Lochiel's Farewell To Tony Szeto
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
Lochiel's Farewell To Tony SzetoAn 8 x 40 bar reel for three couples in longwise four couple set.
1 - 8 On the first two bars the first couple cross with the right hand and turn to finish in promenade hold facing the second woman. They then dance a six bar reel of three across the dance with the second couple. First couple begin the reel by passing the second lady by the right shoulder.
The first couple finish the reel between the second couple and facing each other. Second couple finish the reel in their own place.
9-24 The first and second couples dance a Black Petronella:
9 -12 The first couple dance a petronella turn to their right to finish facing each other up and down the dance, man between the first couple's place and lady between the third couple outside the second couple, and set once.
At the same time the second couple set once and then dance a petronella turn to their right to finish facing each other up and down the dance inside the first couple.
13-16 The first couple set once and then petronella turn to their right to finish facing each other across the dance in
second place inside the second couple.
At the same time the second couple dance a petronella turn to their right to finish facing each other across the dance in second place outside the first couple and set once.
17-20 The first couple dance a petronella turn to their right to face each other up and down the dance outside the second couple, and set once.
At the same time the second couple set once and then petronella turn to their right to finish facing each other
up and down the dance inside the first couple.
21-24 The first couple set once and dance a petronella turn to their right, but finish back in their own place.
The second couple dance a petronella turn to their right to finish in their own place on the side and set once.
25-32 The first and second couples dance a Maple Leaf Figure of Eight down round the third couple.
The second couple, followed by the first couple, begin by giving right hands to their partners and crossing - ladies in front of their partner - down between the third couple and casting up round them. They then dance a figure of eight across the dance, ladies again crossing in front of their partners, cast up round the third couple on their own sides and dance up the side lines on their own side of the dance to finish second couple at the top and first couple in second place.
33-40 The first three couples circle round and back (Tony's favourite movement, especially the "leap" on bar 4 which was his trademark). The first couple finish in second place ready to start again.
(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Ruary Laidlaw and others, 1999)
Keith Rose's Crib Diagrams
Dance Information
Tony Szeto blew into our club from Canada in October 1998. He had a one year appointment at the University of Waikato on sabbatical from Toronto University where he studied Earth Sciences. He was full of energy and enthusiasm for SCD. He joined in anything that was going. We missed him enormously when he left to go back to Toronto. Their gain; our loss.This reel, Lochiel's Farewell To Tony Szeto, was composed by a group of dancers (Ruary Laidlaw, Simon Barbour, Glenys Barbour, Patricia Digby-Smith, Christine Miller, Howard McNally, Glenys Pearce, Lynne Bang and Tony Szeto) from the Lochiel Club in Hamilton, New Zealand 1999, at a farewell dinner for Tony (one of many farewell dinners) held at Simon and Glenys Barbour's place. The germ of the idea was the Petronella movement, which I woke up with in my head one Saturday morning, but the rest of the dance was put together after much discussion and argument by the group including Tony, who was the only one who didn't know what was really going on i.e. that the dance was going to be named after him!
The term Black Petronella came about because that just happened to be the night when the All Blacks (New Zealand's top rugby team) beat the South African Spring Boks 28 to 0 at Carisbrook away down at the bottom of the South Island in Dunedin.
The Black Petronella went fairly smoothly, but the figure of eight movement caused a lot of problems for a basically easy formation. It was Glenys Barbour who suggested the name Maple Leaf and Lynne Bang came up with the final solution as written here - sorry Tony (He had a great idea for it but there just didn't seem to be enough music to complete it comfortably).
Suggested Music: "The Laird of Dumbiedyke's Favourite", an 8 x 32 Reel played by Colin Dewar and his Band, on an album called, "RSCDS 12 dances for Book 12".
(Dance information by the deviser Ruary Laidlaw, copyright 2005, All rights reserved)
Tony Szeto
Published in The Lochiel Collection copyright 2005, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Ruary Laidlaw.
Image copyright Tony Szeto, Ruary Laidlaw, all rights reserved, 2024.