Kings and Queens
By Peter Amidon (in the style of historic English country dances)
Formation: Longways lines of couples for 7-10 couples.
Music: “On the Danforth” from NEDM’s Music for Dance Series CD: Other Side of the Tracks, or your favorite renaissance dance music.
A1: Hands along lines, forward, bow & back
Right hand turn partner (palm to palm)
A2: Left hand turn partner (palm to palm)
Gypsy (facing partner, walk once around partner, maintaining eye contact)
[this is a popular historic English dance figure].
B1: Top couple sashay down and back
B2: Top couple face down (elbows down, hand up about shoulder height) take handy hand and walk slowly to
bottom of set.
Other dancers bow to them as they pass.
Each dancer moves up one step and takes hands along lines right after the active couple passes by.
Notes
Before I teach the children I ‘dub’ each child a king or queen, and talk with them about how kings and queens have good posture, always take their time, bow simply and elegantly (‘look in your partners eyes, now look at your shoes, now look at your partner’s eyes again’), always make good decisions, etc. I often teach this with the music playing to help set and sustain the mood. B2 is simply the top couple walking together to the bottom while other folks bow to them, but I teach it carefully and specifically since it is what the dance is mostly about: each child getting honored as the king and queen that they are.
Downloads
- Kings and Queens.PDF - 40 KB
- Kings and Queens.RTF - 4 KB
- On the Danforth.mp3 - 4-minute exerpt from "On the Danforth." (The full track is available on our CD, Other Side of the Tracks. To download, hold-click or right-click on the link and select "save as."