Kirk's Hornpipe (Mitchell)
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
Kirk's Hornpipe A thirty-two bar Hornpipe for five couples in a longwise set. Devised by John W Mitchell. Published in Whetherly Book 2.1- 8 First and third couples cast off one place, second and fourth couples step up. First and third couple cross over giving right hand in passing and cast off another place, fourth and fifth couples step up. Third couple cross over to fifth place on own side giving left hand in passing whilst first couple turn with the left hand to finish facing their first corners (fourth man and fifth lady).
9-16 First couple turn their first corner with the right hand, partner with the left hand; second corner with the right hand and partner with the left hand to finish facing their first corners.
17-24 Offset reels of four: First couple pass their first corners by the left shoulder to dance reels of four on the opposite side of the set. Second man and first lady pass by the right shoulder as do fourth and fifth men for a reel of four on the men's side; whilst fourth and fifth ladies pass by the right shoulder as do first man and third lady for a reel of four on the ladies' side. As they finish the reel first couple dance in to join right hands, at the same time joining left hands with the person they are about to pass with the left shoulder (first lady joins left hand with fourth man, first man with fifth lady).
25-28 First couple balance in line with their first corners and turn with right hand three quarters to join left hands with their second corners. At the same time: fourth lady dances right hands across in a wheel with second couple and fifth man dances right hands across in a wheel with third couple.
29-32 First couple join left hands with their second corners (first man with fourth lady and first lady with fifth man); they balance in line, then first couple turn right hand to finish in third place on their own side of the set. At the same time: fourth man dances left hands across in a wheel with second couple and fifth lady dances left hands across in a wheel with third couple. Finish in the order 2,4,1,5,3.
Repeat with new top couple.
Recommended tune: Kirk's Hornpipe (Mitchell)
Editor's note to the 2020 edition
The original version contained two diagrams for bars 25 and 29 which are not included here.
(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 2, 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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