MORNING STAR BORDER DANCE
by John Kirkpatrick for the Shropshire Bedlams, in the 1970s.
Stepping
Power steps during heys, moving continuously – no "GNB-style surge and pause," no stepping during sticking.
Sticking in 4s
Groups with dancers # 1-4, then # 5-8 – face your corner. 1st corners always begin striking high, 2nd corners always begin striking low – alternate each time. High strikes are backhand, low strikes forehand.
Neighbor BH, partner FH, corner double, partner FH, neighbor BH, corner double, neighbor BH, partner FH, corner double, partner FH, neighbor BH, corner single.
Repeat, as above.
Sticking in Lines
Right BH left FH, partner BH double, left FH right BH, partner FH double, right BH, partner FH-BH, left FH-BH, partner BH, right BH, low forehand (***HUUP!***).
Repeat, WITHOUT final low forehand (***HUUH!***).
U-Hey
Top couple faces down and starts by passing right shoulders. Everyone else faces up, while stepping in place – joining the hey once said couple reaches you by whichever shoulder is applicable. Cross left shoulders with partner at bottom of set, turn over LEFT shoulders at top of set. No one should ever cross at front of set (thus the "U" shape). Everyone cast up the set once home, in place.
Double Hey
Join at shoulder with partner facing forward, then couples # 1-2 and # 5-6 spin left to start hey – crossing right at top and bottom, left in middle, and spin left at top or bottom of set. Everyone cast up the set once home, in place. We added another flourish last year, where ALL 4 x couples spin to start hey...perhaps we'll look at that next week?
Dance, running order
Sticking in 4s (I call this "sticking for naught")
U-Hey
4s
Double Hey
Sticking in Lines
U-Hey
4s
Double Hey
Lines
4s
Lines, Double-Time?
Video
This was a scratch set, purpose-built for Revels that year by Francis Attanasio and I – with Hugo Glanville on melodeon. The "commentary" in this always kills me... 😊 A couple of notes on it:
The "turning 'wrong' way at top or bottom of set" for both U and double-heys might have been an edit we made, for staging purposes. But in my notes, we kept it that way for GNB last year and it seemed like a nice flourish for tatters.
We went through the double-hey once, but expanding farther across the set. I think it worked well for the small stage, but in our setting twice is doable – if you move fast and keep it tighter than we did in the video.
Set change was definitely an adaptation just for staging, and for a seated audience – but I would be down to try it?
Same with double-time sticking to end the dance – sometimes it works, sometimes it turns into a trainwreck (as you can see!).
A/B structure of the music is very wonky and not consistent...I think there's a strong chance that's just Hugo getting lost, and subsequently recovering. ;)