Dances

Standard Set

Our standard set that we dance at public performances is constantly in flux but will usually include a subset of the following:

• Clockwork (Border, double short sticks. This dance, which includes over 100 stick clashes, was brought to us from Red Herring Morris of Boston. Tune: The Bear Dance.)

• Cuckoo's Nest (Fieldtown, hankies. A double jig.)

• Donkey Riding (Fieldtown, sticks)

• Fiddler’s Jig (Bampton, fiddles, tune: Flowers of Edinburgh)

• Jabberwocky (Havering over Brunswick, light sticks)

• Muddled (Duns Tew; hankies; tune: British Grenadiers)

• Ockington (Border, sticks. Tune: Drowsy Maggie)

• Princess Royal (Brackley, hankies. Single or double jig.)

• Rose Tree (Border, short sticks, tune: The Rose Tree)

• South Australia (Adderbury, sticks, tune: South Australia)

• Squirmishing (Adderbury; sticks; tune: Lillibulero)

• Sweet Jenny Jones (Adderbury, sticks, tune: Sweet Jenny Jones)

• Valentine for Three (Fieldtown, hankies, tune: Valentine. Adapted from the usual 6-person version.)

• Wellerman (Fieldtown, sticks, tune: Wellerman)

• Young Collins (Fieldtown, sticks, tune: Young Collins)

Broader Repertoire

We’ve had a lot of different dances in our repertoire over the years. Some are from so long ago that very few of the Figs remember how they were done. The ones that we perform now are shown in bold (hopefully, most of the Figs can remember how to do these!)

Fieldtown

• • Banks of the Dee

  • Donkey Riding (The tune “Donkey Riding” is a capstan shanty popular on timberships. The term “donkey riding” refers to the process of loading logs through the timber ports in the stern of the ship. Someone (usually a ships boy) rode the log in order to guide it through the port.)

  • Balance the Straw

  • Bobby and Joan

  • The Cuckoo’s Nest (sheet music)

  • The Idiot (Twice as long as most dances, it takes six idiots to dance it.)

  • Jockey to the Fair

  • Step Back (a.k.a. Old Molly Oxford)

  • Three (Four) Musketeers (Fieldtown; sticks; tune: Rambling Sailor)

  • Trunkles (A classic corner-challenge dance.)

  • Valentine (The Ascott-under-Wychwood dance adapted to the Fieldtown tradition.)

  • Waltzing Matilda (Sheet music: Waltzing Matilda) (Anyone that drops a stick buys a round for the team.)

  • Young Collins

  • Shepherd’s Hey (A local variation of the classic beginner's dance.)

Bampton

• • Simon’s Fancy (Written by Jocelyn Reynolds, the directions can be found on the Lemon and Capers page. We learned this at Ale Hallow’s Eve back in 1991 from The Dead Ringers.)

  • Highland Mary (We have also danced the variant known as “Island Mary” to the tune of “Jamaica Farewell”)

  • Highland Three (This is a triple jig version of Highland Mary that we invented on the spur of the moment during a visit with our friends up in Santa Barbara, Monarch Grove Morris. It got a good response then and we’ve been dancing it ever since…)

  • Speed The Plough

  • Lumps of Plum Pudding

  • Step and Fetch Her

  • Country Gardens

  • The Nutting Girl (A jig.)

  • The Fiddler’s Jig (A dance where the dancers rest and the musicians do all the work. A specialty of the late Jon Roussos, now performed by Marieke Thayer.)

Adderbury

• • Shooting 

  • South Australia

  • Sweet Jenny Jones (A dance with unusual stepping)

  • Squirmishing (A headspinning variant on the Three Musketeers)

  • Black Joke

  • Lads A Bunchum

  • Blue Bells of Scotland (Oh why, tell me why, do I have this purple thumb…)

  • Postman’s Knock (Different from the one published by Lionel Bacon)

Duns Tew

• • Seaside Shuffle

  • Muddled (Adapted to the Duns Tew tradition by our former Fore, Kathy Annunziata. She skipped town shortly after its first public performance. She was last seen in Arizona.)

  • Old Gordon

  • Ducklington

  • Lollipop Man (a.k.a. Lads of the Bunch)

  • Jockey to the Fair (A triple jig. Not at all like the Fieldtown dance.)

  • Brackley

  • Maid of the Mill (Competitive wool-winding…)

  • Old Woman with a Broom (Just like Old Woman Tossed Up In A Blanket except it’s a different tune. This is a linked hankie dance.)

  • Haste to the Wedding

  • Headington

  • Rigs O’ Marlow

  • Hunt the Squirrel (a.k.a. Hunt the Squire)

Border Morris

• • Clockwork

  • Upton-on-Tijuana Stick Dance (Based loosely upon the original Upton-on-Severn dance and also related to the Chingford Stick Dance, this is reputed to have come into our hands via Australia. In any case, it’s different from either of the aformentioned dances, so we rename it periodically just to confuse people.)

  • Twiglet

  • Belligerent Bluejay

  • Drunken Idiot (Tune: John Barleycorn)

  • Much Wenlock Stick Dance (Border, sticks, tune: Drunken Sailor OR The Girl I Left Behind Me. Not quite the same dance that is recorded in Bacon. This was taught to us by the English group Black Pig.)

  • Shropshire Bedlam Stick Dance (This may not be the real name of this dance, but lacking anything else to call it, this will have to suffice.)

  • Ockington (This dance, in its original form, apparently came from Okehampton in Devon. We picked it up from the Midwest of the USA where it’s probably been buggered up beyond recognition.)

  • Ragged Crow

  • The Rose Tree

  • Bacca Pipes

  • Cuckoo's Nest

Miscellaneous Traditions and One-Offs: 

Havering Over Brunswick

• Jabberwocky (A double jig) 

Litchfield

• Vandals of Hammerwich (sheet music) (Perhaps it should be called "Vandals of Half’erwich." It’s rare that we have eight dancers for a gig and so we chopped the dance across the middle so that we could dance it with four dancers.)

Brackley

• Princess Royal (A jig) (sheet music)

Sword

• The Buffens. A dance for six with swords and shields (Tune: The Buffens)

• Ampleforth. A traditional wassail sword dance for six. (Tune: Morpeth Lasses)

Complete Repertoire List:

• Bacca Pipes (Border)

• Balance the Straw (Fieldtown)

• Banks of the Dee (Fieldtown)

• Blue Bells of Scotland (Adderbury)

• Bobby and Joan (Fieldtown)

• Country Gardens (Bampton)

• Cuckoo’s Nest (Fieldtown)

• Cuckoo's Nest (Border)

• Donkey Riding (Fieldtown)

• The Fiddler’s Jig (Bampton)

• The Four Musketeers (Fieldtown)

• Haste to the Wedding (Brackley)

• Highland Mary (Bampton)

• Highland Three (Bampton)

• Hunt the Squirrel (Headington)

• The Idiot (Fieldtown)

• Jabberwocky (Havering over Brunswick)

• Jockey to the Fair (Fieldtown)

• Jockey to the Fair (Ducklington)

• Lollipop Man (Ducklington)

• Lumps of Plum Pudding (Bampton)

• Maid of the Mill (Brackley)

• Much Wenlock Stick Dance (Border)

• Muddled (Duns Tew)

• Muddled (Brackley)

• The Nutting Girl (Bampton)

• Ockington (Border)

• Old Gordon (Duns Tew)

• Old Woman with a Broom (Brackley)

• Postman’s Knock (Adderbury)

• Princess Royal (Brackley)

• Ragged Crow (Border)

• Rigs O’ Marlow (Headington)

• Seaside Shuffle (Duns Tew)

• Shepherd’s Hey (Fieldtown)

• Shooting (Adderbury)

• Shropshire Bedlam Stick Dance (Border)

• Simon’s Fancy (Bampton)

• South Australia (Adderbury)

• Speed The Plough (Bampton)

• Squirmishing (Adderbury)

• Step and Fetch Her (Bampton)

• Step Back (Fieldtown)

• The Rose Tree (Border)

• Three Musketeers (Fieldtown)

• Trunkles (Fieldtown)

• Upton-on-Tijuana Stick Dance (Border)

• Valentine (Fieldtown)

• Vandals of Hammerwich (Litchfield)

• Very Young Collins (Fieldtown)

• Waltzing Matilda (Fieldtown)