Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary

The Cabot Trail

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

THE CABOT TRAIL (S2x32) 4C set John Drewry Greenburn Book and Nova Scotia Collection 2017
2 Chords - 2nd chord: 1M stands as 1L crosses to 2M's place, 2M to partner's place, 2L steps up, 3s and 4s move likewise (As "Glasgow Highlanders")

1- 8 All set to partner and turn 2H; 1s+2s also 3s+4s circle 4H round to left
9-16 All set on sides, all circle 8H round to left back to place
17-20 1s+2s also 3s+4s dance RH across
21-24 All set and link with partner, Men face out and join RH with partner, LH with neighbour couple on sides
25-28 All Balance-in-Line (Highland Schottische):
 All dance 1st bar of Highland Schottische with right foot
 Drop left hands and all move to right joining LH with partner (under their RH) then drop RH and join RH with neighbour couple
 All repeat Highland Schottische with left foot and drop hands in centre, all move to left to face partner up/down on sides
29-32 All dance ½ reels of 4 on sides, finish facing partner on sides. 3s and 4s now at top, 1s and 2s at bottom

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


Keith Rose's Crib Diagrams


Dance Information

This dance is named after the famous tourist route along the north shore of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia.

The Cabot Trail is a scenic highway on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a 298 km (185 mi) loop around the northern tip of the island, passing along and through the Cape Breton Highlands and the Cape Breton Highlands National Park.

It is named after the explorer John Cabot who landed in Atlantic Canada in 1497, although modern historians agree his landfall likely took place in Newfoundland and not Cape Breton Island. Premier Angus L. MacDonald wanted to re-brand Nova Scotia for tourism purposes as primarily Scottish and, as part of this effort, created both the names Cape Breton Highlands and Cabot Trail. Construction of the initial route was completed in 1932.

John Cabot (c. 1450 - c. 1500) was an Italian navigator and explorer. His 1497 voyage to the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England is the earliest-known European exploration of coastal North America since the Norse visits to Vinland in the eleventh century.

To mark the celebration of the 500th anniversary of Cabot's expedition, both the Canadian and British governments elected Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland as representing Cabot's first landing site.

Recommended music: "King George the IVth", The King's Reel from the Skye Collection.

The Cabot Trail
Cabot Trail In Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Nova Scotia


Dance information licensed under this Creative Commons Licence 3.0.
Text from this original John Cabot article on article on Wikipedia.
Text from this original Cabot Trail article on article on Wikipedia.
Image copyright Eric Van Lochem, Creative Commons Licence 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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