This dance, as performed by Rumworth, was interpreted and adapted from the written notation of Fred Hamer who collected it in 1938. The notation was found in the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library where it had been mistakenly filed under Holmes Chapel, which is in Cheshire. Holme Chapel is in fact near Burnley in the Pennines and the dance is typical of dances from that region.

As in the Polka Dance, Holme Chapel’s figures are elegantly simple. In common with many dances in the North West tradition, most of the figures are performed first in pairs and then in fours. Whenever space and numbers allow we love to dance this in a twelve man set.

The chorus movement in the dance consists of Fall Back (like a Step Up in reverse) followed by Step and Turn which is then followed by a figure. This pattern is very common in dances from Lancashire and the figures themselves are the common Lancashire morris figures: Cross Partner, Cross Corner, Swing Partner, Swing Corner and Insides then Cross Partner and Cross Corner are repeated. Interestingly, the cross over figures are danced with polka step while the swings and insides use a walking step. Rumworth always dance the figures in the same order.

Like other traditional dances from the area the dance finishes with Cross Morris, known at Holme Chapel as "Tickle our Martha" which is also performed first in pairs and then repeated in fours.

Although from this description you'd think the dance was quite simple, the footwork and hand and arm movements make it a difficult dance to learn and perform, as dancers at some of our festival workshops have discovered!