Blairnane's Rant
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
Blairnane's Rant A thirty-two bar Strathspey for four couples in a longwise set. Devised by John W Mitchell, Published in Whetherly Book 11.1- 8 Snowball chain, one step to each hand. First and fourth couples cross over giving right hand on bar 1, first and second couples change places giving left hand on bar 2 whilst third and fourth couples do the same. Finish in the order 1, 3, 2, 4.
9-16 First and fourth couples dance a half reel of four progression:
9-10 turn partners three quarters with right hand;
11-14 half a reel of four up and down the set;
15-16 turn partners three quarters with right hand.
17-24 Eight hands round in a circle to the left and back to the right.
25-32 Fourth, third and second couples dance a granny knot (a left handed knot) for three couples*.
Repeat with new top couple. Recommended tune: Blairnane's Rant * The granny knot (a left-handed knot) is described in the appendix of this book.
(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 11, 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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