Corrie Sith
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
Corrie Sith (Fairy Corrie)Maggie and Duncan Keppie Gaelic College SCD Book 12: Corrie Dances
Strathspey 3 x 32 bars 3 Couple Repeat 3 Couple Set Triangular Set
1-8 FIGURE OF 8: 1st couple dance a figure of 8, 1st man around 2nd couple and 1st woman around 3rd couple (start by dancing between the couple), joining nearer hands whenever possible;
9-12 ADVANCE AND RETIRE: All advance nearer hands joined with partner, then drop partner's hand and join nearer hands with corner to retire;
13-16 WOMEN ROUND MEN: retaining nearer hands, the women dance clockwise around their corner man ending in the Skye Hold (Men have their left hand around in front of them to their right shoulder where it is joined with woman's right hand whose arm passes around behind the man);
17-24 CORRIE: all unwind (men swivel clockwise) changing places with corner (2 bars), chase clockwise one place around the triangle men leading (2 bars), change places with corner using right hands (2 bars), and set to each other;
25-28 ADVANCE AND RETIRE: All advance nearer hands joined with corner, then drop corner's hand and join nearer hands with partner to retire;
29-32 MEN ROUND WOMEN: retaining nearer hands, the men dance clockwise around their partner ending in the Skye Hold (women have their left hand around in front of them to their right shoulder where it is joined with man's right hand whose arm passes around behind the woman);
33-40 CORRIE: all unwind (women swivel clockwise) changing places with partner (2 bars), chase clockwise nearly one place around the triangle women leading (2 bars), change places with partner using right hands (2 bars), and set to each other;
41-48 CIRCLE AND BACK: All circle and back (end one place anticlockwise of original place).
Repeat twice.
(Dance crib compiled by the devisers, Maggie and Duncan Keppie)
Dance Information
"Coire an t-Sith" is Gaelic for "Fairy Corrie"; it is the name of a bowl-shaped, glacial valley to the west of Loch Eck ("Loch Aic" in Gaelic) in the Cowal ("Còbhal" in Gaelic) peninsula of SW Scotland."Coire an t-Sith" should be pronounced as "Ko~r~ ~n Chee" in English, "Loch Aic" as "Loch A~k" and "Còbhal" as "Koe~l" with stress always on the first syllable, and where:
"o" is as in "not";
"~" represents the very short, indeterminate, vowel sound;
"ch" is as in "chat";
"ee" is as in "beet";
"ch" is as in "loch"; and
"oe" is as in "toe".
See Gaelic Dance Names for more information on Gaelic spelling and pronunciation.
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