Muirhead Bobbie
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
Muirhead Bobbie A forty-eight bar Jig for three couples in a three couple set. First couple at the top facing down, second and third couples facing up, each man with his partner on his right, second couple have third couple on their right. Devised by John W Mitchell, Published in Whetherly Book 13.1- 8 First man dances a reel of three with third couple, passing third lady by the left to start; whilst first lady dances a reel of three with second couple passing second man by the right to start. The reels are across the room in a straight line.
9-12 First man and third couple dance right hands across in a wheel; whilst first lady and second couple dance left hands across in a wheel: first couple cross (lady in front of her partner) to dance into the other wheel.
13-16 First man and second couple dance left hands across in a wheel as first lady and third couple dance right hands across: first couple cross back to original places at the end of the wheels.
17-24 First man and third couple dance a reel of three, third lady passing first man by the right to commence; whilst first lady and second couple dance a reel of three, second man passing first lady by the left to start. The reels are mirror reels up and down the room. Finish in original places.
25-28 Six hands round to the left in a circle.
29-32 Retaining partner's hand, the men swing in to dance left hands across in a wheel to place, the men finish back to back in the centre facing their partners.
33-40 The three couples dance a star grand chain, 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, whilst the ladies dance in and turn to face the next man to their left; these four bars are repeated once more.
41-44 All set to new partner and turn with the right hand to finish with second lady and third man in first place, first lady and second man in third place, and third lady and first man in second place.
45-48 All set twice.
Repeat from new places with new partners. Recommended tune: Muirhead Bobbie
(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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