Lord Of The Dance
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
Lord Of The Dance An eighty-eight bar Reel for four couples in a square set. Devised by John W Mitchell, Published in Whetherly Book 13.1- 4 Eight hands round to the left in a circle.
5- 8 Retaining nearer hand with partner the men give left hands across in a wheel, to finish with the men back to back in the centre facing their partner.
9-16 Ladies dance petronella half way round the set, whilst the men dance Hello-Goodbye setting; on bars 11 & 15 all join hands in a circle as they set before men turn in to face their partners in new places.
17-24 Repeat 9-16 back to places.
25-28 All set and turn three quarters with right hand to original places and face corners.
29-32 All set to and turn corners with left hand to finish with first man and second lady back to back facing own partner on a diagonal line, third man and fourth lady do the same.
33-40 Reels of four on the diagonal line.
41-44 All set and turn right hand to place and face corners.
45-48 All set to and turn corners with left hand, second man and third lady finish back to back facing own partner as do fourth man and first lady.
49-56 Reels of four on the diagonal line.
57-60 All set and turn partner with right hand to original places and face corners.
61-64 All set to and turn corners with the left hand to finish with the ladies back to back in the centre facing their own partners.
65-80 Star chain once round, two steps to each hand: To start all change places with partner, the men turning to face the next lady on their right with whom they then change places with the left hand, the ladies dancing in and turning to face the next man to their left; these four bars being repeated three times round the set.
81-84 Ladies give right hands across in a wheel, joining nearer hands with partners on the outside, men turning to the left to join hands with partner, and all dance half way round; on bar 84 men advance slightly as ladies dance out behind partner to join hands in a circle.
85-88 Eight hands round to the right in a circle half way, back to original places.
Recommended tune: Lord of the Dance
(Dance crib reproduced from The Whetherly Book Of Scottish Country Dances, revised and republished by Alison Mitchell)
Published in The Whetherly Book Of Scottish Country Dances Number 13, 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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