Three Grenadiers

A dance assembled by Henry Proctor based on the traditional dance for British Grenadiers.

The Music

This dance is for six dancers, three facing three. It requires a large area to perform in.

Large Hadron Collider (A)
Note: The Squire's side form up in a column away from the band. The non-squire's side line up close to the band. The result should look like one single line, but with a very large break in the middle.
Count	Moves
1-4	Each line takes four steps forward, ending with dancers one and two facing each other.
5	Everyone takes a small step forward and to the right (should leave dancers 1 and 2 side by side, with a column behind each of them). If the step is too large, you won't be able to get far enough left on step 6...
6-12	Everyone takes a large step forward and to the left and alternates right and left. This allows the two columns to zig-zag through each other several times while moving forward. Maintain zig-zag even after you have reached the end of the other column.
13-16	Turn in and move in a column towards the other column to form a set of three facing three.

Chorus (B)
Count	Moves
1-2	First corners, 1&6, lunge towards each other to form a diagonal set. (3,1,2 facing 5,6,4) 3&5, 1&6, 2&4 clash forehand overhead, then backhand low down.
3-4	Second corners, 5&2, lunge in diagonally towards each other while 1&6 back out to face 3&4. (1, 2, 4 facing 3, 5, 6) 1 & 3, 2 & 5 and 4 & 6 clash: once forehand overhead, then backhand low down.
5-6	Second corners, 5&2, back out to place. (1,3,5 facing 2,4,6): Everyone clash forehand overhead with partner across the set. Half turn anticlockwise (following through on stick strike) while backing into partner's place to form line on opposite side of set.
7-8	Everyone faces across the set and clashes: forehand overhead, backhand low down.
9-16	Repeat 1-8.

Mid Line (A)
Count	Moves
1	On the first beat, everybody moves forward into a single line along the centre of the set. (meet right shoulders)
2-4	End pairs do a 360 degree turn clockwise as a couple, while keeping their right shoulders close. Middles move forward and circle anticlockwise to the end of the centre line, then on on beat 4 create a new line of dancers.
5-8	Original middles continue to circle round. ends switch ends, ending up in opposite corners to original positions.
9-16	Repeat 1-8.

Infinite Heys (A)
Basically a pair of Top Heys with two dancers swapping between the heys.
Count	Moves
1-8	Each middle does a top hey with the pair on their right. The first pass is left shoulder with the dancer on the other side of the set.
9-16	Middles come out of their hey and pass each other in the centre of the set. They join in with the hey at the other end of the set, aiming for the corner diagonally opposite of the one where they left the other hey. NB It can be quite tricky to insert into the other hey. The dancers in the other hey may have to swap the shoulder they're expecting to pass on, in order to fit you in smoothly.

Corners Cross (A)
Count	Moves
1-4	First corners, 1&6, cross right shoulders, while 3&5 and 2&4 do a quick back-to-back with each other in 4 steps. The back to backs look best when the dancers try to move parallel to the diagonal line taken by the first corners.
4-8	Second corners, 2&5, cross right shoulders while 1 & 3 and 4 & 6 do a quick back-to-back with each other in 4 steps. The back to backs look best when the dancers try to move parallel to the diagonal line taken by the first corners.
9-16	Repeat 1-8.

Weird Hey (A)
Count	Moves
1-4	First corners lead. Number 1 circles in a fast, wide anti-clockwise move around the set, followed by 2 and 4. Number 6 also circles a/c, followed by 5 and 3. They go ¾ of the way around the set, ending up half way down the opposite side, facing inwards. Their followers should line up behind them, so that a single line is formed perpendicular to the original line of the set. This should make a queue of 1,2,4 facing a queue of 3,5,6.
5-6	1 and 6 do a half turn, staffs touching, for two beats, so that they trade places.
7-8	1 and 5, plus 6 and 2, do half left hand turns for two beats, trading places.
9-10	Everyone does a 2 beat half turn touching staffs, trading places.
11-12	1 and 6 go off to their right, starting a grand circle back their original places in 6 beats. Everybody else does half left hand turns.
13-14	2 and 5 peel left, and return to starting positions by beat 16. Numbers 3 and 4 half staff turn.
15-16	3 and 4 turn right, dropping back into starting positions.

Chorus + Final Strike (B)
Count	Moves
15-16	The final stick strike of this last chorus is a ground strike, which requires each dancer to turn out and hit the ground away from the set.

Unless otherwise specified, the following general rules apply:

Always start right foot first.
There are 4 beats to a bar. This works out as two steps.
The top of the set is towards the band. Likewise, the bottom of the set is away from the band.
When resting stick on shoulder, the tip of the stick should be level with the middle of your ear.
Turns on the spot will usually be right-hand turns (clockwise). Common exceptions are when dancers need to turn in or out of a set the shortest way.
When passing shoulders with another dancer, the first pass will be a right-shoulder pass. Many dances will have figures that alternate right and left shoulders.
Where a fast turn on the spot is needed, it will be on the first beat of the bar. E.g. If you need to turn and then move across the set, you can count it as 'turn, two, three, four'.
Swings with a partner will be right-hand (clockwise), with the stick held in the left hand, unless otherwise specified.
Figures are usually in multiples of four beats. If you mentally keep counting 'one, two, three, four', then you'll have a good idea of when to move and change.