This dance is danced to hornpipes (Dutch explanation) such as the The rights of man (mp3, 0.8 Mb), which in this performance is played at a nice speed. The Stack of Barley is a couple dance, all couples facing the same direction in a circle. The first 8 bars are danced in open shoulder-waist hold, while the next 8 bars in waltz hold. This sequence is repeated till the end of the dance.

The steps in the hornpipe step are for the gents (ladies opposite foot all the time, sequence repeated until the end of the dance, L and R being short for step left and step right):

• up-beat : /R-hop// ...(in hornpipes, beats 2 and 4 are stressed)
• bars 1-2 : // L / L-hop / R / R-hop // L / R / L^* / L-hop // .... moving forward along the circle. Make sure while stepping L^* to start swinging the right foot already backwards, a movement you also find in the advance and retire figure in set dance reels.
• bars 3-4 : // R / R-hop / L / L-hop // R / L / R^* / R-hop // .... moving backwards. Make sure while stepping R^* to start swinging the left foot already foreward.
• bars 5-8 : repeat bars 1-4
• bar 9 : // L / R / L / L-hop // .... in waltz hold, turn with partner 180°
• bar 10 : // R / L / R / R-hop // .... turn again 180°
• bars 11-14 : repeat bars 9-10 twice
• bar 15 : // L / L-hop / R / R-hop // .... turn with partner 360°
• bar 16 : repeat bar 15

Any hornpipe will do, but there is also a tune with the same name; here is sheet music from one source and from a second source. Here it is played on uilleann pipes (Tomás O'Sullivan) & fiddle (Tim Kearns). If you want a slow tune to practise, I can recommend this interpretation of Cooley's hornpipe (mp3; 0.6 Mb) by a young "box" player of the Kilnadeema CCE. In the workshop, Finnbar used track 11 from the CD Bruach an tSulain of The Abbey Ceili Band, a medley starting with The Galway Hornpipe, the Rights of Man (wma; 0.2Mb. Here played by Jos Konings) and a hornpipe arrangement of the beautiful ballad Eileen Og (mp3; 5.7 Mb. Here performed by Stokes).

With some exercise, you can also apply hornpipe battering to this dance, replacing each step (L or R) by a tip-down. So a L-tip-down (or L-tip L-down) consists of first tapping with the tip of the left foot without taking weight, followed by a left tap after which you take weight. The second tap should be placed on the beat, while the first one on the second part of the previous beat.
Once you master this, you can also add a non-weight taking tap with the opposite foot before each hop. Bars 1-2 (with the up-beat) would then become: / R-hop L-tip // L-down R-tip / L-hop R-tip / R-down L-tip / R-hop L-tip // L-down R-tip / R-down L-tip / L-down R-tip / L-hop R-tip //. By doing so, all notes in the hornpipe are tapped, except for the triples for which you can add an additional heel, the easiest way to do this (what doesn't mean it is easy at all) being just before a tip with the heel of the foot you are going to tip with, and without taking weight. So if you want to start the dance with a tripled up-beat, you do / R-hop L-heel L-tip // L-down ... Make sure to put the heel more forward, such that you can place the tip that follows by pulling the foot backwards, while you continue that pulling to make the down. The result is that when putting the down, you don't bring - so to say - your body weight on that foot, but you bring the foot under your weight. Otherwise you never get the speed required. The sound that you make is then equal to a 4-drum that is often applied in sean-nos dancing, but the sequence is totally different. Tapping a hornpipe means that you should be on your toes all the time (except for the heels of course), never taking steps with the entire foot.

The Johnny is also danced to hornpipes, but here is the tune Love will you marry me (mp3, 1Mb) by the Cluricauns, that fits nicely with it. But as you are about to find out, you must really run !
Finnbar learned us a more simple version than the one Sean Kilkenny once explained. It goes like this: each gent takes two ladies by the hand, one on each side, hands at shoulder height. All triples line up in a circle, facing each other's back.

• bar 1 : all do // R-heel / R-toe / R-heel / R-toe // while hopping gently on the left leg on each beat, hence never taking weight on the right. The heel is put in front of the leg, while the toe crosses the other leg as in a ground cut movement done by sean nos dancers.
• bar 2 : all do // R-step / L-step / R-step / L-step // moving forward in the circle.
• bar 3 : repeat bar 1
• bar 4 : repeat bar 2, but moving backwards. When the music is fast, it can be tricky to move your right foot in time backwards.
• bars 5-8: repeat the sequence bar 1-4, but be sure to add on the second half of the last beat of bar 8 a L-hop because you have to switch now to a basic hornpipe step.
• bar 9-10 : gent lifts left arm, guides the lady on his right under the arch, and follows her. This should be done while doing a basic hornpipe step. This entire movement is called a "left arch" and the triple should be nicely back in place at the end of the last bar.
• bar 11-12 : repeat with the lady on the left moving under the gent's right arm
• bar 13-14 : repeat bars 9-10
• bar 15 : while standing in place, clap hands on beat 1, 2 and 3. On the last beat, gents do L-hop and start moving forward.
• bar 16 : gents "jog" to the next triple, and get in place to repeat the dance with a new couple of ladies.

On this video (wmv), you can see it danced during the Gijzegem Celtic Festival.

Celtic Bompa