Room for Ramblers
Room for Ramblers is an English Country Dance. It was published by Walsh in 1712 in Twenty Four New Country Dances for the Year 1712. It was interpreted by Chip & Fran Hendrickson in 1984. Found in The Playford Assembly. It is a proper Duple Minor dance. The minor set lasts 28 bars. It is in the key: D Major.
Walsh writes:
Note: The first Strain twice and the last once
All four lead up, and back again, the 2. cupple go round the first cupple into their own places at the same time the first cupple turn hands the first cupple cast off, go the half figure through the 2. cupple, into the 2 cupples place, the 2. man and 2. wo. change place at the same time (the first cupple being in the 2. cupples place improper) the first man change with the 2. wo. then the 2. man change with the first wo. lead to the wall, back again, the first cupple cast off-- National Library of Ireland
Republished by John Young in 1718:
Note: The first Strain twice, and the last but once.
The two first Cu. lead up, then back again, the 2d Cu. go round the first Cu. into their own Places, the first Cu. turn Hands at the same Time Then first Cu. cast off and go the half Figure thro' the 2d Cu. into their Places, the 2d Man and 2d Wo. change Places at the same Time (The first Cu. being in the 2d Cu. Places Improper) the first Man change with the 2d Wo. and the 2d Man with the first Wo. then lead to the Wall and back again, the first Cu. cast off
John Walsh published the tune with the dance, Room for Ramblers, and the music was synthesized using Colin Hume's software.
The animation plays at 115 counts per minute normally, but the first time through the set the dance will often be slowed down so people can learn the moves more readily (no music plays during this slow set). Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color, however the border of each dancer indicates what role they currently play so the border color may change each time through the minor set.
The dance contains the following figures: hand turn (allemande), cast, lead, figure eight, lead and cast, (and probably others).
If you find what you believe to be a mistake in this animation, please leave a comment on youtube explaining what you believe to be wrong. If I agree with you I shall do my best to fix it.
If you wish to link to this animation please see my comments on the perils of youtube. You may freely link to this page, of course, and that should have no problems, but use one of my redirects when linking to the youtube video itself:
https://www.upadouble.info/redirect.php?id=RoomForRamblers
The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. The interpretation is copyright © 1984 by Chip & Fran Hendrickson. My visualization of this dance is copyright © 2019 by George W. Williams V and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This website is copyright © 2021-2025 by George W. Williams V
My work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Most of the dances have more restrictive licensing, see my notes on copyright, the individual dance pages should mention when some rights are waived.