The Big Eight to get Started
Everything comes in eights in Scottish Country Dance. So here are the eight starter building blocks. The videos are very brief, only about 20 seconds, so have a quick look.
Absolutely no knowledge is assumed for our TryItOut class. But we are working on developing a collective dance brain here, and it is more fun to start with a bit of an idea of what to expect. Less stumbling around, more dancing.
Turns, Half and Full
Simple handshake hold
A quick turn takes two bars, a slow turn takes four bars
Right hand turn=clockwise
Left hand turn=anti clockwise
A half turn is just what it sounds like. You end up half way round the circle.
Casting Casting is just dancing outside the set, around the lines of dancers. The reason it is near the top of the list is that so many dances have casting in the first eight bars.
Typically, the first couple casts to second place and the second couple step up to take their place at the top of the set. It is a very traditional start to the repeat and is often the way the dance progresses. This is called ‘cast off one place’.
This dance is a very old dance called ‘Flowers of Edinburgh’. Looks they have had a good night’s dancing and this is a reprise at the request of the floor There is some improvisation going on. Looks like fun.
The top couple cast down the ladies’ side to start and there is lots of dancing outside the set.
And round and round again
Right Hands Across and Left Hands Back This is the ‘star’. Four bars around clockwise, four bars back to place. Curve in, gracefully lifting right hand as you go, to take the hand of the dancer diagonally opposite. Slow down on the third bar, drop hands and turn in, ready to set off in the opposite direction. starting on the right foot, bring your left hand up and dance back to place.
‘ X Hands Round and back’ or ‘ Circle X hands round and back’. 4 dancers, 6 dancers or 8 dancers. Same basic story. The number of ‘hands’ is the number of dancers. Takes 8 bars and is a basic circle round and back, holding hands, using a slip step sideways for quick time dances and slowing down on bar 4 ready to change direction back again to place.
For strathspeys, strathspey travelling step is modified- cross right foot over left to start.
Rights and Lefts for two couples
Two couples dance around a square, starting taking right hands across the set and changing places, then with left hands along the sides, then right hands across again and left hands back to place. It takes eight bars, so there is plenty of time. Actually a squared off mini Grand Chain.
Half Rights and Lefts for two couples Just what it sounds like. Four bars. Swaps dancers across and up and down. Often moves dancers ready for another figure.
Grand Chain
Starts with pairs of dancers facing each other.
For the usual eight bar figure, there is exactly the right amount of music for four couples to changes places one hand per bar.
For three couple sets, the third pass and the final pass are slowed down to two bars each.
‘Ones lead down the middle and up’ and its close cousin ‘Ones dance down the middle and up’.This is a rather charming and very traditional little promenade for the ‘ones’ ie the top couple. It is a common start to dances. Usually right hand to right hand to lead down
‘Ones dance down the middle and up’ just means that the hand hold is different- take nearer hands.
Figure of Eight
Just what it sounds like. Can have one dancer, two dancers, four dancers (that’s called a double figure of eight). They all follow the same track. To avoid collisions in the middle, the dancer from the traditional ladies side goes first.
Can be around standing dancers, like this one, or freestanding, across the set or up and down. And so on.
If there are three dancers, it’s called a reel of three. Nobody knows why. It’s lost in the mists of time. The witches in Macbeth were probably doing reels of three around the cauldron. That’s SCD for you.