Him and Her ~ Shaw

Figure Eight ~ Kentucky Square Dances Figure Eight ~ The Running Set Him and Her ~ Shaw Lady Round the Lady - Ford Lady Round the Lady - Hume Lady Round the Lady - Page

Lloyd Shaw writes:

THE CALL:

1. Everybody swing his prettiest girl.
   and promenade.
2. 1. First couple out to the couple on the right
   2. The lady round the lady
      And the gent around the gent.
   3. The gent around the lady
      And the lady round the gent.
   4. Circle four and docey-doe.
   5. On to the next.
      
   6. The her around the her
      And the him around the him.
   7. The him around the her
      And the her around the him.
   8. Circle four and docey-doe.
   9. On to the next.
      
   10. The she around the she
       And the he around the he.
   11. The he around the she
       And the she around the he.
   12. Circle four and docey-doe.
   13. And balance home.
3. And everybody swing.
   Now allemande ho!.
   Right hand up and here we go!.
   Meet your partner and promenade.

Repeat 2 and 3 entire for second third and fourth couples.

This figure is similar to that of a dance collected by Henry Ford called The Lady Round the Lady.

Lloyd uses a figure he calls docey-do which is related to but different from the figure Cecil Sharp calls "do-si-do" in his description of the running set (Country Dance Book, Part 5). It is nothing like the figure I know of called do-si-do. Lloyd has many pet names for this figure and I have chosen "Ladies go si and the gents go do" to avoid confusion with the more common meaning.

At the end of a circle the hands break, ladies pass between neighbor and the other lady (ladies passing dos à dos), back to her partner who takes her left hand into his left then she turns round behind him, eventually dropping hands. He remains facing the other gentleman as she circles counter-clockwise around him.

Now each takes his/her neighbor of the opposite sex by the right hand and the ladies circle clockwise around their neighbors (the gents continue to face and drop right hands when they need to).

Then each takes partner left in left ending in a courtesy turn hold. The traveling couple can move on to the next this way.

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The figure described by the active lady is just a figure of eight, but somehow that term did not cross the Atlantic. This is one of the few old American dances I know of which uses the movement.

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This dance appears in Ida Levin's Kentucky Square Dances, 1928 under the name "Lady Round the Lady"

1. Lady around the lady and the gent also.
2. Lady around the gent and the gent don't go.
3. Circle four.
4. On to the next.

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