Baldovan Strathspey

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

1- 8 1s and 3s cross RH and change places LH on sides with 2s/4s; repeat back to places
9-16 1s cross RH and dance reflection reels of 3 on opposite sides (1s out/down, 2s in/up, 3s dance in and cast up to start), 1s cross to own side 1st place facing out
17-24 1s dance reflection reels of 3 on own side (1s out/down, 2s in/up, 3s dance in and cast up to start), 1s finish in 2nd place, 2s in 1st place own side
25-28 2s+1s+3s set, 2s set again while 1s dance down nearer hands joined into 3rd place (3s dance up to 2nd place)
29-32 3s+1s+4s set, 3s set again while 1s dance down nearer hands joined into 4th place (4s dance up to 3rd place)

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

Keith Rose's Crib Diagrams

Baldovan Strathspey - Full Size And Key To Symbols

Dance Information

Baldovan Strathspey was devised by Douglas Henderson who lived for a time in Dundee and named it after Baldovan, an old village to the north of Strathmartine which is itself to the north of Dundee, in the Scottish county of Angus.

Baldovan village was developed most significantly in the 1830s in order to expand Dundee to the north.

For a long while the village became an independent community with their own tram terminus and railway station, Baldovan and Downfield, serving the northern suburbs of Dundee around Strathmartine, including Bridgefoot, Downfield and Baldovan. Services were provided by the Dundee and Newtyle Railway.

Baldovan village however, is no longer there having been substantially swallowed up in Dundee's later redevelopments, only now remembered in Baldovan Road, which runs from Strathmartine to Downfield.

Recommended music: Baldovan Strathspey composed by Betty Low, published in Baldovan Set Dances.

Baldovan Set Dances, 1960

Baldovan 1974

Back to the top of this Scottish Country Dancing Instructions 'Baldovan Strathspey' page