Table of Contents

A

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Arkansas Traveller		Elias Howe 1858 George Williams 2022	Colin Hume	Triple Minor

B

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Banks of the Dee		Ralph Page 1949 Rickey Holden 1956		Duple Minor
Barry's Best		Al Brundage 1952		Triple Minor
Beaux of Oak Hill ~ Howe		Elias Howe 1862		Triple Minor
British Sorrow		Saltator 1807 Ralph Page ~1950 Cracking Chestnuts		Triple Minor

C

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Careless Sally Calais Sally Traditional 1808 Ralph Page 1969 Cracking Chestnuts Duple Minor Careless Sally Traditional 1808 Ralph Page 1969 Cracking Chestnuts Triple Minor Careless Sally ~ Calais Traditional 1808 Ralph Page 1969 Cracking Chestnuts Duple Minor
Chase the Squirrel		Elias Howe 1858	Bare Necessities	Duple Minor
Christmas Hornpipe		Elias Howe 1862 Cracking Chestnuts		Duple Minor
Circassian Circle ~ Burchenal		G.M.S. Chivers 1822 Elizabeth Burchenal 1918	Colin Hume	Duple Minor
Crestwood Reel		Midwest Dancer 1953		Triple Minor

D

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
The Dashing White Sergeant - Howe		Elias Howe 1862 Rickey Holden 1953		Duple Minor
The Devil's Dream - Burchenal		Elias Howe 1858 Elizabeth Burchenal 1918		Duple Minor
Durang's Hornpipe		Thomas Hillgrove 1857		Triple Minor

F

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
French Four ~ Howe		Elias Howe 1858 George Williams 2021		Duple Minor

G

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Genet's Recall Genet's Recall ~ Duple Traditional 1799 Ralph Page ~1965 Cracking Chestnuts Duple Minor Genet's Recall ~ Triple Traditional 1799 Ralph Page ~1965 Cracking Chestnuts Triple Minor
Good Girl		John Schell 1890 Rickey Holden 1956		Duple Minor

H

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Half Moon		Elias Howe 1858		Triple Minor
Hull's Victory Hull's Victory ~ (Swing) Essex Manuscript ~1830 Cracking Chestnuts Duple Minor Hull's Victory ~ (Symmetric) Essex Manuscript ~1830 Cracking Chestnuts Duple Minor
Hunt the Squirrel - Howe		Elias Howe 1858	Bare Necessities	Duple Minor

L

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
The Triumph Lady's Triumph ~ Howe Preston 1793 Elias Howe 1858 Duple Minor
Lamplighter's Hornpipe Lamplighter's Hornpipe ~ Duple Elias Howe 1858 Cracking Chestnuts Duple Minor Lamplighter's Hornpipe ~ Triple Elias Howe 1858 Holden et al 1956 Cracking Chestnuts Triple Minor

M

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
The Merry Haymakers The Merry Haymakers ~ Burchenal Elias Howe 1858 Elizabeth Burchenal 1918 Duple Minor The Merry Haymakers ~ Howe Elias Howe 1858 George Williams 2022 Duple Minor
Money Musk Money Musk ~ Contra 24bars Werner/Preston 1785 Traditional Cracking Chestnuts Triple Minor Money Musk ~ Contra 32bars Werner/Preston 1785 Thomas Hillgrove 1857 Cracking Chestnuts Triple Minor

N

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
New Century Hornpipe		Saltator 1802 Smukler & Millstone ~2008 Cracking Chestnuts		Duple Minor

O

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Old Zip Coon		Elias Howe 1858 Smukler & Millstone ~2008 Cracking Chestnuts		Triple Minor

P

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Petronella Petronella ~ Contra Nathaniel Gow 1820 David Smukler 2005 Cracking Chestnuts Colin Hume Duple Minor Petronella ~ Contra Variants Nathaniel Gow 1820 David Smukler 2005 Cracking Chestnuts Colin Hume Duple Minor

Q

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Queen Victoria		Traditional ~1870 Ralph Page ~1950 Cracking Chestnuts		Duple Minor

S

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Sicilian Circle ~ Burchenal		G.M.S. Chivers 1822 Elizabeth Burchenal 1918	Colin Hume	Duple Minor
Speed the Plough ~ Chestnuts		Elias Howe 1858 Smukler & Millstone ~2008 Cracking Chestnuts		Duple Minor

T

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
The Triumph Lady's Triumph ~ Howe Preston 1793 Elias Howe 1858 Duple Minor

W

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
The Waterman		Thomas Hillgrove 1857		Triple Minor

Warning: The figures for each dance is generated programmatically by regular expression matching and may be in error. Also, for old dances, they reflect the figures used by the interpreter which may not match those of the deviser.

Right And Left 4

An online definition may be found here.

Bars: 8.

Right and left 4 is a figure for two couples, usually from a proper formation. Pass through by the right, taking right hands and dropping them. Then standing next to the same person you were next to originally (but on the other side of the set), the person on the left walks backward while the person on the right forward and you wheel around to face in. It's like a right and left through but without taking hands in the courtesy turn.

Then you repeat the above to return home.

History

Elias Howe in the 1850s+60s uses the term "Right and Left 4" and "Right and Left" interchangeably, but he defines neither, and I suspect he probably has the traditional definition of Right and Left in mind.

Elizabeth Burchenal, in American Country Dances defines right and left as:

Right and Left

This is executed either by two opposite couples (as in The Circle), or by two women with two opposite men (as in Hull's Victory, Old Zip Coon, etc. It consists of two dancers' exchanging places with the opposite dancers in the following manner:

The two couples advance toward each other, and "pass through," the one on the right in each couple going between the opposite two (Diagram 9.)

Then, keeping side by side as if their inside hands were joined, each couple continue to the opposite side, wheeling half around (to do this, the one on the left makes a left-about-face and walks backward, keeping the right shoulder toward the other's left shoulder), thus finishing on the opposite side with the right one still on the right and the left one still on the left. (Diagram 10.) All this is done in eight steps (4 measures).

The then return in the same manner to their original position (4 measures).

In 1956 Rickey Holden says much the same thing on page 44 of his The Contra Dance Book.

Finally Smukler & Millstone define it on page 14 of Cracking Chestnuts, 2008. But they were reviving old traditions, not specifying current behavior.

See Also

• Right and Left
• Right and Left Through

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.