The Award Winners
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
The Award Winners (S4x32) A 32 bar strathspey for four couples in a longwise set, Murrough Landon (2026).1- 8 2nd and 3rd couples dance the Knot.
9-12 1st and 3rd couples, also 2nd and 4th couples, each dance Set and Link. The order is now 3,1,4,2.
13-16 3rd and 1st couples, also 4th and 2nd couples, each dance right hands across. 1st man and 4th woman end facing out.
17-24 All dance a Stellar Promenade Chain Progression:
17-18 3rd and 2nd couples each turn their partner three quarters with the right hand moving in half a place to end on the centre line with 3rd man close to 2nd woman.
Meanwhile 1st man and 4th woman dance clockwise to the top and bottom of the centre line and take 3rd woman and 2nd man in promenade hold respectively.
Meanwhile 1st woman and 4th man - with short steps - cross over giving left hands and retain hands directly across from each other in the centre.
19-22 1st man with 3rd woman, also 4th woman with 2nd man, each promenade clockwise half way round the set to the other end of the centre line.
Meanwhile 3rd man, 1st woman, 4th man and 2nd woman - with long steps - dance left hands across one and a half times in 4 bars.
23-24 2nd and 3rd couples each turn their partner three quarters with the right hand moving up or down to end on the sides in 1st and 4th places facing out.
Meanwhile 4th man and 1st woman continue a little anticlockwise, then curve out to their right ending in 2nd and 3rd places on their own sides facing in and clockwise.
Meanwhile 4th woman and 1st man dance on one place clockwise to end in 2nd and 3rd places on their own sides facing clockwise in tandem behind 1st woman and 4th man.
The order is now 2,4,1,3.
25-32 4th and 1st couples, with 4th man and 1st woman leading at the start, dance alternating tandem reels of three on their own sides. 4th and 1st men start left shoulder to 2nd man as 1st and 4th women start left shoulder to 3rd woman.
The final order is 2,4,1,3.
(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA April 2026)
Dance Notes
The Stellar Promenade Chain Progression is like the Promenade Chain Progression (as in Linnea's Strathspey) but adds an extra couple in the centre to have a left hands across (star) one and a half times rather than just two dancers turning one and a half times.The basic pattern is still that of a two couple Chain Progression - with more meanwhiles. It is not a truly four couple Chain Progression (for an example of that see Pebbles With Personality).
(Dance notes compiled by the deviser, Murrough Landon CC BY-SA April 2026)
Dance Instruction Videos
The Award Winners - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction VideoDance Information
This is for the young German Tanzbaeren (Tanzbären) group who won the RSCDS Virtual Festival twice in a row with their excellent videos A Dance Through The Decades in 2023 and Flooded Future in 2024.
Music: Suggested tune: Miss Barbara Cunningham (Robert Mackintosh).
Suitable recording: In Campbell Country (Keith Smith and Muriel Johnstone: Vintage Goldring).
(Dance information by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA April 2026)
Published in The Award Winners, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Murrough Landon. Licensed under CC BY-SA.
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