English Folk Dance and Song Society

Willow Tree

Information Video Audio

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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 from the Bucknall tradition is more advanced than the other Cotswold Dances in this collection and is not necessarily a beginner’s dance.

The Bucknall tradition is less common these days and danced well is a lot more showy than some of the others. The village of Bucknall is situated quite near Bicester and the Cherwell Valley Services on the M40.

Watch the full dance (video 12), and then watch how it breaks down into sections as described below.

Formation

Standard morris set of 6

Steps

In this dance all the figures start on the Right Foot.

Double Step for the figures with a feet-together jump at the end of each phrase.

Long Side Step in the Chorus.

This is Left, right, left, right & left right left hop (twice as long as a double and four times as long as a single).

Hand Movements for Figures

The hands are pulled down strongly from around shoulder height to down near your waist and then brought back up slowly twice. Then pull your hands up and across to your shoulders, pull out sideways and flick them in and up to finish (this is much easier to see on the video).

Hand Movements for Chorus

In the Long Side Step the hands are:

Raise the hands above your heads to do the pull downs in this order.

Hands	Feet
Left pull down	left, right, left, right,
Both pull down	left, right, left, hop;
Right pull down	right, left, right, left, right,
Both pull down	left, right, hop

The Sequence of the Dance

Foot up

The same as in Balance the Straw but now in the Bucknell style.

Cross Over

Just a little different from previous versions.

Two double steps to cross over and turn but, instead of going all the way across, you turn sharply just after you have passed your partner, so you are face to face (or even nose to nose) before backing out to your new place with 2 singles and a feet together jump.

Back to Back

The difference here is that you are all in a straight line at the mid-point of the figure.

Dance across and past your partner and move sideways as usual, but only come backwards until you are shoulder to shoulder with your partner.

Then you do the back to back the other way, starting from that line but finishing back in your own place.

Rounds

The same as in Balance the Straw but now in the Bucknell style.

This is 2 Double Steps followed by 4 capers, turning all the way round while you do them; 2 more Double Steps in the original direction, and the 4 capers, finish with everyone facing in.