The Alexandra Park Road Stick Dance, N.22

Long-stick dance devised for the Eclectics dance team in 1985.

Music: Durham Rangers, or any suitable 32-bar hornpipe. Play AABB × 4, then AB.

Formation: widely spaced, longways for eight: dancers are numbered in the usual morris fashion as follows:

Music	2	4	6	8
Music	1	3	5	7

Stepping: large, showy, border-morris style single steps (step-hops) whenever moving.

Figures: Chorus, Cross into Rounds, Interlocks, Solar System, Spaghetti Junction, Cross into Rounds and Off.

List of Known Performers...

Chorus (B music)
On last beat of A music, "stand" with left foot, take stick off shoulder, over and behind (straight arm). The stick turns through about 1-1/4 revolutions and strikes the floor on the first beat of the next bar.

Sticking (4 bars)	Behind with tip, with partner, reverse with partner, behind with tip, with partner, reverse with partner, behind, behind
Face-to-face (4 bars)	In eight step-hops, move out to left, to pass right shoulders not with partner but with next person to your left, complete half-circle and return to partner's position. "Stand" and take stick over and behind.

Repeat sticking and face-to-face to return to own position.

Start of dance
The two lines must be as far apart as possible. Stick should be held in right hand, resting on right shoulder, when not in use. The leader will call "one, two, three, four" - on "three", both lines move forward with two step-hops to begin...

Cross into Rounds

Clash with partner on first beat of bar, then pass right shoulders and turn right to form rounds.

Continue round (very wide) until 14th step-hop (set is transposed top-to-bottom), then surge back in, clash and repeat back to place, ready to stick for chorus.

Interlocks

The general rule for this figure is, for four step-hops; 1 (clash), 2 (move), 3 (move), 4 (turn right 90°).

The sequence is as follows (each unit is 4 steps): 1 - odds up, evens down, one place. 2 - cross right shoulders (2/3, 4/5, 6/7- 1 and 8 hit floor). 3 odds down, evens up, two places. 4 - as 2 (1/4, 3/6, 5/8 - 2 and 7 hit floor).

5 - as 1, moving two places. 6 - as 2. 7 - as 3. 8 - as 4, except that all must turn immediately on step 2 to get back to place.

Solar System

All start by passing right shoulders with their partner. 1, 2, 7 and 8 move on a wide circular track, clashing and passing right shoulders with someone every four steps.

3, 4, 5 and 6 repeat on a smaller scale inside this, keeping exact pace with their "shadows".

Spaghetti Junction

Odd side led by 1, even side led by 8, follow track shown in the diagram.

Every 8 steps, set should be rotated 90°. Clash at start of each 8-step phrase.

One set of 8 steps would run a bit like this (the black dot is the dancer leading each side):

Cross into Rounds and Off
Executed as before, but after the second crossing, 7 and 2 lead their respective sides off in opposite directions (B music replaces second A).

It's a good idea, in the chorus just before this starts, to hang back, keeping the set wide, to imitate the start of the dance. This helps get some extra momentum for the cross.

Known Performers

Crook Morris	Crook, near Kendal, Cumbria, England
New St George Morris	Bottesford, Leicestershire, England
Bourne Borderers	Edenham, near Bourne, Lincolnshire, England
Bassett Street Hounds	Syracuse, New York State, USA

If you have ever performed or seen the APRSD, please email with as many details as possible so I can track the "spread" of the dance, and, of course, acknowledge your trouble! Workshops on the dance can be arranged!

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