A Party At The French House
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
A Party At The French House (R8x40) A 40 bar reel for three couples in a four couple longwise set. Murrough Landon1-4 1st and 2nd couples dance mirror set and link with 1st couple casting and 2nd couple dancing up to 1st place touching nearer hands.
5-8 1st couple turn once round with the left hand to end back in 2nd place own sides facing their 4th corner.
9-16 1st couple, giving left shoulder to their 4th corner, dance the track of reels of three across the set while 2nd and 3rd couples dance the track of left shoulder reels of three on the sides. 1st couple end in the centre facing their 4th corners again.
17-20 1st couple turn their 4th corners with the left hand and end back in the centre, right shoulder to each other, facing their 3rd corners.
21-24 1st couple turn their 3rd corners with the right hand and end back in the centre, right shoulder to each other, facing their 2nd corners.
25-32 1st couple repeat bars 17-24 with their 2nd and 1st corners but end in 2nd place own sides.
33-40 All circle six hands round and back ending in the order 2,1,3.
(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA February 2018)
Dance Notes
After their second repeat 1st couple could optionally dance bars 1-4 again with 4th couple to end in 4th place. Or just step to the bottom in the traditional way.The figure in bars 9-16 comes from The Hyperactive Reel by Jill Garrett.
Keith Rose's Crib Diagrams
Dance Instruction Videos
A Party At The French House - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction VideoDance Information
This reel, A Party At The French House, was devised for Liz and Gordon Matthew who live in Geneva but also have a lovely house in France to which the Geneva Scottish Country Dancing Club get invited for summer parties.1st couple are the hosts, 2nd and 3rd couples are the guests. 2nd couple arrive a bit too early and get parked in top place as 1st couple survey their preparations. The hosts then encourage their guests to mingle on the sides as they dart across and back. 1st couple can then spend some quality time with each guest, working round from 4th to 1st corners. By this time the party has a developed a rowdier life of its own and the dance ends with a circle.
Recommended music: To be decided. Ideally a medium paced reel as all the turns in bars 17-32 are quite slow. Example: The Spring Fling Reel (Scott Band and his SDB: RSCDS Book 50).
(Dance information by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA February 2018)
Published in A Party At The French House, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA.
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