Be True To Yourself
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
Be True To Yourself (S3x40) A 40 bar strathspey for three couples in a longwise set. Murrough Landon.1-2 1st couple dance down with near hands joined to below 3rd couple and face out on
the sides.
3-6 1st couple turn 3rd couple once round, men with the right hand and women with the left hand.
7-8 1st couple cast back up to 1st place.
9-16 1st and 2nd couples dance the Untie the Knot figure:
9-10 With the men taking a long step across to start, 1st and 2nd couples half turn their partner with the right hand into allemande hold facing down on the women's side.
11-13 2nd followed by 1st couple loop to their right and dance up the centre.
14 Both couples turn to face their partner still with hands crossed.
15-16 They then turn to face down and cast away from each other to the sides.
17-20 1st and 3rd couples dance the first four bars of Set and Rotate: set on the sides, then pull right shoulder back and cast one place clockwise. 3rd and 1st men end in 2nd place, 3rd and 1st women in 3rd place. 1st couple are on the women's side.
21-24 3rd and 1st men also 3rd and 1st women dance back to back.
25-32 3rd and 1st couples dance a same sex Knot. 3rd and 1st men also 3rd and 1st women half turn into allemande hold facing down then dance up the women's side. 3rd couple cross 1st couple over with the left hand, then both half turn with the left hand to end with the women in 2nd place, men in 3rd place. 1st couple are back on the women's side.
33-40 3rd and 1st couples dance a modified same sex diamond poussette figure:
33-38 3rd with 1st women and 3rd with 1st men dance the first six bars of the diamond poussette as usual.
39-40 The two pairs half turn with both hands and open out, with 1st woman and 3rd man leading, to end on their own sides opposite their conventional partner in the order 2,3,1.
(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA May 2018 (revised July 2019)
Dance Notes
On the chord at the end of the dance the final 3rd and 1st couples should honour their new partners facing up and down on the side.Alternatively (and now preferred) on the final repeat the two new pairs dance a standard poussette for 8 bars and naturally end facing each other across the set.
(Dance notes by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA May 2018 (revised July 2019))
Keith Rose's Crib Diagrams
Dance Instruction Videos
Be True To Yourself - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction VideoDance Information
1st couple are not suited to each other and quickly find that someone on their own side is more interesting. So they dance the Untie the Knot figure (from Fare Thee Well devised by Tom Kerr) and after a little further dalliance they each proceed to tie the Knot with a partner of the same sex.A long and happy life together passes in a flash and the two new pairs celebrate with a modified diamond (anniversary) poussette.
Recommended music: The Miller O' Hirn and/or The Kirrie Kebbuch (James Scott Skinner), Recording: 3x40 Strathspeys (The Macadians:The Dancing Master).
(Dance information by the deviser, Murrough Landon CC BY-SA May 2018 (revised July 2019))
Published in Be True To Yourself, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA.
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