Siding
Also known as: Side, Shoulder Siding, Inline Siding, Shaw Siding.
Bars: 4.
You can side either to right or to left. Often you first side to the right and then side to the left. When doing “right shoulder siding” you walk toward the center of the set and slightly to your left, stopping in the middle so that your right shoulder is near your partner’s right shoulder. In “left shoulder siding” you do essentially the same except mirror reversed.
Styling: Take a moment to acknowledge your partner in the center.
The example shows first right shoulder siding then left shoulder siding, as you would find in a up a double/siding/arming dance.
History
Siding appears in the Lovelace MS, and later in Playford's Dancing Master. It died out early in the 18th century.
When Cecil Sharp first started interpreting Playford's dances he did not know what it was, so he invented Swirly Siding. Later he changed his mind. Colin Hume provides a good explanation of why shoulder siding is the correct interpretation (based on Feuillet diagrams). John Sweeney also has a good page on siding, finishing with many modern variants on the basic move.
Some dances which (probably) use this figure
- Dances for which I have animations
Note: This list may be incorrect or incomplete.
See Also
This website is copyright © 2021-2026 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.