The Comfrey Medley
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
The Comfrey Medley A sixteen bar Strathspey, sixteen bar Reel Medley for three couples in a four couple longwise set, devised by John W Mitchell, Published in Whetherly Book 2.Strathspey
1- 4 First couple lead down the middle, second couple step up on bars three and four.
5- 8 First couple lead up the middle, separate below third couple and cast up behind third couple into second place.
9-16 First couple dance a Highland Schottische petronella to finish in second place on opposite side facing out:
9-10 they set with Highland Schottische step, right foot, turning on the hop at the end of bar 10 to face out on a diagonal line.
11-12 they again set with Highland Schottische step, left foot, moving diagonally to finish man between third couple, and lady between second couple on bar twelve, once again turning on the hop to finish facing up and down the set;
13-16 this movement is repeated on bars 13-16 to finish on the opposite side, but on the last hop the dancers remain facing out instead of turning to face in.
Reel
1- 8 First couple dance a figure of eight round their corners, they commence by casting behind their first corners, and finish by dancing in to face their first corners.
9-16 Turn first corner with the right hand, partner with the left hand, second corner with the right hand and cross over giving left hand to partner.
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 2, 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).
Back to the top of this Scottish Country Dancing Instructions 'The Comfrey Medley' page