La Russe

Recordings by Jack Armstrong and his Northumbrian Barnstormers under the auspices of the English Folk Dance and Song Society  [EFDSS]

His Master’s Voice Folk Dance Series: “North Country Dances” E.M.I. 7EG 8455: Side 1, Track 2. [7TEA878: side 1; 7TEA879: side 2] (1959)

 La Russe, as it is danced in the English-Scottish Border villages, is a quadrille. Separately the tunes in the set are: La Russe, Jane’s Fancy, and Nancy’s Fancy.

Duration: 4 mins. 36 sec.

 

La Russe: Reel/Country Dance.  Allan’s Reels 21 (G); Kerr’s Reels 25 (D); Raven English Country Dance Tunes (1984), 144. Dance in Kerr’s collection, Border Dance Book.

Jane’s Fancy:   This is by Alf Gray; in Charlton, F., Hall, J., and Ross, C. (1978). Northumbrian Pipers’ Tunebook. Second ed., Rev. Newcastle upon Tyne: Northumbrian Pipers’ Society.

Nancy’s Fancy:  The tune is not that of this title in Karpeles & Schofield, 1951, p. 3, and elsewhere [Kennedy Fiddlers Tune Book, Vol. 2 (1954), 27; Raven English Country Dance Tunes (1984), 146; Sharp Country Dance Tunes (1909/1994), p. 7]. It is actually simply Nancy [properly Nancy Clough], a Northumberland tune composed in the 1920s by Tom Clough (d. 1964), and apparently is supposed to depict his wife tripping up and down the stairs. It seems to be a variation of “My Love She’s But a Lassie Yet”