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ins_hop_ground

THE HOP GROUND

duple longways (6/8) (D)
Preston, 1794
A. Simons, Kentish Hops, series compiled by C. Leartheart & D. Jones
Recording: Boston Centre Series, vol. IX, Bare Necessities
hop_ground_066-bn9sr01.mp3.zip
hop_ground-11-khb-001.mp3.zip

A1  1-4  C1 set R & L 2x to W2
    5-8  Circle L 3-hands round.
A2  1-8  C1 same with M2.
B1  1-4  C1 cross; go below C2 (C2 move up).
    5-8  C1 2-hand turn 1 1⁄2.
B2  1-8  4 changes circular hey (partners facing, 
           Suggests WITH hands. Caller option!).

The Hop Ground

Preston 1794
Bert Simons 1991?
Longways Duple Minor

A1 1-8 1st couple set right and left twice to the 2nd lady and circle 1
       with her
A2 1-8 Repeat with 2nd man
Bl 1-8 1st couple cross, go below the 2nd couple improper, 2nd couple
       up, 1st couple two hand turn once and a half (all proper)
B2 1-8 1st and 2nd couples four changes of a circular hey.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXuCrcgLSUE

The “hop ground” in question is not a dance floor, but instead refers to the cultivation of the bitter-tasting hop plant. We now use the words “beer” and “ale” almost interchangeably, but until the modern era, “ale” meant unhopped malt, while “beer” signified the addition of hops. The hop plant was notably cultivated in the Low Countries, and at first there was resistance to malt prepared with hops, with its overtones of foreignness and Lutheranism.
Some English traditionalists even distrusted beer as a cause of melancholy and impotence, but brewers and tapsters recognized hops’ mildly preservative qualities, and hops gained wide acceptance as a balance to the sweetness of malt by the 17 century. By the late 17“ century, hop cultivation was the basis of a substantial and immensely profitable industry in Kent, where more than a third of England's hops crop was produced.
In the later 18” century, England's thirsty masses began to demand a lighter flavor, and Kent answered with the famous “Golding” variety, which was introduced just a few years before the publication of this dance.

ins_hop_ground.txt · Last modified: 2024/10/13 02:40 by 127.0.0.1