Cobham Hall
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
Cobham Hall A one hundred and twenty-eight bar Medley for four couples in a square set, devised by John W Mitchell, Published in Whetherly Book 5.Strathspey
1- 4 First and third couples change places giving right hands in passing and set. Meanwhile second and fourth couples set and change places giving right hands in passing.
5- 8 Repeat bars 1-4 to return to original places.
9-12 The men dance right hands across half way and turn opposite lady with the left hand.
13-16 Repeat bars 9-12 to return to original places.
Reel
17-20 The ladies all set and cast one place clockwise.
21-24 Eight hands round to the left.
25-28 The ladies all set and cast one place anticlockwise.
29-32 Eight hands round to the right to original places.
Strathspey
33-36 The men all set and cast into their partners' places, ladies step into their partners' places on bars 35 & 36.
37-40 The men dance right hands across once round to finish facing their partners.
41-48 Grand chain, one step to each hand, giving right hand to partner to commence. Finish in partners' places with ladies facing in and men facing out.
Reel
49-64 Schiehallion reels, passing partner by the right shoulder to commence. All finish in partners' places.
Strathspey
65-68 First and third couples set and change places giving right hand in passing. Meanwhile second and fourth couples change places giving right hand and set.
69-72 Repeat bars 65-68 to return to partners' places.
73-76 The ladies dance right hands across half way and turn opposite man with the left hand.
77-80 Repeat bars 73-76 back to partners' places.
Reel
81-84 The men all set and cast one place clockwise.
85-88 Eight hands round to the left.
89-92 The men all set and cast one place anticlockwise.
93-96 Eight hands round to the right.
Strathspey
97-100 The ladies set and cast to their original places, the men step into their original places on bars 99 & 100.
101-104 The ladies dance right hands across in a wheel to finish in their original places facing their partners.
105-112 Grand chain, one step to each hand, giving right hand to partner to commence. All finish in original places facing partner.
Reel
113-116 All set to partners and change places giving right hand in passing.
117-120 All set to partners and turn into a waltz hold; men take the ladies' right hands in their left hands, the lady turning to her right under an arch made by their raised hands, with two pas de basque steps, to finish in the waltz hold.
121-128 All dance off in a polka, or in the ballroom polka once round the set.
(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 5, 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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