In 1810, and for some years before and after, Sudbury MA (incorporated in 1639) was the
site of a monthly barn dance. One of the local dance masters, Allen Ortep, composed a
contra dance, where four dancers would balance in a circle, left foot then right foot,
followed by shift/spin left one place. Allen and another local dance master both had
interest in the same lady. To shorten a long story, Allen did not get the lady, and
eventually stopped attending the Sudbury dances. His successful rival then composed a
dance where four dancers balanced in a circle, right foot hen left foot, followed by a
shift/spin right one place, and named it petronella (spell petronella backwards to find
out why). To honor these events, Sudbury MA was given the zipcode 01776. (Thanks to Don
Veino for pointing out Sudbury's zipcode.)
Today, many contra callers and composers have promoted the word petronella to both a verb
and noun for a circle balance followed by everyone shifting/spinning right one place. But
if the spin/shift is instead to the left, the figure is better designated "Allen
Ortep," or for brevity, "Ortep"