Another lively, bouncy, couples dance. The Canadian Barn Dance is in a similar vein to the Military Two Step. The dance can be made progressive and so can also be used as another mixer. The music is played to either traditional barn dance style or syncopated 2/4 marches. The sample is part of The Balkan Hills.

DIFFICULTY RATING: EASY

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

A partner. This is a lively dance to a syncopated 2/4 March or barn dance.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE STARTING

Whether the dance is progressive or not the starting formation is the same, with couples in a large circle around the edge of the dance floor facing anti-clockwise. Gentleman with your partner at your right hand side, both with your arms around each other’s waist.

THE STEPS

Beats Description 1-8 (8) Moving off on the outside foot (gentleman left, lady right) walk forward for three and kick the inside foot forward on 4; Then walk backward for three and kick the outside foot backwards on 4. 9-16 (8) Ladies and gents step apart from each other - gents towards the centre of the circle, ladies towards the wall for the count of three, clap on four. Step back toward your partner and on four turn and adopt the waltz hold. If you want the dance to be progressive instead of stepping back towards your own partner, the gent moves toward the lady behind their own partner while the lady moves towards the gent in front of their own partner. 17-24 (8) Moving to the gent’s left (lady’s right) side step and close your feet together twice; Repeat in the opposite direction. 25-32 (8) Polka or step hop (similar to waltzing to the count of 4) round the room for the count of 8; Break back into the side by side formation facing anti-clockwise ready to start again.

HOW TO CONTACT THE HEADLANDERS CEILIDH BAND

If you would like a specific dance included on these pages or want to know more about us then please let us know.

Email: mail@headlanders.co.uk, or telephone/text: 07721 494 004

If you want a list of ceilidh related books with a wide range of dances please refer to the links page.

We have invested substantial time and effort in putting these resources together and you are welcome to use these dance instructions if you are seeking to organise your own ceilidh. In return all we ask is that you do one, or more, of the following:

• send us an email saying thanks, let us know how you found the site (Google etc, recommendation by a friend), some details about your ceilidh - how it went, what it was for etc, tell us if the instructions are clear enough;
• if you’re in Aberdeen or the North East of Scotland why not ask us for a quote/check our availability. Our prices are competitive and having a band, with all the equipment, music and dance calls can make organising the ceilidh significantly easier on you - we know the amount of work that is involved in organising a ceilidh (and how heavy PA equipment is!) having been there ourselves;
• mention us to your friends and relatives if they are looking for a ceilidh band;
• provide a link to our homepage on your own website. All you need to do is paste the code between the square brackets into your own html code: [<A HREF=”http://www.headlanders.co.uk”>the Headlanders ceilidh band</A>]
• buy something from amazon (US or UK) or musicroom.com, just follow the links