walk around
clockwise. Then the first man, whilst still moving round, claps
his hands together, “bats” his right knee with the flat of his
right hand, then claps the man on his left on the back with the
flat of his left hand, then “punches” his behind with his right
knee. The second and third man now do this in turn, still circling
clockwise. They then reverse the direction of circling, and
perform these movements contrariwise.
The order in which these operations are performed (i.e. the
numbering 1st, 2nd,3rd) is arbitrary, and is decided by the
participants when they do the dance.
Brush Dance. Mr. Winder also knew a brush dance. When he was
a lad at home in Wyresdale, they had “dancing classes” in the
granary on the farm. They “had a chap to play the concertina”, and
all the youngsters of the neighbourhood gathered there. There were
no formal lessons, but the older ones used to teach the younger
ones to dance. Someone there taught him how to do this brush
dance.
Done with a broom, handle in hand, head on floor. The handle is
passed from R.H. to L.H. under R.leg, with a hop on LF, then put
RF down and lift LF, then pass broom back from L.H. to R.H. under
leg , with a hop on RF
Continue to do this ad lib, the music speeding up gradually.
Sometimes someone would pick up the head of the broom, and then
both people would continue dancing over the horizontal handle.
Frog dance. Both Mr. And Mrs. Winder have dome “Frog
dancing” at school in the playground - simply the usual kibby
step, with legs shot out alternately to either side, - but not to
music. Sometimes they had a race in this manner.
Step-dancing. Mrs. Percy’s mother could do “clog-dancing.”
Mr, Winder once saw her dance on top of a “dolly-tub” (i.e. a
washing tub inverted) at a wedding. The steps were of
hornpipe type, with beating.
The dances done in Mr. Winder’s young days in Wyresdale were
Quadrilles
Lancers Highland Fling (for
2)
Schottishe
Cottagers (just going out - he can’t remember
it).
He has never heard of the Square-8 or Swinging-6
F.R. and I called to return their MSS. I asked for two further
details about their family.
Mr. Percy’s father was born in 1872. The last of his generation of
the family is Mrs. Parkinson, c.77, who lives in Singleton. Her
address can be found from Mrs. Cross(?) of Dolphemholme Bottom.
Wyre House became a farm, & the Winders had this at some time.
It is now part of Wellbrook Farm.
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