Ellen Richard's Delight
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
Ellen Richard's Delight A two hundred and fifty-six bar Jig for four couples in a square set, devised by John W Mitchell, Published in Whetherly Book 4.First Figure
1- 4 Men dance right hands across in a wheel half way.
5- 8 Half reels of four on the sides of the square. Men dance round their corner lady passing by the right, ladies the same, then each pass person on the same side (their original opposite) passes by the left shoulder to change places.
9-12 Ladies dance right hands across in a wheel.
13-16 Repeat half reels of four on the sides of the square, finishing alongside partner on the opposite side of the set.
Chorus: to be repeated after each figure
1- 2 Eight hands round to the left.
3- 4 Dance four back steps.
5- 6 Eight hands round to the right.
7- 8 Assemble and dance three spring changes.
9-10 Eight hands round to the right.
11-12 Four back steps.
13-14 Eight hands round to the left.
15-16 Assemble and three spring changes.
Second Figure
1- 4 Men dance left hands across in a wheel to finish back to back in the centre facing own partner.
5-12 All dance a double reel of four, giving left hands across half way in passing in the middle.
13-16 All turn with the right hand one and three quarter times to finish on side lines.
Third Figure
1- 4 Ladies dance right hands across in a wheel to finish back to back in the centre facing own partner.
5-12 All dance a double reel of four commencing by passing partner by the left shoulder and giving right hands across half way in passing in the middle.
13-16 All turn partner with the left hand one and three quarter times to finish on the sidelines.
Fourth Figure
1- 8 Ladies dance a double ladies' chain: give right hands across half way to turn the opposite man, then give right hands across half way to turn own partner; men dance along sidelines to commence.
9-16 Men dance a double men's chain: men give left hands across half way to turn the opposite lady, then give left hands across half way to turn own partner; ladies dance along the sides to commence.
Fifth Figure
1- 4 First and third couples set to partner and turn three quarters with the right hand.
5- 8 First and third couples dance a half reel of four to finish in original places.
9-16 Second and fourth couples repeat bars 1-8.
Sixth Figure
1- 4 Men dance right hands across in a wheel.
5- 8 Men dance half round to the opposite side of the set. i.e. cast behind the lady on their left and then cast behind the lady opposite their commencing positions.
9-16 Repeat bars 1-8.
Seventh Figure
1- 4 Ladies dance left hands across in a wheel.
5- 8 Ladies dance half round to the opposite side of the set. i.e. cast behind the man on their right and then cast behind the man opposite their commencing positions.
9-16 Repeat bars 1-8.
Eighth Figure
1-16 Schiehallion reels.
(Dance crib reproduced from The Whetherly Book of Scottish Country Dances, revised and republished by Alison Mitchell)
Keith Rose's Crib Diagram
Published in The Whetherly Book Of Scottish Country Dances Number 4, by John W Mitchell, revised and republished by Alison Mitchell. Instructions reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence (CC BY-ND 4.0).
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