Gordon Highlanders
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
Gordon HighlandersMaggie and Duncan Keppie Gaelic College SCD Book 10: Gordon Reels
Strathspey 8 x 32 bars 3 Couple Repeat 4 Couple Set Longwise Set
1-8 SET, ½ CIRCLE, SET AND ½ CHASE: 1st and 2nd couples set (nearer hands joined on the side), 4 hands halfway round to the left (2 steps), set to other couple (nearer hands joined with partner), and chase halfway round clockwise, ending in Gordon Hold (as in Gay Gordons) 1st couple facing 2nd couple; 3rd couple step into Gordon Hold also;
9-16 GORDON REEL OF 3: 1st, 2nd and 3rd couples dance Gordon Reel of 3 turning as in Gay Gordons at each end of the reel, on Bar 16 1st couple turn to face 2nd couple in Gordon Hold, 3rd couple ending in original places;
17-24 KEPPOCH:
Bars 17-20: 1st and 2nd couples dance forward on right, hop, backward on left, hop (as in the 1st bar of the Glasgow Highlanders setting step), then travel forward diagonally to the right (1 bar), forward on left, hop, backward on right, hop (as in the 3rd bar of the Glasgow Highlanders setting step), then travel forward diagonally to the left (1 bar): couples have now changed places, men passing left shoulders, and are now back-to-back;
Bars 21-24: dropping front hands, turn once to end on own side
25-32 CAST, TURN AND CAST: 1st woman casts up around 2nd woman AS 1st man casts down around 3rd man (2 steps), turn each other with left hands 1½ times round (4 bars), 1st woman dances down between 3rd couple and cast up around 3rd woman to 2nd place on own side, AS 1st man dances up between 2nd couple and casts around 2nd man to 2nd place on own side (2 bars).
Repeat having passed a couple.
(Dance crib compiled by the devisers, Maggie and Duncan Keppie)
Keith Rose's Crib Diagrams
Dance Information
The Gordon Highlanders was a British Army infantry regiment from 1881 until 1994. The regiment took its name from the Clan Gordon and recruited principally from Aberdeen and the North-East of Scotland.The present Regiment stems directly from the amalgamation, in 1881, of the 75th Stirlingshire Regiment and the 92nd (Highland) Regiment of Foot.
The 92nd, was raised in 1794 as the 100th (Highland) Regiment of Foot - known as the Gordon Highlanders - by Jean, Duchess of Gordon, at a time when Britain faced a war with Revolutionary France. It was renumbered 92nd in 1798.
The 75th was raised in 1787 as the 75th Highland Regiment - known as Abercromby's - in the county of Stirling to assist the East Indian Company. On amalgamation in 1881 the new Regiment was named "The Gordon Highlanders".
In September 1994 the Gordon Highlanders were amalgamated with the Queen's Own Highlanders to form a new regiment "The Highlanders".

Gordon Highlanders Royal Guard Posing At Redford Calvary Barracks, 1961
Dance information licensed under this Creative Commons Licence 3.0.
Text from this original Gay Gordons article on Wikipedia.
Image copyright tormentor4555 Creative Commons Licence 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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