Strip the Willow

How Strip the Willow is danced

1. The first couple swing each other around, two hands crossed (right in right, left in left).
2. The first lady turns the next man down by the left hand or arm, then turns her partner by the right, then the next man down by the left, and so on to the bottom of the set.
3. Progressing back up: the first man turns the next woman up by the left, then his partner by the right, then the next woman by the left, and so on to the top.
4. The first couple works back down the set, the man turning each woman by the left as the lady turns each man by the left, the couple turning each other by the right in between.
5. The first couple swing each other around again to finish.
6. The new top couple can start once the old first couple has moved down a few places — no need to wait for them to reach the bottom.

You do not need to memorise any of this. Garry walks the room through every dance before the music starts and keeps calling all the way through it — the steps are here because some people like to read ahead, not because anybody is expected to arrive knowing them.

What it needs, and who it suits

Formation

Longways sets — a line of men facing a line of women, partners opposite each other. Sets are usually six to eight couples; longer than that and the couple at the top is still working when the music has moved on.

Music

Jig time, and traditionally the tune 'Drops of Brandy'. It builds: the tempo a band takes it at depends entirely on how the room is coping, and a good band watches the floor rather than the clock.

The room it needs

Needs length above all else. A long run is the whole point of the dance, and a square room forces short sets that finish too quickly. This is the dance most likely to be the reason we ask about your room shape.

For beginners

Looks alarming and is not. The turning is the entire skill, and the caller walks the first couple through it before the music starts. What tires people is enthusiasm, not difficulty.

Where it falls in the night

Mid-evening, once the room has warmed up and had a drink. It is the dance people request by name and the one guests remember in the morning, so it rarely gets left out — but it is a poor opener, because it needs sets formed and a room willing to be flung about.

What usually goes wrong

• Spinning far too fast. The turn is a firm forearm grip and a controlled pivot, not a whip — over-spinning is how people end up on the floor, and it is the one thing worth saying out loud before the music starts.
• Offering the wrong arm. It alternates: partner by the right, the next person down by the left, all the way. Getting it backwards jams the whole set.
• The next couple setting off too early. There is a gap to leave — start before the couple ahead has cleared a few places and two couples end up trying to occupy the same stretch of floor.

Where it comes from

Known across Scotland and in variant forms throughout Britain and Ireland, and old enough that its origins are genuinely murky. The 'willow' of the name is usually explained as the stripping of bark from a branch, which matches the shape of the dance well enough to be satisfying whether or not it is where the name came from.