Chorus Jig
Contra, duple proper
| A |
Actives separate and go down the outside Return |
| B1 | Actives down the center, "same way back" (i.e., turn alone to stay proper) and cast off |
| C | Turn contra corners |
| B2 | Actives balance and swing, end facing up |
At a recent birthday celebration for our friend Bob Nicholson, we played a prank on Bob we'd heard about long ago. As Bob taught the last dance before the break, we passed the message down one of the lines: once the music started the ones should immediately cross over to become proper and dance Chorus Jig, no matter what Bob called. The band was in on the joke also, and they played the appropriate tune with great gusto. A fair amount of chaos ensued, but Bob, ever good-natured, helped straighten us all out, calling one set of instructions to us and another to the rest of the hall, and managing not to confuse dancers in the process.
That's the sort of thing you could only do with Chorus Jig.
Late at night at a dance camp, when the hired callers are off duty, Chorus Jig is the sort of dance that is likely to inspire a group of punchy night owls to rise exuberantly to their feet. And of all the dances packed into that week at camp, the late night Chorus Jig is the one they will remember best.
Chorus Jig is almost an easy dance. What prevents it from being entirely accessible is the contra corners figure. It is a thorough understanding of contra corners that makes you a Chorus Jig "insider." Callers know that teaching contra corners to a roomful of newcomers is asking for trouble. Like learning French in France, the best way for a dancer to learn contra corners is to go where most people know it and jump in. Here's a good trick for helping your partner if he or she is unsure about how to find those contra corners. When you are active, keep your head up and think ahead in order to identify your partner's corners. Then, during the right hand turn, cue your partner by finding something descriptive to say about their next corner ("red t-shirt" or "guy with the skirt," or what have you). Meanwhile, don't forget your own corners....
The contra corners figure, so closely associated with Chorus Jig, provides a hint of the triple minor roots of the dance. Although the version above has become the most common, turning contra corners is much easier to understand (and to dance!) within a three-couple subset. The triple minor version dates back at least to the mid nineteenth century. Here's the older version of the dance as described by Ralph Page in 1951:
Chorus Jig
Triple proper
(First two parts as above)
C Contra corners done as follows: actives pass partner by the right shoulder, turn first corner by the right hand; loop around your partner by the right shoulder, turn second corner by the right, and fall into lines with actives improper B2 Forward six and back; actives turn by the right hand (halfway or once and a half) to end proper
Even if you end with the more recent balance and swing, Page, ever the curmudgeon, insisted that Chorus Jig be learned first as a triple minor:
This is one of New England's favorite contra dances, and this is the easy way to dance itÉ. Chorus Jig is usually done with 1st, 3rd, 5th, etc. active. But for goodness sake DON'T expect to dance it this way the first time you do it. And DON'T teach it this way the first time you teach it either. It's just as traditional to dance it with the 1st and 4th couples active, so be content for a while to dance it this way.
As we know, contras are the offspring of English country dances, and the pattern Page describes is nearly identical to that of the dance A Trip to Tunbridge, which dates to the late 1700s. The Ed Larkin Dancers, a performing troupe that dates back to the 1930s, still present Chorus Jig as a triple minor dance with this style of hand turns. Coincidentally, the Larkin dancers are based near another Tunbridge, in central Vermont.
Another fine chestnut, Opera Reel, nearly identical to Chorus Jig, was also triple minor at one time. The directions for these two dances diverge only in the third part. Instead of turning your corners by the hand, elbow reels are used in Opera Reel. Also, although the actives turn the same two people, they both turn the one below first and the one above second (these corners are the same for the active gent and number two lady, but come in the opposite order for the other two). The following patter for Opera Reel is from Rickey Holden:
Reel your partner with a right elbow Reel by the left with the couple below Reel by the right with the one you love Reel by the left with the couple above
Chorus Jig has managed to retain a degree of popularity and familiarity that has eluded many of the other chestnuts. We believe its satisfying "story line" is largely responsible for the dance's endurance. Think about the sequence this way:
A No physical contact at all with partner, but eye contact as you move down and up the hall together. B1 A little more intimate: You get to hold hands with your partner! C The pace picks up. You and your partner acknowledge each other with the hand turns, quick moments in between relating to your neighbors. B2 Ah! Just you two! Balance! Swing! Holding your partner in your arms!
And then, finally, there is that wonderful nanosecond of transition at the end of B2, when you open out of your swing, facing the band but still connected to your partner by arms and eyes, just before sending one another off to start the cycle again.
We have long been of the opinion that the balance and swing in Chorus Jig might just be the most satisfying in all of contra dance.
As in many other chestnuts, the twos have an important and perhaps underappreciated role in Chorus Jig. They can be very helpful, especially in a crowded hall, if they move in closer to one another during the A-music to make room outside the set, and then separate during B1 to make a nice aisle down the middle. Sometimes impatient twos manage this by stealing a partner swing as the ones go down the outside. We can understand this desire. Starting out as a number two couple at the end of a lengthy set and working one's way up to the head of the hall, only to have the dance end just there, can be disappointing. Nevertheless, we would encourage you to resist the impulse. All swings are not created equal, and unlike the swing for the actives in B2, this extra swing can be a distraction from the overall beautiful shape and story line of the dance. Just think of your slow progress toward the top of the hall as paying your dues in the contra world. Keep dancing. Sooner or later, whether this time or another, you will reach the head of the set. Your turn will come to be a number one couple for time after time, supported by all those other dancers whom you helped out on other occasions.
But, aside from the importance of being there for the ones, could it be that there are other hidden opportunities in the number two role? Absolutely! First of all, you have the gift of time. You can watch other dancers, and learn from observing them, an increasingly rare opportunity in our contemporary everyone-moving-all-the-time contra choreography. Some of this observation is social (Who's dancing with whom tonight? Look at the amazing matching smiles on those two!), and some is dance-related (Oh, that's how Mary and Tom do that really neat balance! Aha! They only go six steps down the center and then they take two full beats to turn alone).
Another benefit can be found in the reduced physical demand placed on you as a dancer. After being active for a while, enjoy this time to relax as an "inactive," required only to ensure that turning contra corners goes well. A program that varies the activity level from dance to dance will allow more people, young and old, to participate in dancing, and to feel energized and not exhausted by their participation. However, if you are not ready for a rest, you have an invaluable opportunity as a number two dancer to improvise some clogging steps during the first half of Chorus Jig. This sort of "jigging"--a free-form way to play along with the band--has become rare in the contemporary dance scene. Freestyle clogging while standing out as a number two dancer is only possible if the inactives are, well, inactive. If everyone is moving, there simply is no opportunity for the solo foot percussion that resonated on dance floors in years past.
Speaking of the band, the number two role in Chorus Jig also offers you the chance to devote more of your conscious attention to the music. Given what an extraordinary tune you have to listen to, this is no small treat. Its unusual pattern (ABCB instead of AABB) fits the story line of Chorus Jig perfectly. Oh, there are other tunes that work with the dance quite well also, if the band feels the need to experiment. Certainly the tune for Opera Reel is a magnificent fit. But ending Chorus Jig by returning to the "real" tune always feels like coming home. Like many classic dances, the tune (a reel, by the way, and not a 6/8 jig, despite its title) is firmly connected to its dance. Perhaps it has taken root in our collective memory, an association forged by so many years of hearing it played for this dance and this dance alone.
The dance tradition we have been drawing on for the "Cracking Chestnuts" column is a rich one, and we have by no means exhausted it. The list of fine dances we have not included far exceeds the few gems we have selected. Nevertheless, this column about Chorus Jig, which marks the end of three years of "Cracking Chestnuts" columns, is our last. In some communities, dancers have come to count on Chorus Jig as the traditional final dance of the evening, and so it seemed a fitting theme to close on.
We hope that others may feel inspired to write stories about their favorite old dances, and send them in to the News. Think about it! Portland Fancy, French Four, Lady Walpole's Reel, Lady of the Lake, and Morning Star all deserve attention, as do many others. Consider sharing what you know about one of these, or perhaps one of your favorite traditional squares.
These columns were created with the hope of inspiring readers to request or call chestnuts more often. Don't save these wonderful dances only for special workshops. The chestnuts should be familiar old friends, not rare curiosities; they are meant to be beloved, not simply revered. We hope that you will join those of us who regularly include Chorus Jig and many other classic dances in our communities' dance programs.
Bibliography
Note about the authors
David Smukler and David Millstone are friends who have turned to one another for years when seeking advice about dancing, dance calling, planning, and writing. David Smukler has been the primary author for the Cracking Chestnuts column, but no column was considered complete until it had undergone the scrutiny of David Millstone's keen editorial eye. David Millstone has also written additional columns linked to the series, including historical background pieces on Genet's Recall, Hull's Victory and Money Musk. The two Davids decided that collaborating on the final column was the best way to bring the series to a close.