Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary

Collie's Reel

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

Collie's Reel A one hundred and ninety-two bar Reel for four couples in a square set, devised by John W Mitchell, Published in Whetherly Book 4.

First Figure
1- 8 All four couples dance eight hands round to the left in a circle and back to the right.
9-16 All four couples set twice to partner; then turn with the right hand one and a quarter times.
17-18 The men dance left hands across in a wheel half way.
19-22 The men collect the opposite lady on their right and continue to dance left hands across in a wheel half way, to leave the ladies on the opposite side of the set.
23-24 Men dance left hands across in a wheel half way.
25-28 The men dance round their partners in a clockwise circle.
29-32 All promenade anticlockwise around the set half way to original places.

Second Figure
1- 4 First couple lead between third couple and separate, the man casts behind third lady and second man to finish between second couple whilst the lady casts behind third man and fourth lady to finish between fourth couple.
5- 8 First couple, with second and fourth couples, advance and retire.
9-14 First couple dance in and meet, lead between third couple and separate; first man casts behind third lady and second couple to original place whilst first lady casts behind third man and fourth couple to original place.
15-16 First couple turn with the right hand.
17-20 All turn corner with the left hand.
21-24 All dance back to back with partner.
25-32 All dance a grand chain, one step to each hand.

The second figure is then repeated, with second couple taking the lead on bars 1-16.
Third couple repeat and fourth couple repeat.

Third Figure
1- 8 All dance eight hands round to the left in a circle and back to the right.
9-16 All set twice to partner; then turn partner with the left hand one and a quarter times.
17-18 The ladies dance right hands across in a wheel half way.
19-22 The ladies pick up the opposite man in their left hands and all dance right hands across in a wheel half way to bring the men to the opposite position.
23-24 The ladies dance right hands across in a wheel half way.
25-28 The ladies dance round their partners in an anticlockwise circle.
29-32 All promenade half way round the set in a clockwise circle.

(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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