Irish Mary
Ken Alexander
Longways for 4 couples, proper
Tune: Blind Mary
Al 1-4 Partners lead up a double and back: 5-8 Partners face, set right and left, and cross over into lines running across the room. (Top and bottom couples cross with partner and face down or up; middles make a long cross to join the ends of the line of four, as in Newcastle.) A2 1-4 Lines lead in a double and back; 5-8 Set to the person opposite and cross as in Al into lines going up and down the room. (The set is now inverted an and all are improper.) B1 1-4 Middle couples half figure eight through the nearer ends; 5-8 End couples half figure eight through the middles B2 1-4 Top three couples dance a half Grimstock hey while the bottom couple dances back-to-back; 5-8 All gypsy allemande with partner.
Gypsy allemande: Partners join right hands and raise them high. The woman dances straight forward and falls straight back, while her partner dances a right shoulder gypsy around her. Bernard Bentley devised this figure, which he called a a “high allemande,” in 1977
Grimstock hey: a symmetrical or mirror image hey, usually initiated by the top couple leading down the middle; the middle couple facing up and separating outside the top couple; and the bottom couple leading up the center, with the top couple separating outside them. The convention is for dancers to take hands with their partners whenever possible.
Teaching Tip: Ends cross short; middles cross long. Don't let the lines get too far apart at the beginning of the A2, or the middles won't make it to their new positions.