The Flying Scotsman (Simplified)
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
The Flying Scotsman (Simplified)Hugh Thurston (adapted by RSCDS) RSCDS Medal Tests for Young Dancers
Jig 4 x 32 bars 4 Couple Repeat 4 Couple Set Longwise Set
1-8 1L followed by 2L3L4L cross, cast behind 1M, cross below 4M and dance up to places;
9-16 1M2M3M4M repeat bars 1-8 around Ls, all finishing in places;
17-20 1s take both hands and slip down the middle;
21-24 1s slip up to finish in 4th place;
25-32 2s 3s 4s 1s take both hands with partners and slip down the middle and back.
(MAXICRIB. Scottish country dancing instructions compiled by Reuben Freemantle)
Dance Notes
This simplified version of Hugh Thurston's The Flying Scotsman (Original) is more suitable for ceilidh dancers and for smaller children since it avoids the complication of the counter-intuitive, 3-couple repeat in 4-couple set format and the very quick weaving movements of the original in bars 1-16.17-20 1s take large steps.
21-22 2s3s4s take hands on the sides and step up. However, as is designed into The Puggy 1, there is no problem if this is omitted since 2s3s4s1s can easily slip up an extra place in bars 29-32 and so finish 2s3s4s1s with the set in its correct position.
21-24 1s take much smaller steps to finish below 4s, especially so if 2s3s4s have not stepped up.
25-32 In the normal version, all take both hands with partners for the slip down and up; as an alternative, all can take hands on the sides.
Dance Instruction Videos
The Flying Scotsman (Simplified) - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction VideoDance Information
Also see the original dance The Flying Scotsman (Original) by Hugh A Thurston, which includes a Keith Rose crib diagram.Also see the dance The Flying Scotsman (Simplified, 3-Couple Version) by Hugh Thurston, adapted by Reuben Freemantle from the version in RSCDS Medal Tests for Young Dancers.
The Flying Scotsman is the major express passenger train service that has plied over the railway between London and Edinburgh since 1862 (though this name came into use only about ten years later) on a route now known as the East Coast Main Line.
Especially in the days before road and air transport became commonplace, this high-speed link between the capitals of England and Scotland has always needed an extremely long and heavy train in order to accommodate the passenger numbers and so the Flying Scotsman has required very powerful locomotives. Many different types, initially coal-fired steam-driven, then diesel-electric and now overhead-wire electric locomotives have been used to haul the Flying Scotsman. Some of the steam-driven locomotives were designed specifically for the route and so the name is often casually used just for some of these locomotives, rather than for the whole train.
The Flying Scotsman - Information Video
The Flying Scotsman - Music Video
The Famous 'Flying Scotsman' In Full Steam
Image selection by SCDD automotive consultant, A.C. Pearson.
Dance information licensed under this Creative Commons Licence 3.0.
Text from this original Flying Scotsman article on Wikipedia.
Image copyright jimd2007 licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
Additional search terms: Ceilidh Dance.