Cuillins Of Skye

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

CUILLINS OF SKYE (S8x32) 3C (4C set) Roy Goldring 4 SCDs 1978

1- 8 1s cross RH while 2s+3s change places on sides (Ladies LH and Men RH) and dance reels of 3 on the sides (1s out and down, 3s in and up)
9-16 1s cast 1 place on opposite sides (3s dance up) and dance ½ Figs of 8 (Lady up and Man down), 1s meet in centre and turn LH 1¼ times
17-24 RH across 1L+3s (at top) and 1M+2s (3rd place), 1s finish in 2nd place own sides; 1s pass RSh and dance LH across with other couple
25-32 3s+1s+2s dance the Knot

(MINICRIB. Dance crib compiled by Charles Upton, Deeside Caledonian Society, and his successors)

Dance Notes

1st couple finish in second place on their own sides at the end of bar 20.

Keith Rose's Crib Diagrams

Cuillins Of Skye - Full Size And Key To Symbols

Dance Instruction Videos

Cuillins Of Skye - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction Video

Dance Information

The Cuillin are a range of rocky mountains located on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. The true Cuillin are also known as the Black Cuillin to distinguish them from the Red Hills across Glen Sligachan.

The highest point of the Cuillin, and of the Isle of Skye, is Sgurr Alasdair in the Black Cuillin at 992 m (3255 ft).

Travelling in Scotland? Why not get your vehicle across the Kyle of Lochalsh (if you can afford what the locals complain is an extortionate bridge toll), and visit the beautiful Isle of Skye?

Take the usual A87 tourist route through Broadford on your way to Portree, and you will then be driving by a mountain range to your southwest which includes what Brit rock climbers believe to be the ultimate mountaineering experience in the UK - namely, The Cuillins of Skye. There are both Red and Black Cuillins (different types of geology), of which the latter are fearsome rocky crags composed of basalt and gabbro, a very rough type of rock beloved by mountaineers.

Twelve of the Black Cuillins are Munros, i.e. Scottish mountains over 3000 feet (feet always give a better sense of height than metres). The highest Black Cuillin is Sgurr Alasdair at 3255 feet. Especially challenging for climbers is the seven-mile-long Black Cuillin Traverse from Sligachan to Glenbrittle.

By the way, Cuillin seems to really be a plural word (The Cuillin of Skye?) Legend has it that it is derived from the chieftain of a race of giants in days of yore. His name was Cuchullin. His stories were sung about by Ossian, a controversial poet, minstrel, and narrator of Scottish fables whose name would be quite well known to students of early Gaelic literature.

Plural or not, I urge that everyone enjoy dancing The Cuillins of Skye, a delightful Roy Goldring strathspey published in the booklet Four Scottish Country Dances for 1978.

The Barry Pipes Canon 023- February, 2009.

Cuillins Of Skye - Information Video

Cuillins Of Skye

Dance information licensed under this Creative Commons Licence 3.0.
Text from this original Cuillin article on Wikipedia.
Image copyright Adrian Pingstone.
Additional search terms: Cuilins, Quillins.

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