Ruffian's Rant ~ Williams

Ruffian's Rant ~ Williams Ruffian's Rant ~ RSCDS

SINGLE FIGURE (Each strain repeated)
Set & changes sides with 2^d. Cu: set & back again promenade 3 Cu: whole poussette & swing corners

OR THUS Hands 3 round on the ladies side hands 3 round on the gent: side cast off 2 Cu: & back again swing with right hands round 2^d Cu: allemande lead thro the bottom & right & left with top Cu:

This with a little alteration is called "Roy's Wife"

The music consists of 4 four bar strains.

The RSCDS seems to be interpreting the OR THUS figure.

Wilson defines most of his figures in his An Analysis of Country Dancing, 3rd Edition.

• Hands 3 round on the ladies side, hands 3 round on the gent: side this figure does not seem to be defined in any of Wilson's books - which is odd because Wilson uses it frequently. In The Sutherland Reel the RSCDS interpreted it as: "Hands three round at top on the Ladies' side, etc." which has the 1s circling with L2, and then the 1s circling with M2. Whereas in Ruffian's Rant they have the three ladies circling, and then the three gents - which seems a more obvious reading of the words.
• Cast off 2 Cu: & back again may be found on page 25 and means: top couple cast ending below the third couple, cast up and back to original places. (Wilson does not say the 2nd+3rd couples should move up and he does show the 1s moving below the 3s)
• swing with right hands round 2^d Cu: is defined as part of a larger figure: swing with right hands round one couple, and back again may be found on page 68 and means: "Right turn half, using the momentum to loop round your partner's place, then cross the set and loop around the same sex person in the couple below. This leaves you on the same side but having moved down 1 couple. [Then for the figure you would repeat the process except this time moving up]"
allemande may be found on page 3 mean going about your partner in a circle, "back to back". Wilson does not define a "back to back" figure. His allemande is a bit rounder than a normal back to back but perhaps that is the closest equivalent.
This is an unusual meaning for "allemande", but, as best as I can understand, that is what Wilson describes.
lead thro the bottom is half of through bottom and top on page 29 and means "the active couple take hands, lead down below the bottom, drop hands, and cast up to their own places. [then lead above top, and cast down to middle]

• right and left may be found on page 46-49. It does not mean what I expect, instead: 2nd corners change by left shoulders, 1st corners right, 2nd corners change back by left, 1st corners by right. And all of this in four bars

Modern dancers would probably prefer this as a duple minor. The 3s are only posts.

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