Siege of Ennis

Formation: Mescolanza — Lines of four facing lines of four and groups of eight back-to-back with each other.
Music: “Davy Davy Nick Nock” on Folkcraft 1148 or a jig with clear 8-beat phrasing

Download RTF file: Siege of Ennis

Prompts:
Intro or
57-64   – – – -; With the music Forward and Back;
    1-8   – – – -; Right Couple in front Sashay over;
  9-16   – – – -; With the music Forward and Back;
17-24   – – – -; New Right Couple in front Sashay over;
25-32   – – – -; Center Four Star Right while the Ends Swing;

33-40   – – – -; Centers Star Left while Ends continue to Swing;
41-48   – – – -; Lines go Forward and Back;
49-56   – – – -; Arch to the head, Dive to the foot;
57-64   – – – -; [With the music Forward and Back];

Description:
    1-8   Lines of four join hands and all take 3 short steps forward, bow to the one they face on the 4th count and take 4 steps back to place.
  9-16   The right-hand pair take a short step forward and sashay (slide) to the left 6 or 8 short steps. At the same time the left-hand pair slide (sashay) to the right behind the other pair. Finish back in lines of four.
17-24   The lines of four dance Forward and Back as in counts 1-8.
25-32   The new right-hand pair sashay across as in counts 9-16.

33-40   The center two dancers in each line form a Right-Hand Star with the two center dancers across from them. Meanwhile those on the ends Swing with the dancer facing them.
41-48   The center four dancers reverse to make a Left-Hand Star while the ends continue to Swing. All dancers should finish facing across the set in their original lines of four.
49-56   (Same as 1-8 above.)
57-64   The lines facing the prompter raise their hands to form two arches. Everyone moves forward as those pairs with their backs to the prompter, dive under the arches to meet a new line of four. When a line reaches the head or foot of the hall, the dancers Wheel Around (each couple turns to the left half around) to face back the other way and wait for the next Dive to produce a line facing them. Note that those who were on the end are now in the center and vice versa.

Variations for the Swing: The end dancers may use a two-hand Star using right-hands and then left-hands for eight counts each. Or the end dancers may use a crossed-hands Swing.

Variation for Double Progression: If all columns have an even number of lines, you may wish to “Dip and Dive” passing two lines so that all dance every time. For the second Dive exchange roles, those facing down Arch while those facing up Dive.

Choreography by: This is a variation on a traditional Ceili Irish Dance.
Source: Printed in Dancing For Busy People, page 240.
Usage: The choreography is similar to Dumbarton Drums, but there is a different feel due to the lack of stomps, the centers star while the ends swing section, and different music.

This page from http://dances.callerlab.org (CALLERLAB Dance Resource).