Fields Of Claydon

A ceilidh dance by Alison Rowley, written in 2024 and danced at the last ever Towersey Festival, which took place on NT Claydon Estate. It’s an adaptation of the 48 bar dance Bridge Of Athlone, with a strip the willow instead of lines going forward and back (which don’t work well when danced unphrased).

Music: slip jigs (unphrased)

Formation: Longways set for 4 or 5 couples

Part 1. Top couple gallop down, then strip the willow back up to the top.

Part 2. Top couple cast down the outside of the set, and everyone follows. Top couple make an arch at the bottom and everyone else leads up through the arch. (Top couple now at the bottom.)

Part 3. The other couples make arches across the set (a ‘tunnel’), then the top couple scurries up to the top (1 person through the tunnel, 1 up the outside) then back down to the bottom (swapping who goes through the tunnel).

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