Mrs Mary McManus
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
Mrs Mary McManus A thirty-two bar Strathspey for two trios in a circle round the room, devised by John W Mitchell, published in Whetherly Book 7.1- 4 All join hands and set with Highland Schottische step on the right foot, then with two travelling steps commencing with the left foot change places with the person opposite giving left hand in passing.
5- 8 Continuing facing in the same direction, all join hands and set with the Highland Schottische step on the left foot, and with two travelling steps commencing with the right foot change places with the person opposite giving right hands in passing. (Everybody has now progressed two places round the circle, continuing facing in the same direction).
9-16 All dance six hands across in a wheel with the right hand and back with the left hand.
17-22 Reels of three, each man passes his right hand partner by the right shoulder to commence: the right hand partner should cast to her right out of the left hand wheel in order to enter the reel.
23-24 The facing men change places giving left hand in passing, to change partners.
25-32 Reels of three, the men pass their new right hand partner by the left shoulder to enter the reel: this represents a natural continuation of crossing by the left as their new right hand partner is on their left, as they change places. The reels finish with the men facing in, between their new partners and the Iadies facing in their original direction.
Repeat with new partners.
Recommended tune: Mrs Mary McManus
(Dance crib reproduced from The Whetherly Book Of Scottish Country Dances, revised and republished by Alison Mitchell)
Keith Rose's Crib Diagram
Published in The Whetherly Book Of Scottish Country Dances Number 7, 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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