Side By Side With Roger
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
Side By Side With Roger (J8x32) 3C (4C set) 32 Bar Jig for 3 Couples in a 4 Couple Set devised by Murrough Landon (2025).1- 2 1st couple cross over giving right hands and face out while 2nd couple set.
3- 8 1st and 2nd couples dance three quarters of a double figure of eight, giving hands.
1st couple start by casting off as 2nd couple cross up giving left hands. Then 1st and 2nd couples each give right hands as they cross up on bars 5-6 and 7-8 respectively. 2nd couple stay facing each other on their last crossing up to 1st place. 1st couple end in the centre in 2nd place with nearer hands joined facing down to 3rd woman on the diagonal.
9-16 1st couple dance a diagonal Hand-in-hand reel of three on the 1st diagonal, starting by passing 3rd woman left shoulder:
The 1st corners dance a normal diagonal reel of three.
1st couple, as they loop round at the corners, drop nearer hands and each pull their left shoulder back (bar 2) or right shoulder back (bar 6) - as if dancing the reel on their own - and then take the other nearer hand to continue the reel. 1st couple stay side by side throughout, each nearer their own side. They end in the centre with nearer hands joined facing 3rd man on the diagonal.
17-24 1st couple dance a diagonal Hand-in-hand reel of three on the 2nd diagonal, starting by passing 3rd man right shoulder. 1st couple end in the centre facing down with nearer hands still joined.
25-28 1st couple dance down below 3rd couple and cast up to 2nd place on their own sides.
29-32 1st woman with 2nd couple, also 1st man with 3rd couple, each dance right hands across ending on the sides in the order 2,1,3.
(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA April 2025)
Keith Rose's Crib Diagram
Dance Instruction Videos
Side By Side With Roger - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction VideoDance Information
This dance was devised for Roger Keeling, a long-standing Scottish country dancer associated with several groups in London, including the Croydon Branch, the London Branch, and the London Highland Club.He was involved in helping to organise and support a number of these groups over many years. The dance includes hand-in-hand reels inspired by figures used in dances such as Kindness and Marmalade, and in several dances devised by Duncan and Maggie Keppie.
The original title of the dance was Hand in Hand with Roger, but Roger later expressed a preference for the name Side by Side.
Suggested tune: O Whistle and I'll come tae ye, my lad (Traditional).
Suitable recording: The Handsel (Green Ginger: 12 Scottish Country Dances - by Mervin Short).
Published in Side By Side With Roger, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA.
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