Shimmering Flamingos
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
SHIMMERING FLAMINGOS (J4x32) Sq.Set Murrough Landon 2021 Woodhall Book 11- 8 All turn partner LH to face corners; all turn corner RH. 1M and 3M finish BtoB in centre facing partner (on slight diagonal)
9-12 1s+3s dance ½ RSh reel of 4 (partners pass RSh). 1M+3M pass LSh to end 1M facing 4L, 3M facing 2L
13-16 1M+4L+3M+2L dance ½ RSh reel of 4 (Men pass Ladies RSh). 1M+3M pass RSh to original place (now diagonal opposite partner)
17-24 All dance set and link with 'new' partner; all dance set and link with corner to end beside partner, Men facing out. 2341
25-32 Corner Schiehallion Reels:
25-26 Ladies dance straight across and face out while Men loop to right round corner and face in
27-32 Repeat 3 more times from new positions. End 4123 facing partner
(MINICRIB. Dance crib compiled by Charles Upton, Deeside Caledonian Society, and his successors)
Shimmering Flamingos 32 bar jig for four couples in a square set, Murrough Landon, 2021
1- 4 All turn their partner once round with the left hand and face their corners.
5- 8 All turn their corner once round with the right hand. 1st and 3rd men end in the centre facing their partner on a slight diagonal.
9-12 1st and 3rd couples dance half a reel of four starting by passing right shoulder. 1st and 3rd men end passing each other left shoulder to face 4th and 2nd women.
13-16 1st and 3rd men dance half a reel of four with 4th and 2nd women, starting by passing right shoulder. 1st and 3rd men pass right shoulder to end in their original places. The women are now diagonally opposite their original place and all are now opposite their partner.
17-20 All dance set and link on the sides with their new partner.
21-24 All dance set and link with their corner to end beside their original partner in the order 2,3,4,1. The men stay facing out.
25-32 All dance a Corner variation of Schiehallion Reels:
1-2: The women cross straight over (from 1st woman's to 3rd man's place, etc) passing the other women left shoulder to face out and slightly to their right. Meanwhile the men loop to their right around the corner to the next woman's place clockwise (from 1st man's to 2nd woman's place, etc) and face in.
3-8: Repeat this pattern three times. On their last cross, the men end pulling back left shoulder to face their partner in the order 4,1,2,3.
(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA January 2021)
Keith Rose's Crib Diagram
Dance Instruction Videos
Shimmering Flamingos - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction VideoDance Information
The title for this dance comes from endless walks around odd corners of my local neighbourhood during Covid lockdowns. An architecturally uninspiring housing estate is adorned with some striking murals. One of these is a surreal adaptation of Wordsworth's famous poem "I wandered lonely as a cloud" where the "golden daffodils" are replaced by "shimmering flamingos".Executive Summary
Turn twice, half diagonal reel twice, set and link twice, Schiehallion reels.
Recommended music: Suggested tune A Piece of Cake by Chris Dewhurst; suitable recording A Piece of Cake (Chris, Julie and Nick Dewhurst: Short and Sweet).
(Dance information by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA January 2021)
Published in Shimmering Flamingos, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA.
Back to the top of this Scottish Country Dancing Instructions 'Shimmering Flamingos' page