Newington Applause - Country Dance

Source: Composed by John Sweeney
Formation: Sicilian Circle

A1	Circle Left; Circle Right
A2	Partner Dosido; Neighbour Dosido
B1	Face Neighbour: Clap: Together, Right, Together, Left, Together, Cross Your Arms (over own chest), Together, Both Face Partner: Clap (as above) - then face Neighbours
B2	Forward (1-2 stamp-stamp-stamp) and Back (1-2 clap-clap-clap) Couples Facing AC (with Men on the inside) Arch; Everyone move Forwards to meet New Neighbours

Music:
Any 32 bar tune.

Notes:
I always teach B2 first, at least twice and tell them to remember which way they are going around the big circle and who is making the arches. Be prepared to be deafened every time they meet their new neighbours, as they exclaim loud greetings!

If you have a suitable audience then the first time you teach the clapping you can say, "Clap your breasts" - then explain that those are words from a few centuries back (Playford, 1651, Row Well, Ye Mariners) and you are just going to say, "Cross your arms".

Especially if I am using my mp3 player, after the first few times I speed the music up at every B1.

I was calling in the Village Hall in Newington (Kent, UK) and realised that the dancers weren't up to the dance I had planned with that clapping sequence, so quickly modified our starter dance (Welcome to the Dance) and ended up with this.

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