Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary

Corrie Sneachda

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

Corrie Sneachda (Snowy 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   CIRCULAR REEL OF 4: all dance a reel of 4: start passing partner by the right, after passing 3rd person turn to reel back (end nearer hands joined with partner);

  9-16 SET, ½ TURN AND TWIRL AND CHASE: set to partner (2 bars), turn halfway with right hand (2 bars), twirl (dance towards partner then pull right shoulder back and dance to partners place (2 bars), and chase around partner to original places;

17-20 DOUBLE WHEEL ANTICLOCKWISE: men with left hands joined in the middle and nearer hands with partner, dance around a double wheel;

21-24 CLOCKWISE DOUBLE WHEEL BACK IN SKYE HOLD: retaining hands, all turn into Skye hold (men dance beyond partner and swivel right AS women dance into middle pulling left shoulder back ending with left hand across in front to her right shoulder where it is joined with man's right hand (man's right arm passing behind his partner), women join right hands in the middle and dance double wheel back;

25-32 CORRIE: all unwind changing places with partner, women swivel clockwise (2 bars), chase clockwise one place around the triangle women leading (2 bars), change places with partner using right hands (2 bars), and set to each other (end one place clockwise round set).

Repeat twice.

(Dance crib compiled by the devisers, Maggie and Duncan Keppie)

Dance Information

In Scotland, there are at least five bowl-shaped, glacial valleys with the name "Coire an t-Sneachda" which is Gaelic for "Snowy Corrie". Of these, the best known is on the WSW side of the mountain, "Cairn Gorm" ("An Càrn Gorm" in Gaelic); "Coire an t-Sneachda" lies between "Coire Cas", which is the main skiing area, and "Coire an Lochain".
"Coire an t-Sneachda" should be pronounced as "Ko~r~ ~n tnechk~" in English, "An Càrn Gorm" as "~n Kahr~n Gor~m", "Coire Cas" as "Ko~r~ Kass" and "Coire an Lochain" as "Ko~r~ ~n Lochin", with stress always on the first syllable, and where:
  "o" is as in "not", not as in "gore";
  "~" represents the very short, indeterminate, vowel sound;
  ch is as in "loch";
  "ah" is as in "shah"; and
  "ss" is as in "less".
See Gaelic Dance Names for more information on Gaelic spelling and pronunciation.
Corrie Sneachda
Coire An T-Sneachda
Image copyright Richard Webb under this Creative Commons Licence 2.0.

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