The Scottish Midge

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

The Scottish Midge
Reuben Freemantle www.scottish-country-dancing-dictionary.com
Reel 4 x 32 bars 4 Couple Repeat 4 Couple Set Longwise Set

1-4 1s2s 3s4s half rights and lefts, 1s finishing facing down, 4s up;

5-6 1L4L 1M4M turn ¾ by the right on the sides, finishing 1L 4L 1M 4M in line across, 1s facing up, 4s down;

7-8 1L4L 1M4M turn by the left, finishing 1L 4L 1M 4M in line across, 1s facing down, 4s up;

9-16 all dance reels of 4 on the sides;

17-24 all dance reels of 4 on the sides, finishing as at bar 9;

25-27 2L4L 2M4M 1L3L 1M3M turn by the right, finishing 2s4s1s3s in the opposite side lines, all facing clockwise around the set;

28-32 all chase clockwise halfway around the set, finishing 3s1s4s2s.

(MAXICRIB. Scottish country dancing instructions compiled by Reuben Freemantle)

Dance Notes

This reel is a simplified derivative of The Russian Fly which is identical in bars 1-6 and 25-32 but contains the much more complex muxa reel in bars 9-24 rather than repeated reels of 4 on the sides as here; it can be used as an introduction to the more complex dance.

-4 Polite turn by 2L 4M, only.

25- Note that the dancer to be turned is the one to whom you gave right shoulder at bar 9.

25-27 Although slightly counter-intuitive, this phrasing gives extra time for 4s 1s to reach their designated places in the side lines.

28-32 This phrasing allows exactly 1 bar between adjacent places in the side lines and 2 bars to cross the set.

Keith Rose's Crib Diagrams

The Scottish Midge - Full Size And Key To Symbols

Dance Information

The Highland midge is a species (Culicoides impunctatus) of small flying insect, found in upland areas (fens, bogs and marshes) especially in the North West of Scotland from late spring to late Summer.

Female highland midges are well known for gathering in clouds, biting humans and are generally regarded as pests.

A Group Of Scottish Highland Midges

This page uses content under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, along with original copyrighted content and excerpts from Wikipedia and other sources.
Text from this original Highland Midge article on Wikipedia.
Image copyright Dunpharlain, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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