Sir David Lindsay Of The Mount's Strathspey
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
SIR DAVID LINDSAY OF THE MOUNT'S STRATHSPEY (S3x32) 3 Person Triangular Set Lewis N Derrick Triangular Suite of SCDs3 dancers arranged in triangular set
1- 8 Reel of 3, Dancer 1 passes 2 RSh to start
9-16 Dancers 1+3 advance and retire and turn RH; 1+2+3s dance RH across
17-24 Dancers 1+2 advance and retire and turn LH; 1+2+3 dance LH across
25-32 All Petronella turn 1 place and set; Petronella turn and set. 3 1 2
(MINICRIB. Dance crib compiled by Charles Upton, Deeside Caledonian Society, and his successors)
Sir David Lindsay Of The Mount's Strathspey (S3x32) 3D Triangular set Lewis N Derrick 1990
This is a dance in triangular formation for three dancers in any gender combination
1- 8 All dance a reel of three across the set, 1st dancer passing 3rd dancer right shoulder to begin and all ending back in original places
9-12 Facing one another on right sideline, the 1st and 3rd dancers advance and retire, then, giving right hands, turn once round (retaining hands at end)
13-16 All dance right hands across
17-20 Facing one another on left sideline, the 1st and 2nd dancers advance and retire, then, giving left hands, turn once round (retaining hands at end)
21-24 All dance left hands across
25-28 All dance a petronella turn to move one place anticlockwise and set
29-32 All dance a petronella turn to move one more place anticlockwise and set (all have now progressed one place clockwise round the set)
Repeat twice more from new positions each time
(Dance Crib compiled by the deviser, Lewis N Derrick 2020)
Dance Notes
1st person at the top, then count around the set clockwise for 2nd, 3rd.(Dance notes by the deviser, Lewis N Derrick)
Keith Rose's Crib Diagrams
Dance Information
This dance, Sir David Lindsay Of The Mount's Strathspey, was devised to commemorate Sir David Lindsay of the Mount (1490-1555), Scottish poet and Lord Lyon King of Arms.Suggested tune: Dunblane.
Devised Devised 1990, first published electronically 2020.
Copyright 1990, 2020 Lewis N. Derrick.
(Dance information from The Triangular Suite Of Scottish Country Dances, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Lewis N Derrick)
In the 1980s I was asked by Rowena Kelley to devise some dances for odd numbers of people so that she would still be able to start her Maidenhead class on those occasions in the winter when not enough folk had turned up to make full four-couple sets.
I produced several dances for three and five single dancers that contained 'proper' figures, not just exercise routines, in either triangular or 'W' formation sets.
The progressions were clockwise round the triangle or zig-zag up the longwise 'W' set.
How many of these oddball creations ever saw the light of day in Berkshire I don't know and I never saw fit to enquire!
The Triangular Suite Of Scottish Country Dances leaflet contains the three triangular dances;
Jumping Joan (Jig)
Kelley's Aye (Reel)
Sir David Lindsay Of The Mount's Strathspey (Strathspey)
The reel was originally published in print in the fifth McGhie Booklet in 1992. The jig and Strathspey are published here for the first time.
(Dance information by the deviser, Lewis N Derrick 2020)
Sir David Lyndsay of the Mount (c. 1490-1555; alias Lindsay) was a Scottish herald who gained the highest heraldic office of Lyon King of Arms.
The Right Honourable the Lord Lyon King of Arms, the head of Lyon Court, is the most junior of the Great Officers of State in Scotland and is the Scottish official with responsibility for regulating heraldry in that country, issuing new grants of arms, and serving as the judge of the Court of the Lord Lyon, the oldest heraldic court in the world that is still in daily operation.
Sir David Lyndsay of the Mount remains a well regarded poet whose works reflect the spirit of the Renaissance, specifically as a makar.
He was the son of David Lyndsay, second of the Mount (Fife), and of Garmylton, (Haddingtonshire) (d.circa. 1503). His place of birth and early education are unknown, but it is known that he attended the University of St Andrews, on the books of which appears an entry "Da Lindesay" for the session 1508-1509. He was engaged as a courtier in the Royal Household; first as an equerry, then as an usher (assistant to a head-tutor) to the future King James V of Scotland.
In 1522 he married Janet Douglas, a court seamstress. His first heraldic appointment was as Snowdon Herald and in 1529 he was appointed Lord Lyon King of Arms, and knighted. He was engaged in diplomatic business (twice on embassies abroad-to the Netherlands and France), and was, in virtue of his heraldic office, a general master of ceremonies. He signed the only surviving letter from this time, "Dauid Lyndsay". His handwriting shows no trace of the italic forms used by those Scots who had finished their education abroad.
After the death of James V, in 1542, Lyndsay continued to sit in Parliament of Scotland as commissioner for Cupar, Fife; and in 1548 he was member of a mission to Denmark which obtained certain privileges for Scottish merchants. There is reason to believe that he died in or about 1555.
Statue Of Sir David Lindsay, Scottish National Portrait Gallery
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Text from this original David Lyndsay article on Wikipedia.
Text from this original Lord Lyon King of Arms article on Wikipedia.
Image copyright Stephencdickson, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
