Shindig – English country dance

This is a longways English country dance I wrote on October 11, 2024, called “Shindig.” The tune is “Texas,” a traditional old-timey tune collected from Henry Reed and arranged by Jennifer Cutting and Jon Berger. Thanks to Jon, who recorded the tune, for sending it to me.

(jump to instructions)

I’m so excited that I’ve finally written an easy dance! And people seem to like it so far. Hooray!

With the exception of Red-Tailed Hawk, all my other choreographies seem to be intermediate at best — with some of them downright complex. Fortunately, that hasn’t stopped them from being danced or taught in places, but it would still be nice to have a dance that I can teach to beginners and feel like a win. Writing an easy dance — one that is still interesting and enjoyable for advanced dancers — is surprisingly difficult and has mostly eluded me so far. So I’m glad I finally made some progress. I wonder if I can do it again. 🙂

I’m also grateful to have wonderful people supporting my choreography. People like Jon Berger, who continues to send me tunes he thinks I might enjoy working with. He’s already sent me Sam Sweeney’s Steppy Downs Road, and Jon’s own tune Evergreen, which became my dance The Green Light. He also sent me his recording of this tune, Texas. Jon is playing all the instruments in the recording: “At least three violin tracks, viola, and tenor guitar,” he told me. So cool!

According to Jon, Texas is a traditional American old-time fiddle tune collected from Henry Reed, that Jennifer Cutting had arranged for her English folk-rock band, New St. George. (There’s a recording of Henry Reed playing the tune on the Library of Congress website.) Jon made a new arrangement and recording of it that is more English, almost faux-medieval (as he put it), and less old-timey. He also shared the recording of New St. George with me and it’s quite different. For one, it doesn’t have the repeats, so it’s only AB (rather than AABB). What’s more, while Jon’s new arrangement has an odd 7-bar B (only 14 beats; most traditional tunes are 8 bars, or 16 beats), the St. George version sounds even more crooked because it seems to be 7 and a half bars. The B is 15 beats instead of 16… or 14. 🙂

This dance was pretty easy to write, too. As soon as Jon sent it to me and I gave it a listen, I immediately started putting figures to it. The tricky part, of course, was the 7-bar B, and I did have to do a second draft of it, because the first draft was harder and didn’t quite work. The second draft, though, was a keeper. And that was pretty much it! I love it when that happens. 

For the title, I was playing around with ideas based on the 7-bar B. Something like “7 Bar B,” or “7 Barbie” … “Shrimp on the Seven Barbies,” lol. But nothing was quite working (obviously), and at some point I realized that the tune reminded me of the theme song from the short-lived space western TV series, “Firefly.” “Shindig” is the name of one of the episodes, and the word fits the tone and character of the dance. So here we are! 🙂

I hope you enjoy it, and I’d love to hear how it goes if you teach it to your local dancers (beginners or otherwise).

Shindig

An English Country Dance by Renée Camus
© October 11, 2024
Tune: Texas, traditional/Henry Reed. Arr. by Jennifer Cutting/Jon Berger

Duple-minor longways
Easy
AABB
A minor
2/2 (half note = 110)

A1	1-4	On the diagonal, all balance forward and back, then turn single Right.
	5-8	R-hand star halfway, then turn single Left.
A2	1-8	Repeat A1.
B1	1-4	1s half figure-8 down between 2s (skipping), then…
	5-6	Neighbors roll away with a half sashay (changing places), the 1s rolling down in front of the 2s.
	7	All stamp three times.
B2	1-4	2s half figure-8 down between 1s, then…
	5-7	Partners 2-hand turn halfway, then clap three times.

Teaching notes:

• B1 5-6: Be sure to tell the 2s to move up while they’re leading the roll away so the set doesn’t creep down the hall.
  
• B1 7: Neighbors can keep hands on the three stamps, and then 1s can lead the 2s into their half figure-8 in B2.
  
• Remind dancers to jump immediately onto the diagonal after the three claps, to transition between B2 and A1.

Thanks to Jon Berger for sending me the tune.

See more of my English country dance choreographies.