The Gingerbread Man
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
The Gingerbread Man 32-bar hornpipe for three couples in a four-couple longwise set, Devised By Geraldine and Holger Schuckelt, Published In Riverside Dances, 20141- 8 1st and 2nd couples set and rotate
9-12 1st and 3rd couples dance left hands across once round
13-16 1st man with 2nd couple and 1st woman with 3rd couple dance right hands across once round to finish 1st couple in second place on opposite sides
17-24 All three couples dance a variation of progressive chain (1st couple, giving right hands, cross over; 1st and 3rd couples, giving left hands, cross down/up one place; 1st couple, giving right hands, cross over while 2nd and 3rd couples, giving right hands, cross down/up one place; 1st and 2nd couples, giving left hands, cross up/down one place) to finish 3 (1) 2
25-28 3rd, 1st and 2nd couples chase anticlockwise halfway to finish (2) 1 (3)
29-32 1st couple dance first four bars of a left-hand la baratte (1st couple cross by the left and retain hold with arms fully extended; cross halfway back, raising left arms so that woman can dance under partner's left arm and taking right hand with partner, finishing on the centre line, man behind woman, facing up; continue to cross, releasing left hands and raising right hands so that woman can dance under partner's right arm, finishing in second place on own sides) while 2nd and 3rd couples, giving left hands, cross over on bars 29-30
Repeat, having passed a couple.
(Dance crib compiled by Geraldine and Holger Schuckelt, under the CCA NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, 2017)
Keith Rose's Crib Diagram
Dance Information
Devised in July 2014.Pulsnitz, our local town, is famous for its gingerbread. The dance references both the town and the traditional folk tale in which a boy made of gingerbread is pursued (hence the 'chase') by more and more characters (variation on 'progressive chain') and eventually eaten by a fox (symbolised by the 'baratte' movement at the end).
Recommended music: "Jacky Tarr" (traditional) recorded as: "Fahyda" on "12 Scottish Country Dances devised by Mervyn Short" by Green Ginger.
(Dance information by Geraldine and Holger Schuckelt, under the CCA NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, 2017)
Published in Riverside Dances, reproduced here under this Creative Commons Attribution - NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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