How to dance the Strip the Willow

For this dance, you’ll need four couples in a set. Men stand in a line, and their partners stand in a line opposite them.

Bars 1-8: The top couple swing round together.
Bars 9-20: The lady swings down the line of men, and swings with her partner after each man, giving her left hand to the line and her right hand to her partner. Her partner follows her down the middle of the set.
Bars 20-28: The couple swings round at the bottom of the set.
Bars 29-40: The man swings up the line of ladies, swinging his partner after each lady.
Bars 41-48: The couple swings at the top of the set.
Bars 49-60: The couple Strip-the-Willow down the set. The lady swings the men, while the man swings the ladies, swinging each other in the middle after each man/woman in the line.
Bars 61-68: The couple swings round at the bottom of the set.
The dance then starts again with a new top couple.

You can download written instructions for the Strip the Willow in pdf format.

 

Here’s a video of a set walking through the Strip the Willow

And another one of the dance to music: