The Haunting Of Bisham Abbey
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
The Haunting of Bisham Abbey A twenty-four bar Reel, twenty-four bar Strathspey Medley for four couples in a longwise set, devised by John W Mitchell, Published in Whetherly Book 1.Reel
1- 8 First couple set and cross over, giving right hand in passing. First couple cast off into second place and turn with the right hand to finish with first lady facing up and first man facing down; second couple step up on bars 5 & 6.
9-16 First lady dances a reel of three with second couple to finish in second man's place. At the same time, first man dances a half reel with third and fourth ladies, giving right shoulder to fourth lady to commence (bars 9-12), and then dances a half reel with fourth and third men, giving right shoulder to third man to commence (bars 13-16), crossing over to finish in second place on the ladies' side facing out.
17-20 First man, followed by his partner, casts off behind fourth lady and crosses to third place on own side. Fourth couple step up on bars 19 & 20.
21-24 First couple set and turn with two hands to finish in the centre of the set, facing the top.
Strathspey
1- 8 Second, third and fourth couples dance six hands round and back. First man sets for eight bars with the rocking step. First lady dances up between second couple as they dance into the circle and casts off for four bars on own side of the set, then casts up on own side to finish at the top. Second couple, whilst dancing into the circle, should not join hands until first lady has passed between them.
9-12 Second, fourth and third couples dance a half a grand chain round first man. Third couple finish at the top and second couple in fourth place, all couples on the opposite side. Meanwhile, first lady crosses at the top and casts off into third place on the men's side.
13-20 Second and fourth couples dance rights and lefts round first man, whilst he sets for eight bars with the crossover step. At the same time, first lady crosses below first man, casts up to the top on the ladies' side, crosses over and commences to cast to the foot on the men's side.
21-24 First man dances out to the ladies' side of the set and casts to the foot, where he crosses back to own side, giving right hand to first lady, as she also crosses back to her own side. Meanwhile, the other three couples all turn one and a half times to own side of the set with right hand. Finish in the order 3, 4, 2, 1.
Repeat with new top couple.
(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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