The Camel Of Hastings
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
The Camel Of Hastings (S4x32) A 32 bar strathspey for four couples in a longwise set. Devised By Murrough Landon (2025).1- 4 Oases. 1st and 2nd couples, also 3rd and 4th couples, each circle four hands once round to the left.
5- 8 2nd and 3rd couples each half turn their partner with the right hand, then dance half right hands across. 2nd and 3rd women face down, 3rd and 2nd men face up, both in tandem.
9-16 Dromedary (one hump). 2nd and 3rd women dance half a tandem figure of eight down round 4th man while 3rd and 2nd men dance half a figure of eight up round 1st woman.
Each tandem pair curves in towards the centre, passing the other pair right shoulder, and curves out again to dance another half figure of eight, right shoulder around 1st man and 4th woman respectively, crossing over to their own side to end in the order 1,3,2,4.
17-22 Bactrian (two humps). 1st man and 4th woman dance in (1 bar) towards the centre, out (1 bar) towards the sides between 2nd and 3rd places, in (1 bar) towards the centre line and right shoulder round 3rd man and 2nd woman (1 bar), then cast up or down behind their own lines (2 bars) to end in their original places.
Meanwhile 1st woman and 4th man follow the same path and phrasing, but they start by casting behind their own line to the other end of the set, then dance in, right shoulder around 3rd man and 2nd woman, out towards the sides between 2nd and 3rd places, in towards the centre line and in front of 2nd woman and 3rd man pulling right shoulder back to end in their original places.
23-24 1st and 3rd couples, also 2nd and 4th couples, each dance half right hands across and stay in the centre. 1st woman and 4th man face out.
25-30 Camel trains. 1st woman followed by 1st man, 3rd man and 3rd woman, also 4th man followed by 4th woman, 2nd woman and 2nd man, each dance a four couple Snake Pass round the other four dancers passing them left shoulder. 1st woman and 4th man cross over again so that all end on the opposite side, in the other half of the set, in the order 2,4,1,3.
31-32 All cross over with the left hand to end on their own sides in the order 2,4,1,3.
(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA February 2025)
Keith Rose's Crib Diagram
Dance Instruction Videos
The Camel Of Hastings - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction VideoDance Information
The title is short for "The Camel of Hastings Street, London WC1H" which is too much of a mouthful.
The Camel Of Hastings takes its name from the large gold-coloured camel which sits above the Skinners Arms in Judd Street, London, overlooking Hastings Street. The fibreglass camel was originally bought from a junkyard for another pub, the Camel And Artichoke in Lower Marsh, and was painted gold and placed on its roof overlooking Waterloo Station. It was later discovered that the camel had previously been stolen, although the pub had bought it in good faith and was allowed to keep it when the original owner declined to recover it from the roof.
When the Camel And Artichoke closed in 2016, the camel was removed and taken to the Skinners Arms, where it was installed above the garage. Its saddle conveniently conceals whether the animal has one hump or two, so the dance provides for both possibilities. This also avoids any discrimination between the one-humped dromedary and the two-humped Bactrian camel.
Recommended music: Suggested tune: Lomond Hills (Chris Dewhurst).
Suitable recording: Lomond Hills (Chris, Julie and Nick Dewhurst: Short and Sweet).
Published in The Camel Of Hastings, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Murrough Landon. Licensed under
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