Father O'Flynn
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
Father O'Flynn A forty-eight bar progressive Jig for four couples in a square set. Devised by John W Mitchell, Published in Whetherly Book 10.1- 4 First and third couples set to partner and turn with the left hand.
5- 8 First and third ladies turn with the right hand to finish back to back facing own partner.
9-12 First and third couples dance a half reel of four passing own partner by the left shoulder to commence; first lady finishes facing second man and third lady finishes facing fourth man.
13-16 First lady dances a half reel of three with second couple passing second man by the right shoulder to commence between second couple and finishing in third lady's position, whilst third lady dances a similar half reel with fourth couple passing right shoulder to commence between fourth couple and finishing in first position.
17-20 First and third couples set to partner and turn with the right hand. First couple is in third place and third couple in first place.
21-24 First and third men turn with the left hand to finish back to back facing own partner.
25-28 First and third couples dance a half reel of four, passing own partner by the right shoulder to commence, first man finishes facing second man and third man facing fourth man.
29-32 Passing by the left shoulder to commence between second couple, first man dances a half reel of three with second couple to finish in original position whilst third man dances a similar half reel with fourth couple to finish in original position.
33-34 All turn own partner three quarters round with the right hand.
35-36 The four ladies dance left hands across in a wheel half way round.
37-38 The ladies turn the opposite men half way with the right hand.
39-40 The four men dance left hands across in a wheel half way to face own partners.
41-42 All turn own partner with the right hand to finish in a promenade hold, men on the inside with their partners on their right all facing anticlockwise.
43-48 All promenade three quarters round the set, to finish with second couple in first position.
Repeat with new top couple. Recommended tune: Father O'Flynn
(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 10, 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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