Lead

Also known as: Brisé.

Bars: depends how far you go, 2 bars to lead down one place.

When a couple leads they join hands and dance in the direction indicated.

In the example above the 1s lead down the set, turn and lead back up.

History

In Playford's day when a couple led up they probably took inside hands, which seems natural to do:

The 2. and 3. on each side lead to each wall, while the first cu. lead up, and the last lead down; change hands and meet;

Broom, The Bonny, Bonny Broom,
John Playford, 1651

By the end of the eighteenth century dancers tended to hold right hands in right, which is a little more awkward, but has the advantage that you don't need to drop hands when you turn (if you take inside hands, and then turn alone to face back the way you came, your other hand is now inside).

Cecil Sharp said that when leading:

In linking right hand with right, or left with left, the hands are held sideways ... The hands should be joined in this manner in leading

However, as time went on more people noticed that this was not what Playford said to do, and the English groups I've been involved with mostly join inside hands.

In Scottish Country Dance, however, the term "lead" means right hand in right, while the term "dance" is used for inside hands.

Some dances which (probably) use this figure

• Dances for which I have animations
• Dances in (R)SCDS Books

Note: This list may be incorrect or incomplete.

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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.