The Berwickshire Volunteers
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
The Berwickshire Volunteers A thirty-two bar Reel for three couples in a four couple longwise set, devised by John W Mitchell, Published in Whetherly Book 3.1- 8 First couple lead down the middle for four bars and up to place to finish facing out.
9-16 First couple cast off on own side for four bars then cast up to place. Meanwhile second and third couples dance right hands across in a wheel and back with the left hand.
17-20 First couple cross over and cast off into second place; second couple step up on bars 19 & 20.
21-32 Triangular travel:
21-22 first couple dance down below third couple and cross over to own side;
23-24 first couple cast up to the top on own side;
25-28 first couple lead down crossing over below third couple to the opposite side;
29-30 first couple cast up to the top on the opposite side;
31-32 first couple cross over to second place on own side.
Repeat from second place.
Note
A variation to simplify the dance for beginners is to omit the wheel on bars 9-16.
(Dance crib reproduced from The Whetherly Book of Scottish Country Dances, revised and republished by Alison Mitchell)
Keith Rose's Crib Diagram
Published in The Whetherly Book Of Scottish Country Dances Number 3, by John W Mitchell, revised and republished by Alison Mitchell. Instructions reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence (CC BY-ND 4.0).
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