Issue 1229: Hunter's Moon

Object

Hunter's Moon (Dance)

Submitter

Sandra McLevy

Assigned to

Anselm Lingnau

Priority

Normal

Disposition

Being handled

Description

I have the original book, and the dance is dedicated for the 75th birthday of Jack Baxter of San Fransisco, his favourite dance is “The Micmac Rotary”. There is also a lengthy note at the end of the book about the formation “La Barrette” as follows:
“This figure was danced in the Quadrilles in Canada but is now falling into disuse. It was shown to me by John Moss, who used to live in Toronto but now lives in New Brunswick, with the suggestion that I should try to put it into a Scottish dance so that it did not die out completely. The figure has three parts, so that it can be executed with six travelling steps (two to each part). This means that it can conveniently follow setting to form an eight-bar phrase. Although quite different from the figure in “The Jimp Waist” (Book 9, No. 2), “La Baratte” reminds me of it because dancers tend to tie themselves in knots during initial attempts to perform it. An extra effort must be made to maintain good footwork when dancing “La Baratte” in a Scottish dance. It is only too easy to forget footwork while thinking of the intricacies of hand and arm positions in the figure. It is also important for the dancers to keep their heads up, especially during the fifth and sixth bars of the phrase so that all are looking at their opposites.

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