Additional Notes on Northumberland Musketeers

The Bassett Street Hounds use the tune Shave the Donkey for this dance. Because Bach's Little Fugue is longer, we have modified the original version of the dance as follows:

• All choruses have 32 clashes except for the last one, which goes until the music finishes. (29 clashes if the dancers kept count properly.)
• We do the first chorus with three dancers. We add one dancer after sixteen clashes during each of the next three choruses (up to six dancers). During the last chorus, we add two dancers, one after eight clashes, and the other after an additional eight.
• The figures we use (for 8) are:
1. star for 3
2. linear bombast (for 4)
3. out to the left ("dog bones") (for 5)
4. "paranormal heys" (perpendicular heys) (for 6)
5. motorcycle hey (for 8)
• The figures we would probably use for 6 are:
1. swing yer partner (for 2)
2. star (for 3)
3. linear bombast (for 4)
4. out to the left ("dog bones") (for 5)
5. "paranormal heys" (perpendicular heys) (for 6)

Note that because the music does not fit neatly into a 32-beat pattern, it is very important for the dancers to keep count of where they are.

Last modified: Mon Nov 18 00:14:35 2002 by Jeff Bigler