Francis Sitwell's Strathspey
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
Francis Sitwell's Strathspey A thirty-two bar Strathspey for five couples in a longwise set. Devised by John W Mitchell. Published in Whetherly Book 2.1- 8 First and third couples cross over giving right hand and cast off two places, second and fourth couples step up; first and third couples cross over giving left hand, cast up one place and cross over giving right hand to finish facing second corners.
9-16 Highland Schottische Hello-Goodbye setting, first and thirds:
9-10 set to second corner with Highland Schottische step, moving into the side lines on bar 10 and turning on the hop to face own partner across the set;
11-12 set to partner across the set with Highland Schottische step left foot, turning in to face first corner at the end of bar 12, whilst second corners complete the setting;
13-14 set to first corner turning to face partner up and down the set;
15-16 set to partner and finish facing up and down the set, whilst first corners complete the setting.
17-24 Turn partner and corners: turn partner with the right hand, first corner with the left hand; turn partner with the right hand and second corner with the left hand to finish facing partner up and down the set.
25-28 First and third couples dance a half reel of four up and down the centre of the set.
29-32 Third couple turn one and a quarter times with the right hand to finish in second place on own side of the set; whilst first couple turn one and a quarter times to finish in fifth place on own side of the set, fifth couple step up.
Repeat with new top couple.
Recommended tune: Francis Sitwell's Strathspey
(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 2, 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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