The Cockle Gatherers
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
The Cockle Gatherers A thirty-two bar Reel for three couples in a longwise set, devised by John W Mitchell, Published in Whetherly Book 4.1- 8 First and second couples dance a reel of four, to commence first lady and second man dance in passing by the left shoulder; to finish first man and second lady do not pass by the left shoulder, instead dancing over to own side directly. First couple finish in second place.
9-12 First and second couples dance right hands across in a wheel.
13-16 First and third couples dance left hands across in a wheel.
17-32 Second and third couples dance an interrupted rights and lefts: they set and change places on the sides giving right hands, set and cross over giving left hands, then repeat these eight bars back to place. Meanwhile first man followed by his partner: casts off behind fourth corner position, dances up to the top, casts off behind third corner position, crosses over to the opposite side, casts up behind second corner position, dances down the middle, casts up behind first corner position and crosses back to second place on own side.
Repeat from second place.
(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 4, 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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