The Fairest Cape

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

THE FAIREST CAPE (S8x32) 2C (4C set) Terry Lynne-Harris Many Happy Hours: Pretoria 35th

1- 8 1s dance ½ Fig of 8 round 2s; 1s turn 2H remaining in centre facing each other, 1s+2s set with 1s advancing to end BtoB (2s step up 5-6)
9-16 RSh reels of 4 across, bars 15-16 1s dance across/down to 2nd place own sides
17-24 2s+1s dance Slip Knot (as Knot but bars 23-24 1s+2s dance ½ LH across)
25-32 1s set, cross RH, cast up round 2s and cross to 2nd place own side. 2 1

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

Dance Information

This dance was written for Barbara Martlew to celebrate the Martlews' visit to South Africa in 2006.

A New Zealander by birth, Barbara Martlew (Bar) was a SCD teacher at various clubs in southern England and President of the Berkhamsted Strathspey And Reel Club.

The Fairest Cape is a reference to South Africa's Cape Point (on the Cape Peninsula) and derives from an early description often attributed to Sir Francis Drake as he entered Table Bay on his ship The Golden Hind. Drake was an English explorer and privateer best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition between 1577 and 1580.

It is possible the words, "This cape is the most stately thing and the fairest cape we saw in the whole circumference of the earth". were written by someone accompanying Drake on his voyage around the world rather than by Drake himself.

The Cape Peninsula is a generally mountainous peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean at the south-western extremity of the African continent.

At the southern end of the peninsula are Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. On the northern end is Table Mountain, overlooking Table Bay and the city bowl of Cape Town, South Africa.

Cape Point, South Africa

This page uses content under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, along with original copyrighted content and excerpts from Wikipedia and other sources.
Text from this original Cape Peninsula article on Wikipedia.
Image copyright Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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