Leather Lake House

When Fried Herman published her reconstruction of the triple minor longways Leather Lake House in the second volume of her own dances, The Naked Truth (1986), she introduced several changes to the version that appeared in CDSS’s 1973 “Country Dance and Song” magazine, then edited by Jim Morrison. Both Jim and Fried used the same source: Six New Minuets and Twelve Country Dances by J. Bishop, published in 1788. But whereas Jim’s version had only the one tune, Fried’s added a second, “Pease Strae” from 1775 by N. Gow (which, owing to some challenges of the editing process, you’ll hear first in this video clip). Both Jim’s and Fried’s interpretations have the 1st couple cross over, go below and turn 2-hands halfway, but Jim’s directs the active couple to lead up through the 2s above, while Fried’s sends them through the 3s, casting back in each case to 2nd place. Fried is very specific about which direction the circles move; Jim does not specify. And finally, in Jim’s version, only the 1s turn partner after the hands-3; in Fried’s, all partners turn. Regarding the hand turns, most dancers finish the final left-hand turn with partner with a full stop and then begin the setting in the next round. I like to execute the final left-hand turn with arms well extended and maybe even with a slight delay, so that the energy of the turn powers the setting to partner that follows. Speaking of energy, don’t you just love the energy of the band Alchemy in this clip? Clearly the dancers of the Lenox Assembly did, and I applaud them both for the thrilling results. –Paul Ross