Slater's Crimson China

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

1-4 1C dance down between the 2nd and 3rd couples and cast up around the 3rd couples to finish in second place on own sides. 2C step up on bars 3 and 4.
5-8 1C Dance up between 2C and cast off into second place. Meanwhile, 4C dance up between 3C through second place and cast off into 3rd place, 3C step down into 4th place on bars 7 and 8.
9-16 1C with 2C, 3C with 4C dance double figures of eight across the set, beginning with 1C crossing up, 2C casting off, 4C crossing down and 3C casting up.
17-20 All take hands on the sidelines and dance a 4C interlinking set and link (also called "set and link in tandem for 4") as in "The Library of Birmingham". To wit: (described for the men, the ladies are the same)
 17-18 All take hands on the sidelines and set.
 19-20 The outer men dance or cast one place off or up, and the inner ones cast or dance two places. Here this means that 2M casts off into 2nd place, 1M casts into 4th place, 4th man dances up the centre into 1st place and 3rd man dances up the centre into 3rd place. (The two dancers on the right are casting, the 2 on then left dancing up.) This results in then ordering from the top 4,2,3,1.
21-24 Repeat 17-20 from the new positions. Resulting ordering is 3, 4, 1, 2.
25-32 4C and 1C dance the Rose Progression. (See the previous dance for details.) Finishing order, 3, 1, 4, 2.

Repeat from new positions.

(Dance crib compiled by the deviser Rod Downey, Johnsonville SCD Club Tutor)

Dance Information

Slater's Crimson China (Rosa eglanteria) was the first rose brought to New Zealand by Samuel Marsden who established the first mission station at Hohi, on Christmas Day, 1815. This rose is one of the oldest we have records for, and was introduced to Europe in 1792 from China, and the variety was grown in China from the 9th Century.

It is a sweet briar rose, and can still be found in the members' gardens of Kemp House, New Zealand's oldest existing building in Waitangi.

The interlocking person set and link is taken from "The Library of Birmingham" and I learned of it from Kenneth Reid. It is not clear exactly who first devised it. One notable version is "Cullen Skink" by John Drewry, although in that the outer couples cast 2 and the inners only one. Originally I tried a variation on the rose progression, but the dancers voted for the original.

The recommended tune is "Golden Harvest" by Angus Fitchet, and the recordings by Frank Reid and his band in the "75th Anniversary of the London Branch", or in "The Legendary Angus Fitchet" by Angus Fitchet are good.

(Dance information from The Piwakawaka Collection Of Scottish Country Dances, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Rod Downey)

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