Harrison's Rant
SS001
The Rant Step is peculiar to clog dancing in Northumberland and County Durham, with a characteristic "to-MA-TO SOUP, to-MA-TO SOUP rhythm:
Danced by Derek Shaw and Richard Akehurst of Also Known As…
Danced by The Reading Traditional Step & Dance Group in 1985. Rant step starts at around 1m40s
Note in both videos the dancers cross feet throughout the step. Dance teacher and historian Mike Barraclough↗̱ disagrees with this approach, stating “Originally it was never done with crossed feet. However, after London Folk danced a rant with crossed feet (for theatrical reasons, emulating the NW Morris polka) at the Royal Albert Hall Folk Festival everyone assumed that was 'correct' and started to do that.”
The Harrison of the title may refer to Thomas Harrison, a shepherd who appears in the 1911 Census. He lived in in a two-room cabin on Seaton Snook with wife Mary, daughter Margaret, and granddaughter Gladys Vera.
NOTES ON THE PIECE
Source
Halifax Manuscript
Tune Type
March/Rant
Northumbrian Smallpipe Characteristics:
Diatonic transposition in bars 1, 3, and 5-6 [blue boxes]
Leaping intervallic figures in bars 5, 6, and 7 [pink boxes]
Snookish Characteristics:
Major 7th intervals in bars 4 and 8 [orange boxes]
Ends on Dominant (D or So) [purple circles]