Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary

The Partisan

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

THE PARTISAN (S3x40) 3C set Violaine Eysseric, 2019

1- 8 1s+2s dance Tourbillon:
 1-4 1s and 2s ½ turn partners 2H, 1M and 2L lead partners by nearer hand 1 place clockwise to end 1s on Ladies side and 2s Men's side, 1s set to 2s
 5-8 1s and 2s ½ turn partners 2H and lead partners on 1 place clockwise, 2s cross RH to own sides, 1s turn 2H to face 1st corners
9-12 1s+1s corners dance Modified Corner pass and turn (as per Corner pass and turn except corners ½ turn 2H, face each other, pull back RSh and dance out to opposite corner. 1s pass RSh, pull back RSh to face 2nd corners
13-16 1s+2nd corners repeat 9-12. Bars 15-16: 1s meet in centre, pull back RSh, dance into 2nd place opposite side. (3)(1)(2)
17-24 3s+1s+2s set, dance RSh once round partner to own side. 312
25-32 1s dance Figure of Love:
 25-28 1s dance RSh round 2nd corner (position), meet in centre and touch 2H
 29-32 1s pull back RSh and dance RSh round 1st corner (position) into 2nd place own side
33-40 3s+1s+2s circle 6H round and back.

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


Keith Rose's Crib Diagrams


Dance Instruction Videos

The Partisan - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction Video

Dance Information

This strathspey, The Partisan, was inspired by The Partisan - Song from the 1969 album "Songs From A Room" by Leonard Cohen and was devised on the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

When they poured across the border
I was cautioned to surrender
This I could not do
I took my gun and vanished.

This strathspey is dedicated to my wonderful grandfather, Louis Devèze - aka "Papou" - who was a member of the French Resistance (FFI), and to all the partisans who fought for freedom.

(Dance information by the deviser, Violaine Eysseric)


A partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation by some kind of insurgent activity.

The French Resistance (French: La Résistance) was the collection of French movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and the collaborationist Vichy régime during the Second World War.

Resistance cells were small groups of armed men and women who, in addition to their guerrilla warfare activities, were also publishers of underground newspapers, providers of first-hand intelligence information, and maintainers of escape networks that helped Allied soldiers and airmen trapped behind enemy lines.

The Partisan - Information Video

Partisan Lucien Pélissou Identity Document
Identity Document Of French Resistance Fighter Lucien Pélissou


Dance information licensed under this Creative Commons Licence 3.0.
Text from this original Songs From A Room article on Wikipedia.
Text from this original Partisan (Military) article on Wikipedia.
Text from this original French Resistance article on Wikipedia.
Image copyright Boblinux31, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

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