Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary

The Pink Triangle

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

THE PINK TRIANGLE (S3x32) 6 Couple Triangular Set Tim Bolton-Maggs Edinburgh 90th Anniv
6 couples arranged in Triangular Set.
Start:
3L  3M  4L 4M
 2M          5L
  2L        5M
   1M     6L
    1L  6M
      Top

1- 8 1s+2s, 3s+4s, 5s+6s dance reels of 4 on sides of triangle
9-16 All set to partners, turn RH to face corner. Set to corner, turn LH, take promenade hold with partner (L on Right) 1s face 2s, 3s face 4s, 5s face 6s
17-24 All promenade 4 places, 1s+3s+5s clockwise, 2s+4s+6s anticlockwise passing couples by Right then Left. 365214
25-32 All circle 12H round and back

(MINICRIB. Dance crib compiled by Charles Upton, Deeside Caledonian Society, and his successors)


Dance Instruction Videos

The Pink Triangle - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction Video

Dance Information

This strathspey, The Pink Triangle, was devised by Tim Bolton-Maggs from RSCDS Edinburgh and published in a collection of Scottish Country Dances to celebrate the 90th Anniversary of the Edinburgh Branch of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society in 2014.

The Pink Triangle was devised for Sid Taylor who was interested to hear about the Edinburgh Gay Gordons so commissioned a folk music friend to write it.

The original tune, The Pink Triangle was written by Jon Bews and the music was recorded by Graeme Munro and his Scottish dance band on the RSCDS Edinburgh 90th Anniversary recording.


A pink triangle has been a symbol for the LGBT community, initially intended as a badge of shame, but later reclaimed as a positive symbol of self-identity.

During the 1930s and 1940s in Nazi Germany, the pink triangle originated as one of the badges assigned in concentration camps to differentiate and identify individuals incarcerated on the grounds of being officially recognized as gay men by authorities.

In the 1970s, it was revived as a symbol of protest against homophobia, and has since been adopted by the larger LGBT community as a popular symbol of LGBT pride and the LGBT movements and queer liberation movements.

The LED and streamer installation on Twin Peaks in San Francisco CA in June 2022
Pink Triangle Installation, Twin Peaks, San Francisco, 2022


Dance information licensed under this Creative Commons Licence 3.0.
Text from this original Pink Triangle article on Wikipedia.
Image copyright Oliver Newth, Creative Commons Licence 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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