Terrace Loggers' Jig

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

TERRACE LOGGERS' JIG (J4x32) 4C set K Earl Ruby Anniv Coll

1- 8 1s cross RH and cast 1 place, dance 'High 5' and cast back to places
9-16 All dance DoSiDo twice
17-24 All dance down middle, 1s make an arch and 2s+3s+4s dance up. 2341
25-32 2s+3s also 4s+1s dance RH across and LH back

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

Dance Information

The story is that this dance represents coastal logging as practiced near Terrace, British Columbia.

The first figure represents marking the cutblock, with the other dancers representing the trees to be felled. In a called ceilidh dance, we often use the call "Mark the cutblock" to tell the dancers what to do.

The second figure, double do-si-do, represents the back and forth sawing action of falling the trees. Everyone is involved, because a logging crew is typically much larger than the forestry crew who do the marking. Personally, I consider the first do-si-do as the falling action, and the second bucking them to length to fit on the trucks. We have large trees around here. If I call this dance, I use "Cut them down, then buck them up," while Kirsten likes to call "Timber" just as the third figure starts.

The third figure represents hauling the timber to the sawmill. The arch by the active couple at the bottom represents the gate at the mill. I like to use "Down the hill and into the mill" as the call.

The fourth figure represents milling the timber into lumber and other products. I like to use "make some lumber" then "make some chips" as the calls. (Chips are used in pulp mills, and are made from the edges and other bits of the log that can't be cut into lumber.)

(Dance Information by a friend of the devisor (Kirsten Earl), Robert MacDonald. Terrace, B.C.)

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