English Folk Dance and Song Society

Bobbing Around

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 is a dance from Bampton in the Bush in the Cotswolds has been chosen for its relative simplicity.

Bampton, situated between Oxford and Swindon, is one of the most commonly danced traditions.

Bobbing Around has been chosen for its relative simplicity which, for the purposes of teaching we have simplified a little more by giving a simpler alternative to a step called a foray caper. There is a chance to add this more complicated step back in later on once the dancers have managed the basic version.

This is a simplified chorus, and the full version will appear shortly in The Extra Bits.

Watch the full dance (video 16), and then watch how it breaks down into sections as described below.

Formation

Standard Cotswold set of 6 (See section 5 of this dance for how to line up a set)

Steps

In this dance all the moves are started on the left foot – see videos.

Single Step (video 2)

This is a step hop or hopping from one foot to the other. They can be on the spot, moving forwards or backwards.

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.

Capers

This is a larger jump, again changing feet with the foot in the air travelling forward.

There are Foray Capers and Side Steps in the Chorus but we recommend that you leave learning these until later in the programme – see The Extra Bits – and have suggested simpler
steps while you are learning your first dance.

Hand Movements

A simple flick forwards and upwards on every other single step going forwards and hands by the side when going backwards.

A circular movement going forwards and up with the Capers.

The Sequence of the Dance

There are four figures each followed by a Chorus. The sequence is:

In the video we suggest learning Foot Up & Down and Half Gyp first, to get the feel of the dance before learning the Chorus. We also suggest that learning this much may be enough for a first lesson and then the Whole Gyp and Rounds can be added in Lesson 2 (see How to use this resource).

Foot Up & Foot Down (video 4)

Start facing Up (the front of the room)

There is a musical introduction called “once to yourself” which is almost a whole phrase of the music.

Then you do a small jump and start the dance.

4 Single Steps dancing on the spot, on the 5th turn to face your partner for the 6th and jump

4 Single Steps, turning to face down on the 1st, then turning to face your partner on the 5th as before

Half Gyp (video 7)

Face your partner across the set

4 Single Steps to cross the set; moving to the left of your partner, passing right shoulder

2 Single Steps back and jump

Repeat this but this time moving to the right of your partner, passing left shoulder

At this point in the video we revise these figures before teaching the chorus.

Whole Gyp (video 14)

You dance all the way around your partner, turning as you go

3 Single Steps across the set, to the left of your partner, to where they were.

3 Single Steps to come back and jump

Repeat going the other way around

Rounds (video 15)

All circle around clockwise, that is to the left

4 Single Steps moving forward

1 Single Step to turn around

1 Single Step backwards

Jump

Chorus

There are 2 parts to this – crossing the set and half hey – and these are then repeated

Crossing the Set

4 Walk Steps with hands by the side
4 Capers turning around to the right
There is an error in the commentary at this point: “do as the dancers do, not as the commentator says”.

Half Hey

1st couple turn towards the front, continue turning away from each other and dance to the bottom of the set.
3rd couple turn towards the back, continue turning away from each other and dance to the top allowing 1st couples to go first
2nd couple follow the first couple and loop around back to their place allowing the 3rd couple to go in front of them

While it would be possible to give a more detailed description of the Half Hey, our experience is that most dancers will understand it after a couple of attempts.