Howard McNally's Favourite
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
HOWARD MCNALLY'S FAVOURITE (S4x32) 4C Ruary Laidlaw One Step At A Time1- 8 All join hands on side, set twice and turn partner RH 1½ times to finish on opposite sides
9-16 Repeat bars 1-8 back to places
17-24 1s+2s also 3s+4s dance RH across, LH across
25-32 1L, followed by 1M, casts, crosses below 4s into 4M place (2s+3s+4s step up bars 27-28). 1s turn 1½ times to own side in 4th place
(MINICRIB. Dance crib compiled by Charles Upton, Deeside Caledonian Society, and his successors)
Howard McNally's Favourite A 32 bar strathspey for four couples in a longwise set
1 - 8 All four couples join hands and set twice, then turn their partner with the right hand one and a half times with four strathspey steps, to finish in their partner's place on the opposite side of the dance.
9-16 They then join hands again and repeat bars 1 to 8 back to their original place.
17-24 First and second couples, and third and fourth couples dance right hands across and back with the left.
25-28 First woman, followed by her partner, casts off on her own side three places to the bottom of the set, crosses over to the men's side of the dance and turns by the right, round to face her partner, who has finished in the fourth woman's place (Second, third and fourth couples join hands and move up)
29-32 First couple then turn with the right hand one and a half times for four steps to their own side of the dance in fourth place.
(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Ruary Laidlaw, 1997)
Dance Notes
Howard McNally's Favourite, was composed to provide a simple strathspey for beginners so that they could concentrate on the Strathspey Setting Step, the only formation being Hands Across (Wheels).Keith Rose's Crib Diagrams
Dance Instruction Videos
Howard McNally's Favourite - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction VideoDance Information
This strathspey, Howard McNally's Favourite, was named after Howard McNally of the Lochiel Club in Hamilton. He has been a long-time supporter of the club including being the Treasurer for ten years. He has organised two Summer Schools in Hamilton: 1981/82 and 1997/98. He was the Waikato Bay of Plenty representative for four years and was President of the New Zealand Branch from 1999 to 2002 and was one of the main instigators of the dramatic changes to its structure which were introduced in 2002.(Dance information by the deviser, Ruary Laidlaw)
Back to the top of this Scottish Country Dancing Instructions 'Howard McNally's Favourite' page