The Matelot

[Colin Hume]

Then there are heys which actually aren’t heys! I’ve been going through the book “Another look at Playford” which contains many of Pat Shaw’s interpretations together with facsimiles of the original instructions. “The Matelot” published by Matthew Welch in 1767 contains both words and diagrams. The first four bars are described as “The 1st Cu: half Hey contrary Sides” but it is clear from the diagram that the twos and threes don’t move – it’s just the ones crossing down through the twos, going down outside the threes and meeting below them. Similarly the dance ends (the ones now in second place) with “Hey double, Bottom and Top, the Lady with the bottom Cu: and the Gentleman with the Top”. Pat Shaw interprets this as straight heys across the set (as I would if I hadn’t seen the diagram), but it’s not indicated in the diagram that the twos and threes move at all, so maybe it’s just the ones doing a figure of eight, the man around the top couple and the lady around the bottom couple.

[Marjorie Fennessy]

Pat Shaw, in his interpretations, always allowed standing dancers to join in any movement, where possible, to make the dance more interesting and enjoyable, as in this case.

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