SCA Dance Cheat Sheets

Bransle Hay (Branle de la Haye)

Source: Arbeau, Thomas & Gingell.

Setting: A line of 3 (or 4 or 5) dancers.

Version: 1.1

A ``set'' is two singles followed by a double.

A: Four sets forward.

B: Four sets forward.

C: Hay, using doubles, for N people.

Arbeau says that the dancers dance the melody in ``the manner of the coranto,'' which many readers take to mean that coranto steps are used. However, the tabulation for this dance, which only covers part C, is clearly using ordinary doubles. So perhaps Arbeau is referring to the single/single/double pattern when he refers to the manner of the coranto.

This dance has a chase and a hay. You line up in lines of 3 (or more) and follow the leader around the room for the A and B part of the music (which may or may not repeat; the steps given here assume one repeat of each), and then you hay for the C part of the music, which is only 2 measures long and repeats until the original leader gets back to the top.

Thomas and Gingell claims the hay is done with hands. I see no sign of that in Arbeau. Arbeau does say that the dancers end up where they started, and that if there are more than 3 people in the hay, the people at the bottom should not move until they have a chance to change places with the dancer who started at the top. T&G suggest that the ``odd person out'' should turn in place.