The Guinea Pig's Jig
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
The Guinea Pigs Jig A forty-eight bar Jig for three couples in a longwise set, devised by John W Mitchell, Published in Whetherly Book 1.1- 2 First couple cast off into second place; second couple step up.
3- 6 First lady dances half a reel across the set with second couple, whilst first man dances a half a reel of three across the set with third couple, left shoulders to first corners to start.
7- 8 First couple turn with the left hand to finish facing first corner position, first man facing third man and first lady facing second lady.
9-16 Reel of four with third man and second lady. First lady finishes between third couple, facing up, and first man between second couple, facing down.
17-18 All join hands and set.
19-22 First man dances a half a reel of three with second and third ladies on the men's side of the set, whilst first lady dances a half a reel of three with second and third men on the ladies' side of the set. First man finishes between second couple, facing up, and first lady finishes between third couple at the top, facing down.
23-24 First couple turn with the left hand to face their partner's second corner position, first man facing second lady and first lady facing third man.
25-32 First couple dance a reel of four with second lady and third man. First couple finish in second place on the opposite side, first man facing down and first lady facing up.
33-36 First man sets to and turns second man with two hands, whilst first lady sets to and turns third lady with two hands.
37-40 First man sets to and turns third man with two hands, whilst first lady sets to and turns second lady with two hands.
41-44 All three couples join hands and advance and retire.
45-48 First couple turn one and a half times with the right hand to finish in second place on own side of the set, whilst second and third couples dance half rights and lefts to finish with second couple at the top and third couple in third place. First couple finish facing out.
Repeat from second place. At the end of the repeat, first couple can again finish in second place facing out; as the new top couple casts on bars 1 & 2 of the next repeat, original first couple can also cast to the foot of the set.
(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 1, 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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