History

Windham, 2017-2018 (debuted May 2018). Early intent was to create a dance similar to I-91/Castelring, but with sticks (like how Vandalls is the “stick” version of Sheriffs Ride). Created collaboratively. Early conversations used pieces from a game called “Balancing Moon.” Including a reference in the name alludes to the origin story of Charrington Toby. The dance continued to be developed collaboratively over the course of the season. Highlights included a “capers with sticks” workshop where many people brainstormed possible ways to do capers with sticks and we came to consensus (or near consensus) on the best methods. Another key moment was the addition of the clashes on the half-beats of the galleys, which made its way into at least one other dance: Max Headroom, which now often includes a galley with clash at the end of the Hey

Videos

Structure

Swagger Round: Outside foot; ends with galley up

Heading Up: Outside foot; 4 double steps, swingbacks, galley up

Chorus

Heading Down: Inside foot; 4 double steps, swingbacks, galley down

Chorus

Back to Back: castlering foot; galley away

Chorus

Hey: Left Foot; galley L at end, passing left shoulders, tap sticks on half beat as in chorus

Chorus

Chorus

Main Idea: Insides do a thing (clashing, double steps, capers), switch placces so the outsides come in and do the thing, switch places again and everyone does the thing.

(1) Insides

Insides go into the center and form an X. (1st corners have right sides toward each other. 2nd corners have left sides toward each other)
1st corners clash, 2nd corners clash (x2)
Caper sequence: Everybody turns out, looking straight out along their diagonal (corners have backs to each other)
2 double steps, Caper (1st chorus: swagger, 2nd chorus: lichfield, 3rd chorus: scissors, 4th chorus: castlering), galley
(Insides galley L along diagonal of the X. At same time, outsides galley L along the diagonal to get to the middle. They should pass each other face to face, and do a tap on the half-beat)

(2) Repeat, with outsides active in the middle

(3) Repeat, with everyone active

For the beginning, outsides will line up for the X, lined up so everyone along a line are facing alternating directions
On clashes, everyone who is able clashes R on 1, L on 2, R on 3, L on 4
Everyone does the caper sequence
Everyone galleys out (to sides of set). Ends with clash with self

Chorus Notes:

• Swaggers: swagger along diagonal, people coming out don’t galley, pass partner by L shoulder at end of line, tapping sticks just before people coming in galley
  
• Lichfield: swing sticks in same motion as hankies to for Lichfield
• Scissor: sticks are held above head in big V shape (when hands would normally go up), hold sticks near bottom to get bigger V
• Castlering: sticks are held in middle, arms act much much normally–on big jump they form sort of seraphs on the X of the body

Ending

At end of last chorus, use capers after galley to come back to place and face up, with raised crossed sticks.

Lead in: Two beats
Sequence: heading up (A music) directly follows swagger round (A music); triple chorus (B); double A music for hey
Song: