Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary

The Siege Of Buda

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

The Siege Of Buda 32 Bar Reel For 3 Couples In A 4 Couple Set, by Gábor Turi.

1-4 1C&2C dance back to back with partner.
5-8 1M&2M and at the same time 1L&2L dance back to back up and down on the sidelines.
9-13 1C&2C&3C advance, turn around partner right about with two skip change of step to change places (they are still in the middle, men facing men's side, ladies facing ladies' side), all retire.
15-16 1C cast off one place and finish facing 1st corner while 2C cross RH up to top place and 3C cross RH back to own sides.
17-24 1C turn LH with 1st corner, RH with partner, LH with 2nd corner and RH with partner again. 1C finish on the second place opposite sides.
25-28 2C&1C&3C circle to the left for 6 slip steps, pivot round to face out pulling LSh back.
29-32 2C&1C&3C chase anticlockwise back to own sides. 1C at the end of bar 30 dance in, on bars 31-32 pass each other LS and dance on to 2nd place on own side.

Repeat having passed a couple.

(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Gábor Turi, 2001)


Keith Rose's Crib Diagrams


Dance Instruction Videos

The Siege Of Buda - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction Video

Dance Information

This reel, The Siege Of Buda, was originally a 24 bar English Country Dance from the 17th century. The dance was rearranged to a 32 bar Scottish country dance form by Gábor Turi for the 2nd International Weekend Course and Ball organised by the Budapest Scottish Dance Club.

The course took place on the Buda side of Budapest, Hungary in May 2001 on the hill where the multinational Christian army began its attack on the Turks who controlled Buda Castle in 1686. That year is now referred to as the year of the Siege of Buda.

The origin of the tune is unknown, but it was first published in the 8th edition of John Playford's The English Dancing Masters Collection in 1690 - a few years after the siege.

The rearranged dance and tune were first presented on 5 May 2001 by Pia Walker (DK), Lisa Mitchell (CAN), Beatrix Wepner (A) and Ilona Gumenyuk (RUS) on the ladies' side and Alan Mair (SCO), Patrick Chamoin (F), Peer Hirschbühl (D) and Gábor Turi (H) on the men's side.

Tune: The Siege Of Buda (rearranged by the DAGDA band) or any other suitable Reel.

(Dance information from A Reel Goulash 1, Budapest Book of Scottish Country Dances (2011), reproduced here with kind permission)


The Siege of Buda (1686) was fought between the Holy League and the Ottoman Empire, as part of the follow-up campaign in Hungary after the Battle of Vienna. The Holy League took Buda (modern day Budapest) after a long siege.

Buda Castle is the historical castle and palace complex of the Hungarian kings in Budapest.

It was first completed in 1265, but the massive Baroque palace today occupying most of the site was built between 1749 and 1769. The complex in the past was referred to as either the Royal Palace or the Royal Castle. The castle now houses the Hungarian National Gallery and The Budapest History Museum and is a part of the Budapest World Heritage Site, so declared in 1987.

The Siege Of Buda - Information Video

Siege Of Buda
"Reoccupation Of Buda castel En 1686" Gyula Benczúr (1844-1920), Oil On Canvas, c. 1896


Published in http://bstk.hu/en.htm
Dance information licensed under this Creative Commons Licence 3.0.
Text from this original Siege Of Buda article on Wikipedia.
Text from this original Buda Castle article on Wikipedia.
Image copyright Gyula Benczúr, public domain.

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