About Kentucky Running Set, Warwickshire

Kentucky Running Set is a form of American Square Dance, collected by Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles in the Appalachians in the first half of the twentieth century. Cecil Sharp devoted Part 5 of The Country Dance Book to KRS. This exhilarating dance does not involve running, nor any fancy foot work. The figures run on from one to the next, so the dance does keep going for longer than a conventional square dance. Rather than the more usual idea of learning a whole dance and then dancing it, it works by learning a collection of figures, with each couple leading a different figure. Having evolved in small rooms, KRS is usually danced in square sets of 4 couples, but it can accommodate other numbers. Nowadays, with judicious choice of figures, it is often danced in "big set" formation. When danced at social events, each couple will choose their own figure to dance and each set has its own caller. At workshops, the caller will teach and call figures for the whole room.

You can find more information about KRS at round.soc.srcf.net/dances/krs and daveturner.org.uk (which has links to the display team "Rights and Lefts").

We organise KRS workshops near to our home in Leamington Spa in Warwickshire. We would be very happy to be invited to run workshops or teach at club sessions elsewhere in the country.

In 2024, we taught Running Set workshops at Whitby Folk Week, Intervarsity Folk Dance Festival and Nottingham Folk Dance Club.