Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary

The Fairy Godmother

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

The Fairy Godmother 32 Bar Reel For 4 Couples In A Square Set, Devised By Viktor Lehmann, 2023.

1-4 All couples join both hands with partner and - with 4 slip steps - dance to next side line anticlockwise (men and ladies into changed places). All set, starting with the inner foot (men with the right foot, ladies with the left foot).
5-8 Repeat bars 1-4 to the next sideline, men and ladies now in own places on opposite sides.
9-16 All couples dance a Poussette as if they were second couple, with the lady moving backwards (dance through the real corner of the square into the next sideline anticlockwise). On the last two bars, the men set on the spot, being back to back in the center, whilst the ladies set backwards as in a standard Poussette to finish on the sideline. The set now consists of two lines forming a cross.
17-24 STAR CHAIN: The men change places with the ladies giving right hand, with the ladies progressing one place anticlockwise in the center of the set, facing a new partner whilst the men face in. Change places with new partner giving left hand, with the men progressing one place clockwise in the center of the set when dancing in. Repeat this pattern (one more right hand, one more left hand) to finish facing your partner again.
25-28 Pick up partner in promenade hold for a promenade half way round the set anticlockwise, open up to face your partner and clap.
29-32 Tulloch turn (birl) with both hands joined to finish with both hands joined on the sidelines, ready for the next repeat.

(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Viktor Lehmann, under the CCA NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, November 2023)


Dance Instruction Videos

The Fairy Godmother - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction Video

Dance Information

Dedicated to Linda Harley Gillespie.

Recording Suggestion: The Shetland Fiddler (Muriel Johnstone and Keith Smith)

Tune Suggestion: Planxty Malcolm (Paul Gitlitz)

(Dance information by the deviser, Viktor Lehmann, under the CCA NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, November 2023)


Published in The Fairy Godmother, reproduced here under this Creative Commons Attribution - NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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