Right Hands Across ~ Levin

Kentucky Square Dance - Right hands across

Hands Across ~ Quicksand Hands Across ~ Quicksand Progression Hands Across ~ Running Set Right Hands Across ~ Levin Right Hand Star ~ Shaw

Right Hands Across ~ Levin or Kentucky Square Dance - Right hands across is an Appalachian Circle Dance. It was published by Ida Levin in 1928 in Kentucky Square Dances. It is a Custom dance. It is a multipart dance. The minor set lasts 280 bars.

Ida Levin describes an early form of "square dancing" which is actually danced in a large circle. This bears some similarities to the dance which Cecil Sharp called The Running Set 10 years before.

Every "change" of a dance begins win an introduction, first Ida gives the calls for this:

  1. Join hands, circle left all the way around.
  2. Swing home
  3. Corners, too.
  4. Don't forget your partner

And then she explains what the calls mean:

  1. All couples join hands in a circle and walk to the left completely around.
  2. Partners join both hands and swing once around.
  3. Each gentleman joins both hands with the lady on his left and swings her once around.
  4. Each gentleman joins left hands with his partner and swings her once around

(At this time "Swing" was a generic term which meant roughly: "turn in a circle", it did not mean the modern partner swing.)

One essential figure for this style of dance is the do-si-do. This is not the standard back to back figure we all know. I will call it simply "do-si" so as to avoid confusion with the better known variant. Sharp, Levin and Shaw all give descriptions of the do-si-do and all of them are different. The following is how Levin says it should be called:

  1. Out to the right and circle four once around.
  2. Partners join left hands and swing half around.
  3. Give opposite your right hand and dance all the way around.
  4. Promenade, both hands joined.

Which means...

  1. First couple walks to the last couple, all four join hands in a circle and walk to the left completely around.
  2. Partners then join left hands and change places.
  3. Each gentleman joins right hands with the opposite lady and swings her completely around.
  4. Each gentleman takes his partner on his right and joins both hands crossed with the right above the left. The visiting couple passes to the right of the other one, around behind that couple's place and back to its own place in the circle. Simultaneously the other couple describes a circle following the visiting couple and finishes by turning into its own place.

After the introduction a "change" is performed. The first couple leads to the right and dances a particular figure with the second couple. Then the first couple moves right again to dance the same figure with the third couple. As they move on to the fourth couple the second couple moves right to dance with the third couple (at the same time). Both 1s&2s then move on to the 5s&4s. When they move on to the 6s&5s the third couple will start up with the 4th. And so on until everyone is dancing.

Quoted from Ida Levin:

A figure danced by all couples in the circle is called a Change. In each Change the first couple walks to the couple on the right, dances with this couple, then with the next couple on the right, and so on until it has danced with all the couples in the circle. In leading the lady to the next couple the gentleman takes her left hand in his right.

In the majority of these Changes, when the leading couple has danced with all but the last couple in the circle it does the Do si do (No 1) with this couple (...)

When the first couple moves on to the fourth couple, the second couple simultaneously walks to the couple on its right and begins dancing with this third couple (a couple must be careful not to lead off to the couple on the right too soon, and in order to avoid confusion the prompter may call "Next"). As each couple completes the trip around the circle it takes its own place in the circle and remains there, dancing with the other couples as they coume along.

When all the couples have danced the Change, the prompter calls "Swing home, corners too" (...)

...

Three Changes are called while the same couples are on the floor.

This example shows only one Change, not three. I have chosen the figure "Right Hands Across". Again Ida gives calls:

  1. Rights hands across.
  2. Left back.
  3. Swing opposite lady.
  4. On to the next
  5. Next couple out to the right.
  6. Swing home, corners too.

and meaning...

  1. First couple walks to the couple on the right and these four join right hands across in a star (gentlemen's hands above the ladies') and walk around eight steps.
  2. All face about, join left hands across in a star and walk back to places.
  3. Each gentleman gives his right hand to the opposite lady and swings her all the way around.
  4. First couple repeats 1, 2 and 3, with the next couple on the right.
    First couple continues in this manner until it has danced with all save the last couple, with whom it daces Do si do (No. 1)
  5. When the first couple moves on to the fourth couple the second couple simultaneously walks to the coupleon its right and repeats 1, 2, 3 and 4.
    Repeat this figure until all the couples have danced.
  6. Each gentleman, joining both hands with his partner swings her once around, then joining both hands with the corner, that is, the lady on his left, swings her once around.

Ida gives two kinds of figures, some which can be danced in groups of 2 couples and fit into the framework described above, and some which require the whole set to be involved. Some of these whole set figures seem designed to be danced once to give people new and somewhat random partners for a round dance. Others seem to give everyone the "next" partner and presumably are intended to be repeated until everyone is back to their original home.

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.

Intro
 
1-12Circle left, all the way around
13-15Partner two hand turn
16-18Corner two hand turn
19-22Partner left hand turn
Figure
 
1-11st couple lead out to the right
2-4Right hands across...
5-8...and left hands back
9-12Right hand turn opposite
13-131st couple on to the next
14-16Right hands across...
17-20...and left hands back
21-24Right hand turn opposite
25-252nd couple starts, 1s+2s on to the right
26-28Right hands across...
29-32...and left hands back
33-36Right hand turn opposite
37-371s+2s on to the right
38-40Right hands across...
41-44...and left hands back
45-48Right hand turn opposite
49-493s start, 1s+2s+3s on to the right
50-52Right hands across...
53-56...and left hands back
57-60Right hand turn opposite
61-611s+2s+3s on to the right
62-64Right hands across...
65-68...and left hands back
69-72Right hand turn opposite
73-734s start, 1s+2s+3s+4s on to the right
74-761s do-si, others right hands across...
77-80...and left hands back
81-84Right hand turn opposite
85-851s stay home, 2s+3s+4s on to the right
86-88Right hands across...
89-92...and left hands back
93-96Right hand turn opposite
97-975s start, 2s+3s+4s+5s on to the right
98-1002s do-si, others right hands across...
101-104...and left hands back
105-108Right hand turn opposite
109-1092s stay home, 3s+4s+5s on to the right
110-112Right hands across...
113-116...and left hands back
117-120Right hand turn opposite
121-1216s start, 3s+4s+5s+6s on to the right
122-1243s do-si, others right hands across...
125-128...and left hands back
129-132Right hand turn opposite
133-1333s stay home, 4s+5s+6s on to the right
134-136Right hands across...
137-140...and left hands back
141-144Right hand turn opposite
145-1457s start, 4s+5s+6s+7s on to the right
146-1484s do-si, others right hands across...
149-152...and left hands back
153-156Right hand turn opposite
157-1574s stay home, 5s+6s+7s on to the right
158-160Right hands across...
161-164...and left hands back
165-168Right hand turn opposite
169-1698s start, 5s+6s+7s+8s on to the right
170-1725s do-si, others right hands across...
173-176...and left hands back
177-180Right hand turn opposite
181-1811s finish, 5s stay home, 6s+7s+8s on to the right
182-184Right hands across...
185-188...and left hands back
189-192Right hand turn opposite
193-1932s finish, 6s+7s+8s on to the right
194-1966s do-si, others right hands across...
197-200...and left hands back
201-204Right hand turn opposite
205-2053s finish, 6s stay home, 7s+8s on to the right
206-208Right hands across...
209-212...and left hands back
213-216Right hand turn opposite
217-2174s finish, 7s+8s on to the right
218-2207s do-si, others right hands across...
221-224...and left hands back
225-228Right hand turn opposite
229-2295s finish, 7s stay home, 8s on to the right
230-232Right hands across...
233-236...and left hands back
237-240Right hand turn opposite
241-2416s finish, 8s on to the right
242-2527s+8s do-si and finish
253-255Everyone partner two hand turn
256-258Everyone corner two hand turn

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=RightHandsAcross-Levin

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The dance is copyright © 1928 by Ida Levin. My visualization of this dance is copyright © 2023 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
Creative Commons License 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.