Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary

Twirl Of The Kilt

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

Twirl Of The Kilt
Maggie and Duncan Keppie Gaelic College SCD Book 5: A Dozen More
6/8x32 bar Strathspey
2-couple dance in 3- or 4-couple longways set

  1-8   SET AND LINK TWICE: 1st and 2nd couples set and link twice (on bars 7-8 2nd man and 1st woman turn halfway with left hands to end back-to-back facing partner in a diagonal line between 1st man and 2nd woman);

  9-16 REEL OF FOUR: 1st and 2nd couples dance reel of 4 diagonally across dance ending in original places (i.e. 1st woman and 2nd man loop into place on bars 15-16);

17-20 DIAGONAL ½ TURN AND TWIRL: 1st man and 2nd woman turn halfway with right hands and twirl to opposite places (Twirl is performed by retaining right hands and dancing towards each other, then pulling right shoulder back dance to each other's places);

21-24 DIAGONAL ½ TURN AND TWIRL: 1st woman and 2nd man turn halfway with right hands and twirl to opposite places;

25-28 BACK-TO-BACK: 2nd and 1st couples dance back-to-back;

29-32 1½ TURN: 2nd and 1st couples turn partner one and a half times with both hands.

Repeat from 2nd place.

(Dance crib compiled by the devisers, Maggie and Duncan Keppie)


Keith Rose's Crib Diagrams


Dance Instruction Videos

Twirl Of The Kilt - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction Video

Dance Information

Note in the picture below the "break" in the kilt at the hipline. This is the result of the kilt pleats being stitched down through the fell (that portion of the kilt from waistline to the widest portion of the hips).

The action of the kilt is an integral feature of Highland dancing.

Twirl Of The Kilt
Twirl Of The Kilt


Dance information licensed under this Creative Commons Licence 3.0.
Image copyright James F. Perry licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

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