Wheatley - Bobbing A'Joe

This stick dance has undergone significant alteration, but purely in the interests of making it danceable rather than more spectacular, although the result is certainly all of that.

Chorus

The chorus is probably like nothing you've ever seen before and should not be undertaken by anyone prone to sea-sickness or vertigo.

As the previous figure ends, the set re-forms facing across and the evens begin to rotate clockwise on the spot, raising their sticks above their heads, pointing straight out behind them, with the right arm directly across the face.

As this happens, the odds strike the proffered stick with an upward, back-handed stroke as they begin begin to turn themselves.

By the time they have turned their backs and proffered their sticks, the evens have come full circle in time to strike.

Both sides of the set continue to whirl, striking on the third beat of the bar, until the end of the B music, when they are free to stagger off into the next figure.

Finish

The dance finishes with a caper rounds and, since the likely results of capering with a shouldered stick range from severe bruising to light concussion, the sticks are 'ported' (ie. held diagonally across the chest) The 'all-in' occurs on the very last step.

Figures

1. Foot Up (short intro, half-length figure)
2. Hey
3. Rounds
4. Double Hey
5. Caper Rounds and All-In

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© Cardiff Morris 1996