Farewell To Balmerino
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
Farewell To Balmerino A thirty-two bar demonstration Strathspey for three men and six ladies in a triangular set as shown in figure 1. The men are numbered from 1 to 3 and the ladies from 4 to 9. (figure 1) Devised by John W Mitchell, Published in Whetherly Book 16.1- 8 Interlocking reels of four on the sides of the triangle: first man with fourth and fifth ladies, passing fourth lady by the right to commence; second man with sixth and seventh ladies, passing sixth lady by the right to commence; third man with the eighth and ninth ladies, passing eighth lady by the right to commence; at the corners of the triangles borrow a dancer from the interlocking reel on the adjoining side to dance round.
9-16 Right hands across in a wheel and back with the left hand: first man with fourth and ninth ladies; second man with fifth and sixth ladies; third man with seventh and eighth ladies.
17-24 Interlocking circle and wheel:
17-18 the men cast anticlockwise into the next man's place whilst the ladies dance six hands round to the left one third in a circle; at the end of bar 18 the ladies dance out and the men dance in: first man passes between fifth and sixth ladies; second man passes between seventh and eighth ladies; third man passes between ninth and fourth ladies.
19-20 Men dance left hands across in a wheel once round as the ladies cast clockwise one third round; at the end of bar 20 the ladies dance in and the men dance out: first man passes between seventh and eighth ladies; second man passes between ninth and fourth ladies; third man passes between fifth and sixth ladies.
21-22 Repeat bars 17-18; at the end of bar 22 the ladies dance out and the men dance in: first man passes between ninth and fourth ladies; second man passes between fifth and sixth ladies; third man passes between seventh and eighth ladies.
23-24 Repeat bars 19-20; at the end of bar 24 the men finish in the centre facing their original places: first man facing seventh and eighth ladies; second man facing ninth and fourth ladies; third man facing fifth and sixth ladies.
25-26 Right hand turns: first man turns eighth lady; second man turns fourth lady; third man turns sixth lady.
27-30 The men dance left hands across in a wheel.
31-32 Right hand three quarter turns: first man turns seventh lady; second man turns ninth lady; third man turns fifth lady; the men finish in their original places, the ladies finish two places clockwise round the set.
Repeat twice from new positions to return the ladies to their original places. Recommended tune: Alex Maxwell's Farewell To Balmerino
(Dance crib reproduced from The Whetherly Book Of Scottish Country Dances, revised and republished by Alison Mitchell)
Published in The Whetherly Book Of Scottish Country Dances Number 16, 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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