Bill Jacob's Jig

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

BILL JACOB'S JIG (J4x32) 4C set Ruary Laidlaw Lochiel Collection

1- 8 1s+3s cast behind lines (4 bars) and cast back to places
9-16 1s+2s and 3s+4s set to partners, dance RH across back to places (4 bars) and set to partners again. Finish 1s facing 2s, 3s facing 4s on sides
17-24 All dance RSh reels of 4 on sides. 1L finish facing out
25-28 1L followed by 1M casts below 4s, crosses into 4M place pulling back RSh to face 1M in 4L place (2s+3s+4s join hands and step up 27-28)
29-32 1s turn 1½ RH. 2341

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

Bill Jacob's Jig
A 4 x 32 bar jig for four couples in a longwise set.

1- 8 First and third couples cast off for four steps behind their own lines, and cast back to place.
9-16 First couple join inside hands with the second couple and set once to partners across the dance. They then dance a Right Hand Wheel once round for four steps back to place. They finish by joining hands with the second couple again, set once to partners across the dance and finish, first and second couples, facing each other up and down on the sides of the set.
Third couple dance similarly with the fourth couple to finish facing up and down on the sides.
17-24 All four couples dance reels of four on their own side of the dance giving right shoulders to begin. The first lady finishes facing out and the man facing across the dance.
25-28 The first lady followed by her partner casts off to the bottom of the set and crosses over to the men's side of the dance turning round by the right on the last step to face her partner. Her partner finishes in fourth place on the ladies' side.
The second third and fourth couples join hands and move up on bars 27 and 28.
29-32 The first couple then turn their partner by the right hand one and a half times for four steps to finish on their own side of the dance in fourth place.

The new first and third couples then repeat the dance from their new positions.

(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Ruary Laidlaw, 2001 and 2023)

Dance Notes

This is the most up-to-date version (September 2023) with modified bars 9-16 and 29-32.

This dance was devised to provide a simple introduction to Reels of Four on the side of the dance for Elementary dancers.

(Dance notes compiled by the deviser, Ruary Laidlaw, 2023)

Dance Instruction Videos

Bill Jacob's Jig - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction Video

Dance Information

Bill Jacob has been a long standing member of the Lochiel Club. He has a passionate interest and knowledge about a wide variety of music as well as the sound systems to reproduce it faithfully. Luckily for the Lochiel Club, SCD music has been a large part of his interest.

Bill has spent huge amounts of his spare time making sure that the club had the best possible sound system, an easy to use index for the tutor and music that meant that the dancers got the best possible tunes to dance to. Just recently (2004) the club has bought a fairly expensive laptop computer (at his suggestion) to, not only run our system, but also store all the music.

Music: Bill chose a track called "A Set of Jigs"(4 x 32) on a record by Jimmy Blair and his Band called "A Complete Scottish Dance Programme".

Bill Jacob, c. 2001

Published in Bill Jacob's Jig, reproduced here with the kind permission of Ruary Laidlaw, 2023. Copyright Ruary Laidlaw, All rights reserved.
Published in The Lochiel Collection copyright 2005, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Ruary Laidlaw.
Image copyright Bill Jacob, Ruary Laidlaw, all rights reserved, 2023.

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