The Argyll Arcade

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

The Argyll Arcade (S8x32) 3C (4C set) Lewis N Derrick 2023

1-4 The 1st couple cross over giving right hands and cast off to second place on opposite sides the 2nd couple step up on bars 3-4
5-8 The 1st couple cross over giving right hands and cast to the right the 1st man ending above the 2nd couple facing the women's side the 1st woman below the 3rd couple facing the men's side
9-12 The 1st man dances right hands across with the 2nd couple while the 1st woman dances right hands across with the 3rd couple
13-16 While the 2nd and 3rd couples dance left hands across the 1st couple dance clockwise halfway around them to change places
17-20 The 1st woman dances right hands across with the 2nd couple while the 1st man dances right hands across with the 3rd couple
21-24 While the 2nd and 3rd couples dance left hands across the 1st couple dance clockwise halfway around them to change places
25-30 Giving left shoulder to the 2nd woman to begin, the 1st man dances a reel of three across with the 2nd couple ending between them facing down while, giving left shoulder to the 3rd man to begin, the 1st woman dances a reel of three across with the 3rd couple ending between them facing up
31-32 Giving right hands, the 1st couple turn three-quarters round to end in second place own sides

Repeat having passed a couple

(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Lewis N Derrick 2023)

Dance Notes

On bar 30 To flow smoothly from left hands across to the reel of three when passing through their own positions on bars 24-25 the 2nd man and 3rd woman should pull back their right shoulders and cast into the reel to pass their own partners by the right.

Dance Information

This was devised by Lewis Derrick as a reference to The Argyll Arcade, Glasgow.

Built by John Baird in 1827, it was Scotland's first custom-built shopping arcade and as the centre of the Scottish diamond trade, is quite literally a jewel in the city's retail crown.

Suggested tune: Munlochy Bridge.

Devised 1990, first published electronically 2023.

(Dance information from The McGhie Scottish Country Dance Sheets #55, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Lewis N Derrick)

Argyle Street is a major thoroughfare in the city centre of Glasgow, Scotland.

With Buchanan Street and Sauchiehall Street, Argyle Street is one of the main shopping streets in the city centre. It is the longest street by distance in the city centre, running for 2.1 miles (3.4 km).

It begins in the south-eastern corner of the city centre, at the Trongate, where it is pedestrianised as far as Queen Street. This section forms the major shopping section of the road, including the St. Enoch Centre and the Argyll Arcade, a Victorian arcade principally containing jewellers.

View Into The Argyll Arcade off Buchanan Street, Glasgow

Published in The McGhie Scottish Country Dance Sheets, Collection 6, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Lewis N Derrick.
Dance information licensed under this Creative Commons Licence 3.0.
Text from this original Argyle Street, Glasgow article on Wikipedia.
Image copyright Andy Farrington under this Creative Commons Licence 2.0.

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