A Dancing Surgeon

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

1 - 8 1st and 3rd couples advance with 2 pas de basque, circle to the left once round (4 bars) and retire with 2 pas de basque back to place.
9 - 16 2nd and 4th couples repeat bars 1-8.
17 - 20 All turn partner with the left hand and finish facing each other both hands joined.
21 - 24 All dance a "square set poussette progression":
 21 all progress one step, men forwards and women backwards (men starting with left foot and women with right foot as in a usual quick time poussette)
 22 pulling with right hands, all dance a quarter turn to finish on the next side of the square (anticlockwise)
 23 all progress one step, women forwards and men backwards
 24 releasing hands, all dance one pas de basque, women on the spot, and men backwards.
25 - 32 All dance a grand chain round the set, men progressing clockwise and women anticlockwise.
33 - 40 All turn partner with the right hand one and a half times, and swing partner on the spot for 4 bars.

Repeat from new positions.

(Dance crib compiled by the deviser Anne Dejean October 2021)

Dance Notes

(Dance notes by the deviser, Anne Dejean)

Dance Instruction Videos

Dance Information

When I asked him if there was a risk I might lose the use of my legs, difficult to imagine as an scd teacher, he started to dance a few Irish steps like in Irish set dancing, that a friend of his had taught him!

Then he explained to me that the risk was much higher with no operation than with an operation. I liked that exchange with him and I felt quite confident. And the operation went all right.

During the first phrase of the dance, formations are different each time through to convey an Irish flavour, and this is also why there is a swing (birl) at the end.

(Dance information with the kind permission of the deviser, Anne Dejean)

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