Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary

Andromeda

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

Andromeda 4 x 48 bar Reel for two longwise sets of four couples, side by side Ruary Laidlaw

Bars 1 - 8 Figures of Eight
The first couples in both sets dance figures of eight down between the second couples, giving right hand to begin.
At the same time, the fourth couples in each set dance figures of eight up between the third couples, giving right hands to begin.

Bars 9 - 16 Set and Change Places
The first lady and second man in Set A,
The fourth lady and third man in set A,
The first man and second lady in Set B,
The fourth man and third lady in Set B
- set to each other and change places with the right hand. Then facing each other again, set and change places with the left hand.
They finish with the first lady and fourth lady in Set A facing out to their left anticlockwise, and the first man and fourth man in Set B facing out and to their left anticlockwise. The second man and third man in Set A finish facing into the centre and the second lady and third lady in Set B finish facing into the centre.

Bars 17 - 28 Chase
The first lady and fourth lady in Set A, and the first man and fourth man in Set B, dance to their left anticlockwise round the outside of both sets and back to place.
Meanwhile - Wheels:
Bars 17 - 20 The second and third men, and the second and third ladies, in each set dance a right hand wheel once round to finish...
- second and third men in Set A facing their partners.
- third lady and second lady in Set B, facing their partners.

Bars 21 - 24 The second and third couples in Set A then dance a left hand wheel once round to finish in original places.
The second and third couples in Set B, then dance a left hand wheel once round to finish in original places.

Bars 25 - 28 The third and fourth men in set A, with the third and fourth ladies in Set B, dance a right hand wheel once round to the left to finish in original places.
At the same time the first and second men in set A, with the first and second ladies in Set B, dance a right hand wheel once round to the left to finish in original places.

Bars 29 - 32 All eight couples turn their partner once round to finish in original places.

Bars 33 - 40 Set and Change Partners across the two sets
All couples join hands on the sides and set once.
They all change places with their partners with the right hand, but...
All the men in Set A finish in their partner's place.
All the ladies in Set A finish in the ladies' place in Set B.
All the ladies in Set B finish in their partner's place.
All the men in Set B finish in the men's place in Set A
All eight couples then turn their new partners once round with the right hand

Bars 41 - 48 Progression
The new first and second couples in each set, and new third and fourth couples in each set...
- join inside hands and set once, then dance a half right hand wheel to the opposite side,
- they join inside hands on the opposite side and set once, then giving right hands cross over to their own side.

(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Ruary Laidlaw, 8th August 2017)


Dance Notes

The top and bottom couples of each set retain right hands from crossing over, ready to repeat the dance again with figures of eight.
This dance can be danced just twice so that dancers finish with their original partners, but in the opposite set's place.
However, If it is danced four times dancers finish with their original partner and in their set's original place.

Dance Instruction Videos

Andromeda - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction Video

Dance Information

This Reel, Andromeda, replicates The Slow Spiral Of The Giant Galaxy "Andromeda".

The Andromeda Galaxy (also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224) is a spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million light-years from Earth and it is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way. Its name stems from the area of the sky in which it appears, the constellation of Andromeda.

The image below highlights the contrast between the galaxy's choppy waves of dust (red) and smooth sea of older stars (blue). Spiral galaxies tend to form new stars in their dusty, clumpy arms, while their cores are populated by older stars.

This Spitzer view also shows Andromeda's dust lanes twisting all the way into the center of the galaxy, a region that is crammed full of stars.

Recommended music: McLeod's Tables, Muriel Johnstone and Colin Dewar, Skye Album.

Andromeda from NASA's Spitzer space telescope
The Andromeda Galaxy - Infrared Composite Image From NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope


This page contains both original content, which is copyrighted, and excerpts from Wikipedia and other sources using the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Text from this original Andromeda Galaxy article on Wikipedia.
Image from NASA/JPL-Caltech/P. Barmby (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

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