Finding Jo

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

FINDING JO (J8x32) 3C (4C set) Susan Adams, 2022

1- 8 1s set, cast: dance ½ Fig of 8 up round 2s (2s step up 7-8)
9-16 1M+2s and 1L+3s dance RH across, 1s finishing BtoB in centre, 1M facing up, 1L facing down; all dance 4 bars of Double Triangles (1M now facing down, 1L facing up)
17-24 1L+2s and 1M+3s dance LH across, 1s finishing BtoB in centre, 1M facing down, 1L facing up; all dance 4 bars of Double Triangles, 1s Petronella turn to 2nd place own side
25-32 2s+1s dance R&L

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

FINDING JO 32-bar jig for three couples in a four-couple longwise set, Susan Adams

1-8 1st couple set (2 bars), cast to second place on own sides (2 bars), and dance a half figure of eight above the 2nd couple, ending passing through second place on opposite sides. 2nd couple step up on bars 7-8.
9-12 Giving right hands, 1st couple dance three hands across, 1st woman down with 3rd couple, 1st man up with 2nd couple. Finish back to back in a rotated double triangles position, 1st woman facing down and giving both hands to 3rd couple, 1st man facing up and giving hands to 2nd couple.
13-16 All set in rotated double triangles position, then releasing hands, side couples continue setting as 1st couple pull back right shoulder to change places up and down with pas de basque.
17-20 Giving left hands, 1st couple dance three hands across, 1st woman up with 2nd couple, 1st man down with 3rd couple. Finish in a rotated double triangles position, 1st woman facing up and giving hands to 2nd couple, 1st man facing down and giving hands to 3rd couple.
21-24 All set, then corners continue setting as 1st couple pull back right shoulder to travel using pas de basque in a petronella turn to own sides, second place.
25-32 2nd and 1st couples dance rights and lefts.

(Dance crib compiled by the deviser Susan Adams, Alexandria, Virginia, 2022)

Dance Instruction Videos

Finding Jo - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction Video

Dance Information

This dance was devised by Susan Adams from Alexandria, Virginia, on October 1, 2022.

Susan says:

"When I was a little girl living in England, my parents adopted a black and white kitten from a local farm. My mother named her Josephine, after her favorite aunt, and we all called her Jo.

From her earliest days, Jo had an uncanny ability to secrete herself in all manner of hidden places. Whenever my father couldn't locate Jo, he would organize family search parties to help him find her.

In the dance, my father and I set off to look for Jo. He searches the upstairs (2nd couples' position) and I search the basement (3rd couple's position). When we still can't find her-and since each of us privately thinks that the other simply didn't look in the right spot-we switch places.

At last Jo is discovered-but by whom, I cannot say. My entire family celebrates by dancing the final figure."

(Dance information by the deviser, Susan Adams, 2022)

Published in Finding Jo, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Susan Adams, 2023.

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