The Silver Arrow

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

The Silver Arrow (J3x32) 3C set Lewis N Derrick 2012

1-8 The 1st, 2nd and 3rd couples set, dance back to back with partners and set
9-16 The 1st, 2nd and 3rd couples dance six hands round and back
17-24 The 1st and 3rd couples dance the half-reel progression. At the end of the right-hand turn on bar 24 the 3rd couple are passing through own sidelines in first place, man facing up woman down, and they dance straight into the Espagnole while the 1st couple in third place end on own sidelines facing in
25-32 The 3rd and 2nd couples change places with the Espagnole, ending 231 all on own sidelines

Repeat twice more from new positions each time

(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Lewis N Derrick 2020)

Dance Notes

Bars 17-24 The half reel progression:
1-2 The 1st and 3rd couples turn partners three quarters round by the right hand to end in a line in the middle of the set (men facing up, women facing down)
3-6 The 1st and 3rd couples dance half a right-shoulder reel of four up and down the set (ending with the women facing up and the men facing down)
7-8 The 3rd and 1st couples turn partners three quarters round by the right hand to end on own sidelines having changed places.

Dance Information

This jig, The Silver Arrow, was devised by Lewis Derrick to commemorate James Graham, Marquess of Montrose (1612-1650), who won the Silver Arrow archery medal while a student at St Andrews University.

Suggested tune: Strathcarron Jig.

Devised 2012, first published electronically 2020.

(Dance information from The McGhie Scottish Country Dance Sheets #37, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Lewis N Derrick)

Published in The McGhie Scottish Country Dance Sheets, Collection 4, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Lewis N Derrick.

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