Spanish Gypsy, The

Historical sources
Set formation
Tags
Difficulty
Part 1
1st strain Lead up a double and back twice and face your partner (8)
Turn on the spot over left shoulders to face away from partner, turn back (4)
Back to back partner right shoulders (4)
2nd strain 1C and 4C meet up and down a double and back as the middles cast to the ends (4)
1C and 4C, currently facing in the middle, turn away left shoulders and turn back (4)
Back to back right shoulders, then left shoulders (8)
3rd strain 2C and 3C the same (16)
Part 2
1st strain As part 1, replace leading up with side right and left (16)
2nd, 3rd str As part 1, replacing back to backs with circle left and right (32)
Part 3
1st strain As part 1, replace leading up with arm right and left (16)
2nd, 3rd str As part 1, replacing back to backs with star right and left (32)

See the discussion in terminology about the meaning of "turn back to back", and "go about not turning your faces".

Fitting the music to the description requires accepting some errors. The tune is presented as a single phrase of 16 bars, which is really an 8-bar A phrase and a repeated 4-bar B phrase. Indeed, by 4th edition, the music has been shortened to 12 bars! However, let's look at the wording for the first part:

Lead up forwards and back  ·  That again  :  Turn all back to back, faces again, go all about your We not turning your faces. That again the tother way  ·  First and last Cu. meet a D. back again, turn all back to back, faces again, go about each other, not turning your faces the other way as much  :  The other four as much  ·: 

This can't mean for a lead up and back to take 16 bars! Furthermore, the amount of stuff you have to fit into each "dot" keeps going up! The solution is to consider the introductions outliers – everything up to the second  ·  is the first strain, and it continues after that, taking three strains in all.

The progression is really interesting and doesn't turn up in many other places: the ends meet, and do a thing, with the original middles getting out of the way to the ends implicitly; then the other four get a go, leaving everyone where they started. I'd have the middles cast to the ends so it's obvious what's happening.

Regarding the moves themselves I've come to the same conclusions as Dafydd.