The Deil Confound Me
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
The Deil Confound MeMaggie and Duncan Keppie Haliburton School Of Arts SCD Book 2: Let's dance
6/8x32 bar strathspey
2-couple dance in 3 or 4-couple longways set
1-8 REEL OF 4: 1st and 2nd couple dance a reel of 4 across the dance starting with 1st and 2nd men, and 1st and 2nd women turning ¾ around by the right hand on Bar 1: end with 1st man and 2nd woman giving left hands in passing on Bar 8;
9-16 WHEELS: 1st and 2nd couples dance left hands across (1st woman joins the wheel behind 2nd woman, and 2nd man joins the wheel behind 1st man), then return with right hands across (on Bar 16, turn partner with right hand to end in a line up and down the center facing partner both hands joined, men facing down and women facing up);
17-24 HIGHLAND SCHOTTISCHE POUSSETTE: 1st and 2nd couple dance Highland Schottische poussette (on Bars 23-24, turn partner once round with both hands to end in a line up and down the center of the dance, men facing up and women facing down);
25-28 UNRAVELLING REEL OF 4: 1st and 2nd couple dance part of a reel of 4 to end on own side in progressed places (people starting back-to-back in the middle pass partner by the right shoulder and dance along opposite side of the dance AS people starting at the end of the line dance ½ reel of 4 curving out to opposite side at the end);
29-32 CROSS AND SET: 2nd and 1st couples cross over with partner passing right hands and set nearer hands joined on the side.
Repeat from 2nd place.
(Dance crib compiled by the devisers, Maggie and Duncan Keppie)
Dance Information
The title of this dance, The Deil Confound Me, comes from the Hey, Johnnie Cope - Song written by Adam Skirving to a well known tune.When Johnnie Cope tae Dunbar came,
They speired at him, 'Where's a' your men?'
'The deil confound me gin I ken,
For I left them a' i' the morning.
Hey, Johnnie Cope Song - Information Video
Sir John Cope (1690-1760), c. 1730
Dance information licensed under this Creative Commons Licence 3.0.
Text from this original Hey, Johnnie Cope article on Wikisource.
Image copyright Willaim Aikmann (www.artuk.org), public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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