Ratagan
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
Ratagan R8x32 3 couples (4C set) Fiona MacDonald Dances In Kintail1 - 8 1s turn RH, cast to 2nd place, 1¼ turn LH (L1 between 2s facing down and M1 between 3s facing up)
9 - 16 1s Set, L1 casts out top and down behind L2 and L3 dances up the set to face down between 2s while M1 follows to finish facing up between 3s
17 - 24 1s Set, turn RH 1¼, face up, lead up to top and cast into 2nd place
25 - 32 2s, 1s and 3s Circle to left and back
(Dance crib compiled by the deviser Fiona MacDonald)
Keith Rose's Crib Diagrams
Dance Information
Ratagan lies on the south side of Loch Duich just below the road which winds its way up and over the 1000 foot pass of Mam Ratagan towards Glenelg and the Isle of Skye (by way of the Kylerhea/Glenelg ferry).It was the drove road whereby the cattle were brought from Skye, swimming across the narrows of Kylerhea, to the markets further south on the mainland.
The good folk of Ratagan knew how to party and in the dance 1st lady can set coquettishly to her partner who then chases, and after setting again they dance off together to 'gather up' the others to join in the circle.
At the time we were in need of a dance where not everyone is moving all at once!
(Dance information from Dances In Kintail, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Fiona MacDonald)
Ratagan Village
Published in Dances In Kintail Collection, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Fiona MacDonald.
Image copyright Jim Barton under this Creative Commons Licence 2.0.
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