Miss Leslie Cunningham

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

1-2 First Couple cross over giving right hands.
3-4 First couple cast off to below the third couple, second couple and third couple step up.
5-8 First couple cross over giving left hands and cast up to face first corners.
Third couple step down on bars 7 and 8.
9-16 First couple and corners dance corners pass and turn. First couple finish in second place on own sides just in from the sidelines.
 9-10 First couple pass first corners right shoulder, while first corners turn each other with right hands.
 11-12 First couple dance in to pass right shoulder to face second corners while first corners dance back to places.
 13-16 Repeat 9-12 with second corners, but with first couple finishing in second place on own side just in from the sidelines.
17-20 First couple set twice.
21-24 First couple turn with two hands one and a half times finishing ready for...
25-30 First lady with the second couple and first man with the third couple cut reels of three across the set. First lady gives right shoulder to second lady and first man gives right shoulder to third man. First couple finish in second place on opposite sides.
31-32 First couple cross over giving left hands.

Repeat having passed a couple.

(Dance crib compiled by the deviser Rod Downey, Johnsonville SCD Club Tutor)

Dance Information

Most Strathspeys with that formation seem quite difficult.

Modified 3 December 2010, after a suggestion of Romaine Butterfield, namely the stepping up/down of the third couple, which makes the phrasing easier.

The dance was inspired by the tune it is named after, "Miss Leslie Cunningham" by Muriel Johnston.

This tune can be found as part of a Muriel Johnston set for the Strathspey "The Marquis of Lorne" track 3 of "A Dancer's Miscellany, Vol. 4", or part of the set for "John Derek Evans", in "Dancing Fingers, Vol 3" track 9.

A suitable alternative Strathspey would be "The Armstrong's Rant" as recorded by Bobby Brown on "H.I.S.C.D", track 3.

(Dance information from They Stole My Wife From Me Last Night Collection Of Scottish Country Dances, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Rod Downey)

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