Country: Denmark
Type: longways progressive set dance
Formation: any number of couples in two lines, M to the R and W to the L as seen from the music, numbered 1, 2, 3, etc from the top of the set.
Steps:
hopsabalancé,
chassé (change-step),
hoptrin (step-hops).
Sheet music: (1) 358:233 [Soldier's joy, 1700s, Scotland],
(2) Sørensen, Per "
Hornfiffen fra Randers 2. del"
in Dansens og musikkens rødder nr. 43, 1999.
Same tune as:
Hornfiffen fra Randers & Syvspring fra Naur [Denmark],
Den lille hollandske [Denmark],
seksmannsril, sekskrossedans frå Melvær & Honnfeiv {Norway];
Rundan & sekstur från Skåne [Sweden],
Kökarin enkeliska [Finland];
and may traditionally have been used for
tretur frå Fana [Norway].
Recordings:
Andreasen, Mogens [YouTube];
Baltinget Sving egen cd 2 track 03;
Berg, Svend Fjand track 05 [YouTube];
Bragr Live at Engelsholm Castle track 09 [YouTube];
Fiedel Michel 'hornpfiff' Retrospective track 03 [YouTube];
Folkcraft International Orchestra [Internet Archive];
Kristian, Jesper & Jens Peter Harmonika træffere II [YouTube];
Lamb, Dwight, Kristian Bugge & Mette Kathrine Jensen [YouTube];
Nille og hendes spillemænd track A7;
Sand på gulvet Fjerde juledag track 20 [YouTube];
Spillemandsgruppen Landstrygerne Dansk og svensk spillemandsmusik track A4;
Spillemændene Rilleræset track A1;
Tivolis Promenade Orkester [Internet Archive @1:55].
| Bars | Part | Dance progression: |
| 1-8 | (a) | Cast down & turn: Couple 1 casts down around couple 2, crosses, (1-4), 4 chassé steps. M1 with W3 and W1 with M3 take 2-hand hold and turn on the spot, (5-8), 8 step-hops. |
| 1-8 | Cast up & turn: Couple 1 casts up around couple 2 (1-4), 4 chassé steps, take 2-hand hold with partner, and turn on the spot (5-8), 8 step-hops.
Finish with M1 on W-side, and W1 on M-side of the set. |
|
| 9-16 | (b) | Balancé & R-hand star: Couple 1 [and couple 2?] dance 4 hopsabalancé steps (9-12),
form R-hand star and circle CW (13-16), 8 step-hops.
Finish with M1 on W-side, and W1 on M-side of the set. |
| 9-16 | Balancé, cast & turn: Couple 1 dances 2 hopsabalancé steps, casts down around couple 2 (9-12), takes 2-hand hold
with partner and turns 1-1/2 times on the spot, (13-16) 8 step-hops.
Finish in own lines. |
|
| When the dance repeats (from (a)), couple 1 dances with couples 3 and 4, while couple 2 rests. In the third repeat, couple 1 dances with couples 5 and 6 and couple 2 dances with couples 3 and 4.
If done in sets of 3 couples, couple 1, at the end of part (b) dances outside couple 3, and finishes at the bottom of the set. |
Provenance: Sheet music for 'The soldiers joy' is thought to have been first published in a printed collection of dances and music in Scotland in 1756, accompanied
by a brief description of a longways progressive set dance.. It also became known in England as 'The King's head'. In Denmark, the tune appears about
20 years later in an anonymous collection of music and dance descriptions (currently in the Royal Danish Library collection (ms. 728 I & II)
from about 1774-1780 under the name 'Le salut royal', and with a different dance
description (nr. 35). 'Le salut royal' dance was reconstructed in the 1990s by Per Sørensen. Sørensen suggests hopsabalancé and
hopsa steps.
Feüillet says unequivocally in his Recueil de contredances (1706) that
figures that advance and retire (or retire and advance) are always danced with
pas de gavotte, figures that move side to side are always danced with
chassé de côté (side-steps or gallops),
and round figures (figures that circle CW or CCW) may be danced with
demi-contretemps (step-hops) or
pas de bourée, but that demi-contretemps is more usual.
Translator has therefore elected to recommend it be danced with chassé steps and step-hops.
Printed source:
Sørensen, Per
"
Hornfiffen fra Randers 2. del" in
Dansens og musikkens rødder nr. 43, 1999.
Translation: Laine Ruus, Oakville, 2020-14-14, rev. 2022-05-05.
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