Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary

The Barley Twist (Beaumont)

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

THE BARLEY TWIST (R4x48) 4C set Peter Beaumont Second Canberra Book

1- 8 1s cross down to dance mirror reels of 3 on opposite sides (3s in/up, 2s out/up to start). (1)23
9-16 3s cross up to dance mirror reels of 3 on opposite sides (1s continue on opposite sides). (1)2(3)4
17-24 All Ladies set advancing, Balance-in-Line, then dance below and around partner to place
25-32 All Men set advancing, Balance-in-Line, dance below and around partner to place
33-40 3s+4s (bottom 2 couples) dance ½ R&L; 2s+4s (middle 2 couples) dance ½ R&L
41-48 1s+4s (top 2 couples) dance ½ R&L; 4s and 2s dance ½ Fig of 8 round couple below them. 4123

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

Dance Notes

This dance is structured in three sections, each lasting 16 bars, with movements that reflect the interwoven, twisting patterns suggested by its name.

In the final section, covering bars 33 to 48, dancers should incorporate courtesy turns when performing the half rights and lefts to ensure smooth transitions and maintain the dance's overall flow.

Dance Information

Also see the dance Barley Twist (Hodgson) by Val Hodgson.

Barley sugar (barley twist or barley sugar candy) is a traditional variety of boiled sweet (hard candy), often yellow or orange in colour, which is usually made with an extract of barley, giving it a characteristic taste and colour. The Oxford English Dictionary describes it as "a confection, usually in twisted sticks, made from sugar, formerly by boiling in a decoction of barley."

The characteristic barley twist shape is used to describe many architectural features eg. barley twist chimney stacks and barley twist columns.

Barley Sugar Twist Column
A Solomnic Or Barley Sugar Twist Column
Part Of The Balduchin In The Queensberry Aisle, Durisdeer, Dumfries And Galloway, Scotland
Published in https://minicrib.org.uk/Publications/The Second Canberra Book of SCDs.pdf.
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Text from this original Barley Sugar article on Wikipedia.
Image from Rosser1954 Roger Griffith, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

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