Titterstone Clee is one of the Clee Hills, probably my favourite. I have no idea where the side in question came from - it certainly wasn't there - and they almost certainly just called their dance "the dance", but if they had a name for it, it might have been this. Well, maybe...

The dance will fit in the corridor of the top deck of a broken-down Glasgow double-decker bus. We know, because we did it on the tour at the Morris Federation AGM. If you happen to have a broken-down double-decker to hand, why not try it?

Formation

The set is a line of four and starts off with two couples facing But in this case, bear in mind that the subtitle of the dance is "Middles Turn Round$quot;. In an amazing feat of agility which always astounds the audience (well, once brought a look of mild surprise to the face of a small girl who happened to be passing), although the dancers form up in this position, the dance starts with two and three turning to face each other and sticking. What does amaze the audience is when the first few strikes are clean misses: they can never work out whether it was intentional or not.

Stepping

Red Stags use a low single step, which originated in the "Weobley Marsh Dances" where I pontificate about it at great length. This dance will work with a high-knee single-step, although the set is bigger. It needs modification to work well with the Bedlams step, a double step, or the travelling step which is described in "The Iron Drayman" processional. Such modifications are left to 'the able reader': if you manage to make it work, please let me know how...

Chorus

The chorus starts and finishes the dance, as well as occurring between the figures. It starts with "Middles Turn Round". Towards the end of the once to yourself, one and two start to square up, as do three and four. However, on the first beat of the chorus music, the two in the middle turn round and start sticking. Two and three stick in the standard pattern, forehand tips clashes throughout, stepping as they do so. Then they pass right shoulders, so that two sticks with four, one with three, then everyone passes right again so that one and four stick, then one and four pass, so that one sticks with two, three with four Now, the "middles turn round" and repeat back to place (starting with numbers one and four sticking. The chorus is quite long and feels as if it occurs more than four times. Remember, though, that for a traditional side, they would only have done the one dance. It had to last long enough to get the hat all the way round...

Figures

Each figure comes in two parts, which are in some sense symmetrical, with sticking between the two halves of the figure (two repeats of the pattern).

Rounds

The rounds begins with the middles turning round, and leading the ends round in a circle starting by passing the other pair right shoulders. the two pairs go three quarters of the way round, then face across the set to stick. After the two repeats of sticking, everyone turns to their right, and one and four lead the pairs back to places, following the same three-quarters circle. Then two more repeats of the sticking, this time up and down the set after which, the "middles turn round" to start the first sticking of the chorus. Yes, lots of sticking. It's what the audience want, you know it makes sense.

Back to Back

The back-to back figure is the exception which proves the rule. The first half of this figure does not start with the middles turning round. Instead, they dance two steps passing right with their respective ends, then two on the spot, grimacing at the audience, after which everyone casts out to their right for four steps, back to places. This is followed by two repeats of the sticking.
 
For the second half, the middles do turn round. They then lead their respective ends and repeat the back to back as a couple, passing right shoulders with the other couple as if starting the rounds, then dancing two steps one the spot, waving cheerily and whistling a happy tune the while. after which everyone casts individually to their right, for four steps, back to places.

Linear Bombast

Having lulled everyone into a false sense of security, here's the figure you've all been waiting for. It's a straight-line version of the "bombast" figure choreographed by Headcorn Morris, and used by Red Stags in "Weobley Marsh Dances" and "Five in a Bed". "All" that's involved is swinging the two active corner positions round into the middle to form a straight line - the track remains the same.

I said that to Roy Dommett. He just thought for about thirty seconds and said "well, there are two mappings like that, which one are you using?" 'tis indeed true: I believe the one we use is the simpler of the two, it's left to the "able reader" once again, to work out the other one.

...anyway, the middles are going to be the active dancers, and they will move to the end position they are facing. Since they're the active pair, they achieve this by dancing virtually all the way round each other. During this process, which occupies about one-and-a-half steps, the ends step on the spot. Please. Otherwise a total mess will ensue. Once the middles have danced round each other, they dance to the end they were facing. At this point, the ends join in, following their respective middles, then dance past each other, to face out.
becomes
This sequence is repeated, with four and one dancing round each other and the respective ends joining in, to end with the set reversed. It's worth noting that in order to get round, basically numbers one and four move in one fluid movement from dancing past each other at the end of the first half, to dancing round each other at the start of the second half. At the end of the second movement, everyone does two repeats of the sticking in these positions. Then, the figure is repeated, to places, and a final chorus happens.

Sequence

Chorus
Rounds
Chorus
Back to Back
Chorus
Linear Bombast
Chorus

Music

Red Stags use "Mad Moll of the Cheshire Hunt"