Highland Donald
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
Highland Donald A forty-eight bar Reel for five couples in a longwise set. Devised by John W Mitchell, Published in Whetherly Book 10.1- 4 First and third couples turn with the right hand and cast off, second and fourth couples step up on bars 3 & 4.
5- 6 First and third couples set advancing and join right hand with partner, first lady and third man join left hands.
7- 8 First and third couples balance in line.
9-12 First and third couples turn one and a half times with the right hand.
13-16 First lady dances left hands across with second couple, first man and third lady dance left hands across with fourth couple and third man dances left hands across with fifth couple.
17-20 First and third couples turn partner one and a half times with the right hand.
21-24 First man dances left hands across with second couple, first lady and third man dance left hands across with fourth couple and third lady dances left hands across with fifth couple.
25-26 First and third couples turn with the right hand to face first corners.
27-28 First and third couples turn their first corners with the left hand.
29-30 First and third couples turn with the right hand to face their second corners.
31-32 First and third couples turn their second corners with the left hand to finish facing up and down in the centre of the set.
33-40 First and third couples dance a reel of four passing own partner by the right to commence, on bar 40 they join right hands with partner in passing.
41-42 First and third couples turn with the right hand to finish in second and fourth places on opposite side of the set facing out.
43-44 First and third couples cast off, fourth and fifth couples step up.
45-48 First couple dance a half figure of eight round fourth couple, who are above them, to finish in third place. Meanwhile, third couple dance a half figure of eight round fifth couple to finish in fifth place.
Repeat with original first couple in third place and a new top couple. Recommended tune: Highland Donald
(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 10, 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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