The House Keys Of Lisbon
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
THE HOUSE KEYS OF LISBON (S3x32) 3C Triangular Set Murrough Landon, 20201- 8 Men dance LH across back to place; all set and link
9-16 Ladies dance LH across back to partner's place; all set and link to original places, Ladies face out
17-20 All dance 4 bars of Schiehallion reels (pass LSh in centre). Ladies face out (all have progressed 1 place anticlockwise)
21-24 All turn corner LH, face partner and turn partner 2H once round, opening out ready to...
25-32 All circle 6H round and back. 231
(MINICRIB. Dance crib compiled by Charles Upton, Deeside Caledonian Society, and his successors)
The House Keys Of Lisbon (3x32S) 32 bar strathspey for three couples in a triangular set, Murrough Landon, 2020
1- 4 All three men dance left hands across back to place.
5- 8 All set and link.
9-12 All three women dance left hands across back to their partner's place. 13-16 All set and link back to original places but the women stay facing out.
17-20 All dance four bars of Schiehallion reels, passing left shoulder in the centre, and end with the women facing out again, having progressed one place anticlockwise.
21-24 Giving left hands, all turn their corner once round and face their partner. Then, giving both hands, all turn their partner once round and open out to form a circle.
25-32 All circle six hands round to the left and back. The progressed order is 2,3,1.
(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA November 2020)
Keith Rose's Crib Diagram
Dance Instruction Videos
The House Keys Of Lisbon - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction VideoDance Information
The title was inspired by a BBC news article about a Portuguese law allowing descendants of Jews expelled in the 15th and 16th centuries to return and claim citizenship. Apparently a few families who took refuge in Istanbul still have keys to the houses in Lisbon that they were forced to leave centuries ago. These keys have been passed down for generations as family heirlooms. For more details see https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/Turning_Portuguese.Those keen on symbolism can imagine the six dancers starting at the points of a Star of David and that the hands across and turns represent keys in locks.
This dance also provides an opportunity to thank several people that I know in Lisbon: firstly Adriana Duarte for organising the Curia weekends; also Isabel Monteiro and Isabel Neves for devising lovely dances; and Barbara Gray, Joana Ferreira, Roger Picken and Sue Willdig for running the Carcavelos, Lapa and Telheiras SCD groups.
Recommended music: Suggested tune Da Slockit Light by Tom Anderson (This was written as a lament for the lights of houses in Shetland being extinguished as people moved away. It seemed appropriate for this dance.); suitable recording Da Slockit Light (Chris, Julie And Nick Dewhurst: Short And Sweet).
(Dance information by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA November 2020)
Published in The House Keys Of Lisbon, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA.
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