Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary

All The Lads They Smile At Me

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

ALL THE LADS THEY SMILE AT ME (J4x48) 3½ C set 3C + 1 Lady Lillian Vinnall
(1st Lady has no partner)

1- 8 1L+2M set and turn RH, 1L+3M set and turn RH ending with 1L in middle between 3s
9-16 2s+3s+4s circle 6H round and back while 1L sets (similar to Eightsome Reel) and ends facing 3M
17-24 1L dances ½ reel of 3 with 3s (RSh to 3M) and ½ reel with 4s (RSh to 4M)
25-32 1L dances down below 4s and casts up behind Ladies' side to 1st place, sets and casts to 2nd place (2L steps up) while 3s+4s set and cross RH
33-40 1L+2M dance down the middle and back to 2nd places
41-48 1L+2M cast to 4th places and 1L+2M also 3s+4s turn RH

Repeat with 2L as dancing 1st Lady

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


Keith Rose's Crib Diagrams


Dance Instruction Videos

All The Lads They Smile At Me - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction Video

Dance Information

The title of this dance, All The Lads They Smile At Me, comes from an earlier version of the chorus in Coming Through The Rye - Poem written (adapted) by Robert Burns in 1782.

Chorus
Ilka lassie has her laddie
Nane, they say, hae I
Yet a' the lads they smile at me
When comin' thro' the rye.

Coming Through The Rye Poem - Information Video

The Ford Across The Rye Water
The Ford Across The Rye Water At Drakemyre


This page uses content under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, along with original copyrighted content and excerpts from Wikipedia and other sources.
Text from this original Coming Through The Rye article on Wikisource.
Image from Rosser1954 Roger Griffith, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

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