The Great Permian Mass Extinction
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
THE GREAT PERMIAN MASS EXTINCTION (R5x40) 5C Set Murrough Landon Woodhall Book 21- 8 1s+2s circle 4H round and back while 3s+4s+5s set with arms raised, cross RH, set with arms raised, cross LH
9-12 2M+4L change places crossing over and casting RSh round 3L/3M while 1M+5L change places passing RSh between 3s
13-16 5L+1L+2L+4L (at top) also 4M+2M+1M+5M (at bottom) dance RH across while 3s turn 1¼ LH remaining in centre
17-24 All dance 'Snakestone Pass' (Snake Pass for 5 couples):
3M followed by 4M,5M,1M,2M and 3L followed by 2L,1L,5L,4L pass LSh in middle, dance out to opposite side, down to 5th/up to 1st place, cross to own side and dance up/down own side.
End: Mens' side 2M 1M 5M 4M 3M. Ladies' side 3L 2L 1L 5L 4L
25-32 All set on sides, all dance up nearer hands joined with opposite person to top and cast down own side.
End: Men's side 3M 4M 5M 1M 2M. Ladies' side 4L 5L 1L 2L 3L
33-40 All set (2 bars), all stand; 3L (in 5th place) dances up solo to 1st place (other Ladies step down 39-40). 34512
(MINICRIB. Dance crib compiled by Charles Upton, Deeside Caledonian Society, and his successors)
The Great Permian Mass Extinction 40 bar reel for five couples in a longwise set Murrough Landon, 2016.
1- 8 1st and 2nd couples circle four hands round to the left and back while 3rd, 4th and 5th couples set to their partners with arms raised highland fashion, cross over giving right hands, set again with highland arms and cross back giving left hands.
9-12 2nd man and 4th woman exchange places by dancing across and casting right shoulder around 3rd couple. Meanwhile 1st man and 5th woman also exchange places, starting by following 2nd man and 4th woman but dancing between 3rd couple, passing each other right shoulder.
13-16 5th, 1st, 4th and 2nd women (at the top) also 4th, 2nd, 5th and 1st men (at the bottom) dance right hands across staying in the centre while 3rd couple turn one and a quarter times by the left hand to end on the centre line.
17-24 All dance a "snakestone pass" (an extended snake pass figure for five couples):
3rd man followed by 4th, 5th, 1st and 2nd men, passing the women by the left shoulder, dances up the woman's side and back down the mens side;
Meanwhile 3rd woman followed by 2nd, 1st, 5th and 4th women, passing the men by the left shoulder, dances down the men's side, across and back up the women's side.
All end opposite their "volcanic partner" with the men in the order 2,1,5,4,3 and the women 3,2,1,5,4. 3rd couple are at diametrically opposite corners of the set from their partner. All other couples have their partner diagonally to their right.
25-26 All set on the sides.
27-32 All dance up to the top, nearer hands joined with the opposite person (their "volcanic partner") and cast down on their own sides. The order is now 3,4,5,1,2 on the men's side and 4,5,1,2,3 on the women's side.
33-34 All set on the sides.
35-36 All stand still.
37-40 3rd woman dances up alone to end in 1st place opposite her partner. The other four women step down on bars 39-40. The final order is 3,4,5,1,2.
(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA January 2016 (revised May 2019))
Dance Notes
Each dancer also has a "volcanic partner" who is their 1st corner (except 1st woman and 5th man) with whom they dance from bar 25.Some additional, very useful dance notes may be found on the original crib. See link below.
Keith Rose's Crib Diagrams
Dance Instruction Videos
The Great Permian Mass Extinction - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction VideoDance Information
The dance depicts a Trilobite, a pair of Ammonites, a supervolcanic explosion and ends with the emergence of a lone representative of the few survivors.Dedicated to the memory of my dear friend Martin Hammond who would surely have been able to tell me more about trilobites, ammonites and other extinct species than I really needed to know (including that ammonites survived the Permian extinction and died out later).
I no longer remember why I ever thought it might be a good idea to try to represent the most severe of all known mass extinctions as a Scottish country dance, but it quickly occurred to me that I could dedicate it to the memory of my friend Martin with whom I used to have many fascinating conversations about biology and evolution. It was also an interesting and brain teasing challenge to organise the figures to allow the single surviving dancer's solo in the last four bars.
The first 8 bars are supposed to represent a trilobite (on its back) though the real ones had many more legs than are here depicted by the highland arms of six dancers while the first two couples are illustrating the head.
Bars 9-12 are a convergent evolutionary progression via different paths leading into bars 13-24 which represent a pair of ammonites.
Fossil ammonites used to be called snakestones, so an extended version of the "snake pass" figure seems suitable.
Disaster arrives in bars 25-32. The figure here starts with a warning preshock which is followed by immense supervolcanic eruptions and falling ash and lava. Enthusiastic and extrovert dancers might add their own sound effects here!
In bars 33-34 the dust settles and in bars 35-36 all is still. I am not normally in favour of dancers standing idle, but a moments silence after the "great dying" which ended the Palaeozoic era feels very appropriate.
Finally in bars 37-40 3rd woman dances up alone to start the repopulation of an almost empty world.
Recommended music: An ideal piece of music would be full of life in bars 1-24, then fairly explosive for 25-32, quietening down funereally for 33-34, even quieter for 35-36 but ending with a hopeful rising cadence for 37-40.
In lieu of that, try The Mathematicians from Opus Dance - Tweeddale ( J Gray and S Petrov).
(Dance information by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA 2019)
Approximately 251.9 million years ago, the Permian–Triassic extinction event, also known as the Great Dying or The Great Permian Mass Extinction, marked the boundary between the Permian and Triassic periods, and the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras.
This event is Earth's most severe extinction, wiping out 57% of biological families, 83% of genera, 81% of marine species, and 70% of terrestrial vertebrates, including a massive insect extinction.
The primary cause is believed to be the flood basalt volcanic eruptions of the Siberian Traps, releasing sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide, leading to euxinia, elevated global temperatures, and ocean acidification. Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels spiked dramatically. Other potential factors include burning oil and coal deposits, methane emissions from clathrates and microorganisms, and possibly an extraterrestrial impact.
Permian-Triassic Boundary At Frazer Beach, New South Wales
Published in The Great Permian Mass Extinction, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA.
Dance information licensed under this Creative Commons Licence 3.0.
Text from this original Permian–Triassic Extinction Event article on Wikipedia.
Image copyright Dippiljemmy, Creative Commons Licence 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.