Bonnie Kate Of Aberdeen
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
BONNIE KATE OF ABERDEEN (S8x40) 3C (4C set) Thompson RSCDS Book 171- 8 1s cross down to dance reflection reels of 3 on opposite sides
9-16 1s cross down to dance reflection reels of 3 on own sides
17-24 1s lead down, cross and dance out on opposite sides between 2s and 3s, cast down round 3s, lead up to top, cross and cast to 2nd place on own sides
25-32 2s+1s+3s dance 6H round and back
33-40 2s+1s dance R&L
(MINICRIB. Dance crib compiled by Charles Upton, Deeside Caledonian Society, and his successors)
Keith Rose's Crib Diagrams
Dance Instruction Videos
Bonnie Kate Of Aberdeen - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction VideoDance Information
This dance perfectly demonstrates the extensive cross-fertilization that existed between various art forms in the late 1700s and beyond.On Traditional Tune Archive, Bonny Kate Of Aberdeen, tells us that: the melody and country dance instructions were first published in R. Baldwin's periodical, The London Magazine; or The Monthly Intelligencer, in June 1751. They subsequently appeared in John Walsh's Compleat Country Dancing Master, vol. 5 (London, 1754), and later in Charles and Samuel Thompson's Compleat Collection, vol. 3 (London, 1773).
Also published in "Poetical Essays In June, 1751" on page 277 there may be found "A Country Dance, Bonny Kate Of Aberdeen", this dance is described as follows: First man set to the second woman and turn, First woman the same, Cross over and turn, Right and left.
The dance and music for "Bonny Kate Of Aberdeen" was also published by Thompson in 1771 in "24 Country Dances for the Year 1771 (page 49)" and described as follows: Hey (reel) contrary sides, Hey (reel) your own sides, cross over 2 Cu. Lead up the middle and cast off, Hands 6 round and right and left at Top.
The RSCDS interpreted and revised the original dance in 1953, publishing it in The Coronation Book, RSCDS Book 17.
Cunningham, who was writing poems and travelling around Scotland from about 1747, seems to have picked up the theme with his Kate Of Aberdeen - Poem.
In the past, love poems and songs to fair maids or bonnie lassies were not infrequently in the pastoral mode.
Pastoral poetry has a long history, going back to Theocritus, a Greek poet born c. 300 bc. Scottish Country Dancing sometimes reflects this tradition in its music and dances.
Robert Burns himself wrote "Poem On Pastoral Poetry", with its striking last verse...
In gowany glens thy burnie strays,
Where bonie lasses bleach their claes,
Or trots by hazelly shaws and braes,
Wi' hawthorns gray,
Where blackbirds join the shepherd's lays,
At close o' day.
There is no provable link between the Kate Of Aberdeen - Poem written by Dublin-born John Cunningham (1729-1773), and this dance.
Cunningham, however, was writing poems from the age of 12 and travelled around Scotland and North England from about the age of 17 (about 1747) while earning a living as an actor. The writing of this poem is dated about the year 1766.
The poem opens with silver moonlight and closes with a dawn, produced not by the sun but by Kate (presumably with her beauty or general loveliness). What makes it truly pastoral are the shepherds in the poem.
The silver moon's enamoured beam
Steals softly through the night,
To wanton with the winding stream,
And kiss reflected light.
To beds of state go, balmy sleep,
(Tis where you've seldom been,)
May's vigil whilst the shepherds keep
With Kate of Aberdeen.
Cunningham wrote other poems, including one called "Day, a Pastoral" which also refers to shepherds (And the lark, to meet the morn, Soars beyond the shepherd's sight.) It was beautifully illustrated in the 19th Century by the wood engraver Thomas Bewick.
Note: The spelling of "Bonnie" or "Bonny" seems to be randomly interchangeable.
Aberdeen lies on the east coast of Scotland. Aberdeen has won the Britain in Bloom competition a record-breaking ten times and in 2012 Mercer named Aberdeen the 56th most liveable city in the World, as well as the fourth most liveable city in Britain.
May-Eve, Or Kate Of Aberdeen - From 'The Glen Collection Of Printed Music, Scots Musical Museum, Volume 1, Page 36 c. 1771
Image from National Library Of Scotland, licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0.
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