Off She Goes ~ Howe is an American Country Dance. It was devised by Thomas Wilson in 1816 and published in A Companion to the Ball Room. It was interpreted by Elias Howe in 1858 and published in The Complete Ball-Room Hand-Book. It is a proper Triple Minor dance. The minor set lasts 32 bars.
Howe says this is based on "an English work on Dancing published in London in 1816". And the only such work I know of that has all the dances he lists in this section is Wilson's A Companion to the Ball Room.
But Wilson's figure and Howe's differ after the first 20 bars.
Wilson writes:
DOUBLE FIGURE Each strain repeated
Hey contrary sides hey on your own sides lead down the middle up again right and left with the top Cu: & swing corners
Hey contrary sides — hey on your own sides — lead down the middle up again, half poussette with the top couple — and the double triangle.
Note Wilson's "double triangle" is quite different from the modern Scottish Country Dance figure with the same name.
the double triangle does not appear until the 3rd edition of the Analysis on page 113 and means: the middle couple loop first corner right shoulder pass outside partner's place, then loop 2nd corner right shoulder and return to place.
The animation plays at 120 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. 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.
A1 | 1-8 | 1s cross between 2s into mirror heys on the opposite side |
A2 | 1-8 | 1s cross again into mirror heys on their own sides |
B1 | 1-4 | 1s lead, turn, lead back to place |
5-8 | 1s+2s half poussette, M1+W2 push, 1s | |
B2 | 1-8 | Wilson's double triangles |
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.
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https://www.upadouble.info/redirect.php?id=OffSheGoes-Howe
The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. The interpretation is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. My visualization of this dance is copyright © 2022 by George W. Williams V and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This website is copyright © 2021,2022,2023,2024 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.