Minestrone Soup
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
Minestrone Soup (S3x32) A 32 bar strathspey for three couples in a longwise set. Devised By Murrough Landon January 2026.1- 4 1st and 2nd couples dance the first four bars of the Tourbillon.
5- 6 1st and 2nd couples petronella in tandem to lines across, staying in the centre and pulling back right shoulder a little more than usual.
7- 8 1st and 2nd couples dance half left hands across.
9-10 1st couple cross over passing left shoulder and face out.
11-16 1st couple dance six bar reels of three on the opposite side, starting left shoulder to their 2nd corner. On bars 15-16 they cross over from the ends to 2nd place on their own side.
17-20 2nd and 3rd couples individually dance the first two bars of the Tourbillon. 2nd couple end at the top on the women's side and 3rd couple end at the bottom on the men's side.
Meanwhile 1st couple, giving both hands in passing, cross to end in their 1st corners.
Then all set joining hands on the sides. The order is now 1st woman, 3rd woman and 3rd man down the men's side; 2nd woman, 2nd man and 1st man down the women's side.
21-22 All petronella a quarter round to their right and pull back right shoulder more than usual. 2nd man and 3rd woman end on the centre line. The others just end in from the sidelines.
23-24 All dance six left hands across just over one third round ending in the order 3,1,2.
25-28 1st couple turn one and a quarter with the left hand to end on the centre line, 1st woman above 1st man, each facing the opposite side.
29-32 1st woman with 2nd couple, also 1st man with 3rd couple, each dance right hands across, all ending on the sidelines in the order 3,1,2.
(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA January 2026)
Dance Instruction Videos
Minestrone Soup - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction VideoDance Information
The title comes from the two and three-couple progressive figures in the dance, each blending three different formations, rather like a soup made from a mixture of leftover vegetables.Half a Tourbillon provides the "bouillon" base, with pet(ronella) and star supplying the added pasta.
Recommended music: Suggested tune: The Sidlaw Hills (Jim Watson).
Suitable recording: The Langley Strathspey (David Cunningham and his SDB: The Vallin Suite 2).
(Dance information from notes supplied by the deviser, January 2026)
Published in Minestrone Soup, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Murrough Landon. Licensed under CC BY-SA.
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