The Blacksmith
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
The Blacksmith A forty bar Reel for four couples in a four couple longwise set, devised by John W Mitchell, Published in Whetherly Book 3.1- 4 First and second couples dance half rights and lefts, third and fourth couples do the same.
5- 8 First and second couples dance right hands across in a wheel, third and fourth couples do the same.
9-12 First and fourth couples dance half rights and lefts.
13-16 First and fourth couples dance left hands across in a wheel to finish back to back in the centre facing comers diagonally; first couple facing third couple and fourth couple facing second, second and third couples on the opposite sides.
17-24 Corners petronella round a double Hello-Goodbye setting (see appendix).
25-28 First and fourth couples turn their corners once round with the right hand.
29-30 First and fourth couples dance left hands across in a wheel half way, order now is 3, 4, 1, 2 all on own side.
31-32 All join hands on the side and set.
33-36 Second couple make an arch with both hands: first, fourth and third couples join both hands with partner and dance down the middle under the arch with eight slip steps.
37-40 All four couples dance up the middle with eight slip steps. Finish with second couple in first place.
Repeat with new top couple.
(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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