Blue Bird

Formation:Single circle facing the center of the hall with adjacent hands joined to form arches.
Music: “Blue Bird” on Folkcraft 1180

Download RTF file: Blue Bird

The Song:
Blue bird, blue bird through my window;
Blue bird, blue bird through my window;
Blue-bird, blue bird through my window;
Oh! Johnny are you tired?

Find a friend and tap ’em on the shoulder;
Find a friend and tap ’em on the shoulder;
Find a friend and tap ’em on the shoulder;
Oh! Johnny are you tired?

Description:
Designate one or more dancers as the starting bluebirds (perhaps all those wearing blue or those whose name starts with B). The dancers in the circle join hands and raise them to form a series of arches.

  1-32   The Blue Birds weave in an out of the arches during the first verse of the song.
33-64   The Blue Birds stop some place on the outside to tap someone in the circle on the shoulder. The previous Blue Bird then places both hands on the new Blue Bird’s shoulders.

65-128   The new person becomes the leading Blue Bird and the pair weaves in and out of some more arches in tandem. The selection process is repeated and the line (train) becomes longer and longer until there are no arches remaining.

Optional Ending: After the last Blue Birds are tapped use the final verse to lead the lines into a tight circle. On the final “Oh Johnny are you tired?”, everyone bends at the waist and rests their upper body on the person in front of them.

Source: Printed in the CDP Journal, June 1995 and August 1999
Usage: This is a game dance that is especially useful with children from kindergarten to 6th grade.

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