The Plate That Came By Itself
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
The Plate That Came By Itself (R8x32) 3C (4C set) Lewis N Derrick 19861-4 With hands joined on the sidelines, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd couples advance and retire
5-6 The 1st man and the 3rd woman pass one another by the right shoulder (no hands) to face out on their own sides, 3rd woman between 1st and 2nd women and 1st man between 2nd and 3rd men
7-8 With the 3rd woman and 1st man side by side, not back to back, all take hands in a staggered double triangles formation and set
9-16 Passing right shoulders (man to man, woman to woman) to begin, the 3rd woman and 1st man dance a reel of four across with the 2nd couple
17-18 The 1st man and 3rd woman, continuing the way they are going at the end of the reel, cast back to their original places (man up, woman down)
19-20 With hands joined on the sidelines, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd couples set
21-24 The 1st and 2nd couples dance right hands across
25-32 The 1st and 2nd couples change places with poussette
Repeat having passed a couple
(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Lewis N Derrick 2020)
Keith Rose's Crib Diagrams
Dance Information
This reel, The Plate That Came By Itself, was devised for Mary and Graham Williams on their Silver Wedding Anniversary.Suggested tune: Teetotaller.
Devised March 1986; first published 1987.
Copyright 1986, 1987, 2020 Lewis N. Derrick.
(Dance information reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Lewis N Derrick)

The Plate That Came By Itself
From "And The Dish Ran Away With The Spoon" Randolph Caldecott (1846-1886), Pen And Ink, Gouache, And Watercolour On Paper, c. 1882
Published in The McGhie Scottish Country Dance Books, Volume 2, McGhie the Moudie Catcher and Other Scottish Country Dances, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Lewis N Derrick.
Image copyright (cropped) Randolph Caldecott Creative Commons Licence 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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