Galopede
This is one of my favorite folk dances and I love the tune. It fits well with the dance (see the youtube video below). But, you can use most any standard song that has 8 counts of 8. The instructions are below. I encourage participants to be creative and make the dance their own. To make the dance last longer, just hit replay.
Two lines facing partners across from each other. 1. Walk forward four, greet your partner, go back four (I let the dancers choose how they want to greet) 2. Walk past partner (right shoulders) over to the other side and then turn and face back toward your partner 3. Repeat step 1 4. Repeat step 2 (now you are back in your original position) 5. Dosido your partner (right shoulders) 6. Swing your partner around once, holding both hands 7 and 8. Everyone does 8 sets of three quick claps (clap clap clap, clap clap clap, clap clap clap, clap clap clap, clap clap clap, clap clap clap, clap clap clap, clap clap clap). While they are doing this, the head couple freestyles down the center, taking the entire time to get from one end to the other. Everyone moves up a step to fill in the head couple's place. |
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I like the video below because of the variety of ages and the obvious enjoyment. The version I recommend above varies in a couple of respects: in my version, for example, the dancers don't hold hands to move forward and back, and the head couple free styles down the middle instead of walking underneath arches. You can make your own choices on how you want to dance it. You can also find additional versions of this dance on Youtube.