Playford's Progeny

This page is read only. You can view the source, but not change it. Ask your administrator if you think this is wrong.
====== Tom Pate ======

Source: Traditional, collected by Sibyl Clark from Edith Palmer in Northamptonshire; \\
published in English Dance & Song, October November 1954. Vol XIX. No. 2\\
Formation: Mescolanze (Four Facing Four - #1s are facing down the hall) or\\ 
Double Sicilian Circle (#1s are facing AC)\\ 
Tune: The Tempest
<code>
A1   Lines Go Forward & Back x2
A2   Middle Four: Star Right; Star Left WHILE
     Ends Swing with Opposite - spring back into your own line
B1   Take Ballroom Hold with Partner and face the couple in your own line:
     Gallop across the Set (Men passing back to back); Gallop Back (Ladies 
     passing back to back)
B2   Lines go Forward & Back; #1s Arch - Pass Through to the next line
</code>

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwo_JMq1Eco\\
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-ktJHqVDWM\\
Music:
There are numerous tunes named "The Tempest", but any 32 bar tune will do.

Notes:
This article was published as part of Keith Uttley's "TEEN-A-PAGE… for younger sets"

The original dance was a popular European dance called "La Tempête". When it came to England some people translated it to "The Tempest"; others appear to have thought they heard "Tom Pate" and named the dance so! Hugh Rippon went one step further and, after devising a dance in the same formation in 1972, named his new dance "Fred Pate" after Tom Pate's brother!

The earliest reference that I have found is 1802. As was common in those days, if a tune or concept was popular then many sequences of moves were set to it. Here are examples of many different Tempests in the Four Facing Four Formation:
1802