Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary

Linnea's Strathspey

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

LINNEA'S STRATHSPEY (S8x32) 3C (4C set) Tim Wilson RSCDS Book 47

1- 8 1s set and cast 1 place, 1s cross passing LSh and cast RSh round 1st corners to face them
9-16 1s dance 'Hello-Goodbye' setting and end passing RSh to face out in 2nd place own sides
17-24 Promenade (Chaperoned) Chain progression:
 17-18 2s and 3s ¾ turn partner RH into middle while 1s dance clockwise ¼ round the set picking up 2L/3M...
 19-22 who promenade ½ way clockwise while middle dancers (2M + 3L) turn LH 1½
 23-24 2s and 3s turn partner RH ¾ to own sides while 1s dance clockwise ¼ round to end in 2nd place, all 3 couples in middle facing up. 312
25-32 3s+1s+2s dance Allemande

(MINICRIB. Dance crib compiled by Charles Upton, Deeside Caledonian Society, and his successors)


Linnea's Strathspey
Tim Wilson  RSCDS Book 47
Strathspey 8 x 32 bars 3 Couple Repeat 4 Couple Set Longwise Set

  1-4   1s set and cast;

  5-8   passing left shoulders, 1s cross and cast clockwise, finishing back-to-back facing first corners;

  9-14 1s dance ¾ of hello-goodbye setting, finishing facing up and down on the centre line;

15-16 passing right shoulder, 1s dance to 2nd place on own sides, finishing facing out;

17-24 chaperoned chain progression:

17-18 2s 3s turn ¾ by the right WHILE 1s cast clockwise to finish 1M2L2M3L3M1L on the centre line, 1M2L 3M1L in promenade hold facing clockwise, 2M3L with left hands joined;

19-22 1M2L 3M1L promenade clockwise halfway around the set WHILE 2M3L turn 1½ times by the left, finishing 1L3M3L2M2L1M on the centre line, all releasing hold;

23-24 3s 2s turn ¾ by the right WHILE 1s cast clockwise to finish 3s1s2s on the centre line, all facing up in allemande hold;

25-32 all allemande, finishing 2s1s3s.

(MAXICRIB. Scottish country dancing instructions compiled by Reuben Freemantle)

Dance Notes

  3-4   2s step up.

17-24 The chaperoned chain progression is an elegant figure but requires care in phrasing: 1M 1L must move quite quickly in the first two and last two bars; the phrasing of bars 19-22 is a little counter-intuitive.


Keith Rose's Crib Diagrams


Dance Instruction Videos

Linnea's Strathspey - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction Video

Dance Information

This dance, Linnea's Strathspey, was devised for Linnea Johnson of the San Francisco Class to celebrate her birthday.

San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California.

Covering an area of about 46.89 square miles (121.4 km2), mostly at the north end of the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Francisco is the fourth-most populous city in California and the thirteenth-most populous in the United States.

San Francisco Skyline
San Francisco Skyline, 2017


Dance information licensed under this Creative Commons Licence 3.0.
Text from this original San Francisco article on Wikipedia.
Image copyright Keh52, Creative Commons Licence 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Back to the top of this Scottish Country Dancing Instructions 'Linnea's Strathspey' page