The Reuleaux Rotor
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
The Reuleaux Rotor (8x32R) 32 bar reel for three couples in a four couple longwise set, Murrough Landon, 20231-4 1st couple make a long cast into 2nd place. 2nd couple set up on bars 3-4.
5-8 1st couple cross passing right shoulder then, giving left hands, half turn their 2nd corner. The corners end in 2nd place without polite turns, just pulling right should back to face in. 1st couple dance into the centre line facing their own side. 1st man faces 2nd and 3rd men in 1st and 2nd places, 1st woman faces 2nd and 3rd women in 2nd and 3rd places.
9-10 2nd and 3rd couples join nearer hands on the sides and 1st couple join their other hands to form two small triangles. All set.
11-12 All pull right shoulder back and cast. 1st couple end in 2nd place opposite sides to join the other triangle. 2nd and 3rd couples end one place clockwise round the same triangle. 2nd man and 3rd woman are now on the centre line facing their own side.
13-16 Repeat the pattern of bars 9-12 from new places, but 3rd man and 2nd woman end facing each other on the centre line. The others face clockwise around their new triangles, 2nd man and 3rd woman having switched to the other triangle.
17-22 3rd man, followed by 1st and 3rd women, and 2nd woman, followed by 1st and 2nd men, dance a Snake Pass for six bars, all passing left shoulder round the other line and continue along the opposite sideline. End with 2nd man, 1st man and 2nd woman down the men's side and 3rd man, 1st woman and 3rd woman down the women's side.
23-24 All set.
25-28 1st couple dance half diagonal rights and lefts starting diagonally to their right. All end on opposite sides in the order 3,1,2 and face anticlockwise.
29-32 All chase half way round anticlockwise to end in the order 2,1,3.
(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA August 2023)
Keith Rose's Crib Diagrams
Dance Instruction Videos
The Reuleaux Rotor - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction VideoDance Information
The rotating little triangles in this dance are reminiscent of the Reuleaux rotor, which is also known as the Reuleaux triangle. This is a curvy triangle of constant width. Similar shapes with more sides have been used as coins. One such example is the UK 50 pence piece. The shape also has applications in mechanical engineering. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuleaux_triangle for more details.Recommended music: Suggested tune Robin Anderson (Orkney) by Donald Ridley; suitable recording Crossing the Brook (Keith Smith And Muriel Johnstone: Vintage Goldring).
(Dance information by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA August 2023)
Published in The Reuleaux Rotor, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA.
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