The Palindrome (Drewry)

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

1- 8 1s+2s also 3s+4s dance RH across, 1s and 4s cross RH and cast in 1 place
9-16 1s+4s dance LH across, 2s+1s also 4s+3s turn RH (4 bars) on sides to end with 2s and 4s facing down and 1s and 3s facing up
17-24 All dance reels of 4 on sides (1s and 4s do not fully complete reel but turn right about to face other corner)
25-32 4s and 1s turn corners RH, 4s+1s dance LH across
33-40 4s and 1s dance up/down behind 2s/3s, cross RH and dance down/up behind 2s/3s and cross RH. 24(1)(3)

(MINICRIB. Dance crib compiled by Charles Upton, Deeside Caledonian Society, and his successors)

Dance Information

A palindrome is a word, phrase, number or other sequence of units that can be read the same way in either direction (the adjustment of punctuation and spaces between words is generally permitted).

Composing literature in palindromes is an example of constrained writing. The word "palindrome" was coined from Greek roots pálin ("again") and drómos ("way, direction") by English writer Ben Jonson in the 1600s.

Palindromes date back at least to 79 AD, as the palindromic Latin word square "Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas" was found as a graffito at Herculaneum, buried by ash in that year. This palindrome is remarkable for the fact that it also reproduces itself if one forms a word from the first letters, then the second letters and so forth. Hence it can be arranged into a word square that reads in four different ways: horizontally or vertically from either top left to bottom right or bottom right to top left.

The Sator Square - Palindrome

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