The Old Chain Pier
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
The Old Chain Pier A forty-eight bar Strathspey for four couples in a longwise set, devised by John W Mitchell, Published in Whetherly Book 1.1- 2 First couple cross, giving right hand, to commence a snowball chain, two steps to each hand.
3- 8 Second couple join in the chain on bar 3, third couple with right hand on bar 5 and fourth couple with the left hand on bar 7.
9-12 Second and third couples dance half rights and lefts at the top, whilst first and fourth couples do the same.
13-16 Second and third couples dance a ladies' chain half way, whilst first and fourth couples do the same. The four ladies finish facing in and the men finish facing out, second man towards the top and fourth man towards the foot.
17-24 Double reels of four: first and third ladies dance a reel of four up and down the set with second and fourth man, the ladies passing by the left as the men cast to their right to follow. At the same time, second and fourth ladies dance a reel of four across the set with first and third men, the ladies also passing left, whilst the men cast to commence. As is customary, first the ladies and then the men give left hands across in a wheel half way in passing. At the end of the reel all meet original partners, giving right hand.
25-32 All allemande round anticlockwise to finish with first couple in first place on the opposite side of the set, second couple on the ladies' side (second man in third place), third couple at the foot on own side of the set and fourth couple on the men's side (fourth man in second place).
33-36 Second and fourth couples dance right hands across three quarters round and set (second couple are now in second place on the opposite side and fourth couple in third place on own side).
37-40 First and second couples dance left hands across in a wheel half way, whilst fourth and third couples do the same; all join hands on the sides and set.
41-44 First and third couples dance right hands across in a wheel half way and set.
45-48 First and fourth couples dance left hands across in a wheel half way and set.
Repeat with new top couple.
(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 1, 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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