Balance the Straw
This Morris Hey! resource (films, audio and website content) can be used and shared free of charge for non-commercial educational use only. Permission must be sought from the authors and EFDSS for any other use of this material.
Introduction
The Cotswolds are an area of England where rural ways survived longer than in other parts of the country. These dances with the bells, sticks and hankies are what many people imagine when they think of morris dancing. Each village had its own style or tradition. Morris Hey!contains three different Cotswold dances from different traditions; Bampton, Fieldtown and Bucknell. They are not necessarily the simplest of dances but we have tried to explain them in a way that is very accessible.
This dance comes from Fieldtown, which is another common tradition. The dance has good strong stick movements which are simple and dramatic and helps the dancers work on coordination and the rhythm of the music.
As with Bobbing Around, one of the more complex steps has been removed from the initial teaching to be added in later. Weirdly Fieldtown does not exist any more as a village but it is now called Leafield which is less than 10 miles north of Bampton and quite close to Witney in Oxfordshire.
Watch the full dance (video 8), and then watch how it breaks down into sections as described below.
Formation
Standard Morris set of 6
Steps
In this dance use the Inside Foot for Side steps – otherwise all the moves are started on the right foot.
Double Step (video 2)
This takes twice as long as a Single Step and is 1,2,3 hop.
That is right, left, right hop; left, right, left hop.
Start on the outside foot so Odd numbers start with the left and Evens with the right.
The rhythm in this dance is a jig. Think Humpty Dumpty with the step coming on the “Hump-“ and the “Dump-“ and the hops coming on the “-tys”. These usually come in groups of 6 with a small jump on number 7 to change feet, landing on 8.
There are also Hop Backs and Galleys in the dance but we suggest you add them in later. We’ll teach them later in the section called The Extra Bits.
We suggest using the Single Step you learnt in Bobbing Around instead of the Hop Backs and Galleys for now.
Hand & Stick Movements
The stick is held vertically in the right hand and quite loosely. Both hands make the same movements. The main movement is to take the stick up vertically on the up beat quite quickly and then come down more slowly on the first beat of the bar. At the end of each phrase open out the forearms, still keeping the stick vertical then bring the stick in as you jump and clash as you land.
The Sequence of the Dance
- Foot Up — Chorus
- Half Gyp — Chorus
- Back to Back — Chorus
- Rounds — Chorus
This has been oversimplified on the video and this is the full sequence.
With the exception of the Back to Back all these figures are the same as in Bobbing Around, but in a different style.
Foot Up & Down (video 4)
Face up.
2 Double Steps moving forward a little and 2 Single Steps back, turning in to face your partner for a jump and clash in the other direction but finish facing across.
Half Gyp
As for Bobbing Around but use the same sequence of steps as Foot Up.
Back to Back (video 6)
Similar to the Whole Gyp that we have learnt but keep facing the same way all the time.
Go across the set on your first Double Step passing your partner by the right shoulder, move to the right on your second Double Step and come backwards to place on the 2 Single Steps.
Then repeat the other way, passing left shoulder first.
Rounds
Again the figure is basically similar to Bobbing Around but with the 2 Double Steps forward. The second one curves into the circle and everyone then backs out on the Single Steps (this is Fools Gambit’s own variation).
Chorus (video 5)
This has Sticking and a Half Hey.
Sticking – Face your partner, twist a little to the right and bend your knees so you can hit the ground with the bottom of your stick just behind you, hit the ground again just in front of you then stand up straight and strike your partner’s stick (it’s called a clash) once with a forehand (as you did in Dilwyn) and once with the Back Hand. Now you hit the ground twice again as before, but this time you clash with your partner 3 times with the forehand (again as in Dilwyn).
Half Hey – The pattern of the Half Hey is exactly the same as in Bobbing Around but you do 2 Double Steps to get round and 2 Singles to back into place.
Then repeat the Sticking and Half Hey to get back to place.