The Black Nag.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 175, 25 July 1936, Page 7 (Supplement)

The Black Nag.

MISS M. BLACKBURNE Presents

A LONGWAYS DANCE FOR SIX.

We have not had a dance of exactly th.s formation smce we did -Upon a Summer's Day." In the third chorus of Black Nag we ha a figure quite frequently used in English dances, called the Straight Hey for Three." Previously in other dances we came across heys with two or three changes of position. You will not fin to learn this long hey, if you look at the diagram and p.cture carefully and follow the directions.

FORMATION. —Your six dancers make a double column, facing towards the "top," the women on the right-hand side. VERSE I.—Music No. 1. Bars 1-4: Partners take right hands and lead forward a double and backward a double with a running step. Bars 5-8: Repeat all this again. CHORUS I.—Music for Chorus played twice. Bars 1-2: The Ist couple face each other and, taking both hands, right in left and left in right, "slip" step four steps towards the "top." (See photograph No. 16, right side.) Bars 3-4: The 2nd couple now does the same. (See of same photograph.) Bars 5-6: The 3rd couple slip up in the same way. Bars 7-8: All dancers "turn single," Now repeat the same movement in reverse order. Bars 1-2: The 3rd couple join both hands and slip four steps towards the "bottom." Bars 3-6: The 2nd and Ist couples follow suit in their turn. Bars 7-8: All "turn single." VERSE 2. —Music No. 1. Bars 1-4: Partners face each other and "side" with a running step. Bars 5-8: Repeat this again. CHORUS 2.—Play through twice. Bars 1-2: The Ist man and 3rd woman change places with four slip steps,

passing back to back. (See photograph No. 17,. the left-hand set showing the pass at the 2nd count, the right-hand one at the 3rd.) On reaching the new position each faces inwards as the other dancers do. Bars 3-4- The opposite corners now change in a similar manner. Bars 5-6: The centre couple slip across four small steps, the woman facing "up" and the man'"down" as they pass back to back. Bars 7-8: All "turn single." Bars 1-2: The Ist man and 3rd woman repeat the movement to places. Bars 3-4: The other corners do the same. Bars 5-6: The centre couple change, the man facing "up, the woman "down. Bars 7-8: All "turn single." VERSE 3. — Music No. 1. Bars 1-4: Partners, "arm right. Bars 5-8: Partners "arm left. CHORUS 3.—Music played twice* Bars 1-8: The men with a skipping step, dance the „ "whole hey for three." (The Ist man turns to face the bottom, the 2nd faces the first, and also the "top," the 3rd faces the "top." Nos. 1 and 2 both move off to their left and No. 3 moves to the right. Following the track of a figure of "8" the dancers interweave. The six passes

will be as follows: —1. Nos. 1 and 2 pass right shoulders; 2. Nos. 1 and 3 pass left; 3. Nos. 2 and 3 pass right, see photograph No. 18; 4. Nos. I and 2 pass left; 5. Nos. I and 3 pass right; 6. Nos. 2 and 3 left.) Bars 1-6: The women, with twelve skipping steps, now do as the men did, dancing the "whole hey for three." The eighteenth photograph shows the 3rd change, when Nos. 2 and 3 pass right shoulders and No. I is turning to the right towards the "top.' Bars 7-8: All partners, now in their original positions, "turn single" and bow and curtsy.

This dance is recorded by Columbia No. DO 11, also by H.M.V. 82959. Note I.—Some versions of tbe dance give 16 skipping steps (eight bars) for the women's "hey," in which case the final "turn single is omitted and the curtsy and bow would be performed at the end of the women s hey. Note 2. —To simplify teaching the "hey," draw the outline of a figure of "8" with well rounded sides. Let No. I, facing towards the "bottom" qnd moving off to the left, walk the whole track alone in 1 6 steps, then 1 No. 2, standing at the intersecting lines facing the "top," moves off to the left and traces first the top loop and then the bottom, so returning to the starting place. Lastly No. 3, facing "top," moves off to the right and follows the entire course in 16 steps. Having done this let the three men or three women walk and then skip, moving simultaneously.