Rice and Lefse 3x40 J
Posted by lara on Mar 11, 2005 in Jigs
40-bar Jig for 3 couples
| 1-8 | 1C set, cast to 2nd place (2C step up on bars 3-4), dance down between 3C, and cast up to 2nd place. |
| 9-16 | 1C cross RH, cast to the right, and dance 3/4 the way around the set to finish 1M between 2C facing down and 1W between 3C facing up while 2C and 3C dance rights and lefts. All finish facing up and down in lines of three across. |
| 17-28 | All dance 3-couple rights and lefts across the set. |
| 29-32 | All set, 2C and 3C turning to face partner on the 2nd bar. 1C petronella turn to 2nd place on own sides while 2C and 3C cross RH with partner. |
| 33-40 | All dance diagonal rights and lefts to finish in the order 3C, 1C, 2C. |
Repeat with a new top couple.
Devised Feb 2005 by Lara Friedman-Shedlov (ldfs [at] bigfoot.com) Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
Update:
Suitable recorded music is available on the CD Performance Dancing with the Red Thistle Dancers, "Cathy's Jig" (track 10).
Although unorthodox, it has been noted that this progression technically will work as an 8x40 dance in traditional 4-couple longwise set, with the 1st couple stepping down to 4th place after the 2nd repetition. Since 8x40 jig recordings are a lot easier to come by than 3x40, feel free to dance it this way. Music for "The Express" was recommended by at least one person who tried this.
Comments on this dance, as I led my lot through it last night (4 Feb 05).
I had a set with 2 beginners, 2 very experienced and 4 moderately experienced dancers.
. 9-16 I really should have spent more time emphasising to the 1st couple that they need to get right out, out of the way of the others, doing their rights-and-lefts. There were a lot of collisions to start with. Once this was understood, this worked fine.
. 17-28. As Peter wrote, this is the standard 3-couple R&L rotated 90 degrees. This had the experienced dancers confused for a while, but they quickly got used to it. The inexperienced ones had trouble with the concept of really finishing each cross. Result was that there were bodies in the middle getting trampled on a few times. I would disagree with Peter, though, in his suggested change. It is a refreshing variation of the ’standard’ figure.
. 29-32. The real problems started here. It seemeed natural to set holding hands in lines across the set. However, this made it difficult for the 2C/3C to remember to cross with own partner. If I do this again, I will try to have them set facing across (or turning to face across). No hands.
. 33-40. It was the transition from the last movement to the diag R&L which caused most confusion. Who is dancing when and in what direction? This figure was more often more a melee than a recognisable formation. It DID improve with time, but as it was the last formation, it had least time spent on it. Since I AM curently doing a series of variations on rights-and-lefts, I need to do more with this formation (Irish Rover?) before coming back to this dance.
. Progression. The 3-1-2 progression was a sticking point for some. Despite my earnest entreaties to "just do it. It will come out all right in the end", I had to repeatedly walk through the progression permutation to show this. I’m not sure that everyone was convinced since, when we did turn on the music and actually dance, there were many stops and restarts and we called it a day before the music actually hit the final chord. (There were a fair number of tense-looking individuals on the floor at that point).
On the whole, it looked to me to be a lot of fun. Pity I didn’t get to dance myself. It WILL be done again
Well done Lara
Alan