Helvellyn
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
Helvellyn (4x32S) 32 bar strathspey for four couples in a square set, Murrough Landon, 20201- 4 1st and 3rd couples dance half a men's chain. All then face their (new) partner.
5- 8 All dance back to back on the sides and end facing in.
9-10 All now change places with their corner as follows:
the men advance for one then set to the left;
the women set to the right and then advance for one.
They have each danced along two sides of a small square at the corner. All end pulling left shoulder back to face the corner person they just passed.
11-12 All, giving left hands, turn their corner person three quarters into promenade hold facing anticlockwise.
13-14 All promenade one place anticlockwise to the next corner. The men end in the women's places leading their promenade partner ahead with their left hand so the women end in the men's places on the next side of the square. All face in.
The men are now beside, and the women are now opposite, the places they were at the start of bar 9. 1st and 3rd couples are beside their partner, 2nd and 4th couples are opposite their partner.
15-16 All change places with their corner again as in bars 9-10 but from new places: - the men now set to the right then advance for one;
the women now advance for one then set to the left.
All end facing on the sides having progressed one place anticlockwise. 2nd and 4th couples are facing their partner in 1st and 3rd places. 1st man is facing 3rd woman in 2nd place and 3rd man is facing 1st woman in 4th place.
17-20 All dance back to back on the sides.
21-24 1st and 3rd couples dance half a men's chain, now across the set, and all face their original partner in the order 2,3,4,1.
25-32 All dance interlocking reels of four around the set, starting by passing their partner right shoulder.
(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA February 2020)
Dance Information
Recommended music: Suggested tune Jim Dougal Of Eyemouth by Muriel Johnstone; suitable recording 12 Coates Crescent as recorded by Luke Brady's Scottish Dance Band on the CD Take Your Partners For... Vol 3.(Dance information by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA February 2020)
Helvellyn (possibly meaning pale yellow moorland) is a mountain in the English Lake District, standing as the highest point of the Helvellyn range, which runs north–south to the north of Ambleside between Thirlmere and Ullswater.
As the third-highest peak in both England and the Lake District, Helvellyn offers easier access compared to the taller Scafell Pike and Scafell. Its landscape features three deep glacial coves and two sharp ridges on the eastern side, Striding Edge and Swirral Edge. Helvellyn became popular among walkers and explorers as early as the late 18th century, attracting visitors like poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth, who both lived nearby at times.
The mountain can be approached from numerous routes and directions. The eastern ridge, Striding Edge, is a popular route which involves some scrambling, linking the summit ridge of Birkhouse Moor to Helvellyn's summit by what becomes a sharp arête.
A Panoramic View Of The Ascent Of Helvellyn With Striding Edge On The Left
Then A Steep Scramble To The Summit Followed By A Scrambling Descent Via Swirral Edge On The Right, Leading To Catstye Cam
Published in Helvellyn, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA.
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Text from this original Helvellyn article on Wikipedia.
Image copyright Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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