Badby

The Badby dances DDMM do

Beaux
Broad Cupid
Second Morris

Not done nowadays: Bobbing Joe, Old Black Joe
Last updated 9 4 20

General stuff about Badby dances

Usual stepping sequence: A double step tradition. In stick dances, stick is held vertically at your side, tip at hip height, butt down and an inch or two above the floor, unless you are doing something else specific with it. Handkerchiefs do low twists at your side except in ‘leg across’
Leg across (LA): a feature of handkerchief dances, where stepping is 3 bars DS, starting right foot, then LA. In LA start with left foot in air, bring it across right foot as you hop on the right, so left foot touches down alongside and crossed over the right when you land. Then same with right over left while you hop on left, touching down with both feet crossed. Finally, if the LA is immediately followed by another figure, leap off the left foot, uncrossing the right foot and landing on it as the first beat of the next figure. If the LA is not immediately followed by a figure, hop on the left foot, bringing the right foot back and leaving it up in the air. Meanwhile hands high over head completing two forward-to-back twists before bringing them back down to balance position by the end of LA.
In stick dances, the place of LA is taken by a ‘bonk : jump and bring stick butt down vertically to hit floor.
Usual common figures (cf): OY, Cast, Set Straight (SS), Back to back (BB), Hands around (HA), H
Other general info:

OY is LA, or bonk (stick dance)
Cast starts with the whole set shoulder to shoulder to the left of the dancing area. After OY, move smartly, side by side, cw to the right hand side of the dance area, ending backs to the music with LA or ‘bonk’. The dancer at no 4 should ideally be in a position very close to where he will end up when the set reforms at the end of the cast (he’s ‘the pivot’). Second half of cast, carry on round cw, peeling off to left and right to form a set in front of the musician. Pivot adjusts a bit as necessary but the others should dance round him to get to their proper place in set.
SS Start right foot, use 1 step to get to centre line of set, rt shoulders with your partner. Dance on that spot, then back to place, finish with LA, or bonk. Repeat on right side of partner.
BB 3 bars DS, then LA or bonk, rt shoulders, behind partner, back to place, repeat crossing left shoulders. Right foot start both times, Main feature is track is triangular (‘back to back with triangles’), not rounded like most traditions’ BB. 1st part you go out left, at an angle, to a little past partner, then across behind him on second bar, moving parallel to set axis, using third bar return on an angle back to place, ready for LA or bonk.
HA (‘little fingers’ in Beaux) 3 bars, LA / bonk repeat pattern. Clasp partner’s rt hand firmly, go cw round him on circular track, giving ‘weight’, LA / bonk, repeat ccw, grasping left hand. Handkerchief dances, free hand does low twist. In Beaux, hold stick in the linked hand (linked with partner by little finger), at 90° to partner’s stick.
Hey is a slight variation on the usual pattern of hey, in that tops and bottoms go as far as they can in 3 bars, up / down, finishing shoulder to shoulder facing down / up the set. Middles meanwhile use 3 bars to return to where they were in the set, facing each other. All then LA /bonk, before second half of the hey to re-form the set.
Dances end at the end of a Df

About how DDMM do specific Badby dances

Beaux

Stick dance with medium energy sticking, though quite percussive. Pattern is OY, Cast, df, SS, df, BB, df, HA, df, H, df
Df = (bonk, clash butts, clash tips) X 3, twirl, (‘lay down’ stick, shoot) X3, twirl.

Twirl is easier to view (see video) than describe, involving twirling the stick through a figure of 8, at chest height in front and to the right hand side of you, starting with the tip going outwards, then inwards, then out, ending in a high tips clash across. The movement is mostly from the elbow rather than the wrist or shoulder.
‘Lay down’ = starting with stick vertical, butt on floor, let stick fall downwards and inwards, toward the person you are shooting, sliding your hand down it so that tip then hits the floor. Don’t bash the tip on the floor hard. Then keeping the stick roughly horizontal, bring it up from floor to shoulder height, with butt coming into your shoulder (like a gun)
Shoot across first time, then diagonal then across again. Stamp right foot as you shoot.

Video 1 as DDMM practice part of Beaux
Video 2 as DDMM practice part of Beaux
Ian Trouse 2012 record of DDMM at Cambridge Folk festival. Beaux from about 1.45 min in, and later on Matt Simmons doing a Bampton Princess Royal jig. NB cast is old style, before we decided on pivot idea
https://youtu.be/D6cMb7-8kAo

Broad Cupid

Handkerchief dance. OY, Cast, df1, SS, df2, BB, df3, HA, df4, H
Df – corners. Each in turn does: Part 1, part 2, part 3. Second and third corners come in with LA while previous corner is doing theirs. End of third corner, all do LA.

Part 1 (same for each df) = Face diagonal partner. Open sidestep right, open sidestep left (leading hand does low wide twists), then 1 bar normal ds, then LA. Don’t move into the set while doing all this.
Part 2 (different for each df), cross the set to diagonal partner’s place. Keep facing out along the diagonal. On df1, cross with 2 bars DS. On df2, cross with 2 sidesteps: sidestep right then sidestep left. On df3, cross on 4 normal capers (hands still low wide twists), emphasis on height. On df4 cross on 2 ‘double capers’ (= caper followed by hop)
Part 3, still facing out, use 1 bar DS to turn 180° back into the set, LA.

The dance finishes at the end of the hey, when all face up do the LA, and finish.
https://youtu.be/sslx93nshhM

Second Morris

Handkerchief dance. OY, Cast, df, SS, df, BB, df, HA, df, Hey, df. All up on the LA at the end of the df. No 1 may omit a figure because this can be a very tiring dance!. And you can end at the finish of the Hey, rather than go through the chorus once again.

Df –

Men on the odd side turn from facing across the set to face the way evens face (ie odds now face out of the set), turning quickly and accurately from facing into the set to facing out is what gives this dance it’s special flavour.
Dance 1 sidestep up the set (leading right foot, leading hand doing low wide twist), staying parallel to set axis, LA facing up the set,
now all turn 90° to face across (so evens now face out of the set),
All sidestep down the set (right hand foot still leads, right hand does low wide twist, LA facing down the set
Half hey, normal direction, which involves nos 1,2,3,4 who are currently facing down the set, turning very quickly to go up the set for the hey. LA facing into the set.
Repeat 1-4, then do the second half of the hey (1,2,3,4 now facing down, which is the direction they will travel anyway, 5,6 will need to turn very quickly in order to go down the set. End with LA facing into the set (unless it’s time for all up)

https://youtu.be/uhPbGtmkVyQ