The Sly Old Fox
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
The Sly Old Fox A forty-eight bar Jig for five couples in a longwise set. Devised by John W Mitchell, Published in Whetherly Book 12.1- 8 First and third couples set and cross giving right hands, then cast off one place and turn left hand to face first corners, second and fourth couples step up on bars 5 & 6.
9-10 Dancers in the centre change places with first corner positions giving right hands.
11-12 New dancers in the centre turn three quarters with the left hand to face second corner positions.
13-16 Change places with corners right hand, then new dancers in the centre turn three quarters with the left hand to face first corner positions.
17-24 Repeat bars 9-16 from new positions.
25-32 Repeat bars 9-16 from new positions.
33-40 Repeat bars 9-16 from new positions. Fifth couple are now in first place on opposite sides, third couple are in second place facing third corner positions, fourth couple are in third place on own side, first couple are in fourth place facing third corner positions and second couple are in fifth place on opposite sides.
41-44 Third man dances half a reel of three with fifth couple, passing fifth lady giving right shoulder to start and finishing between fifth couple facing down. First lady dances half a reel of three across the set with second couple to finish between second couple facing up, passing second man giving right shoulder to start. First man and third lady dance half a reel of four across the set with fourth couple, giving right shoulder to start. First man and third lady finish back to back facing their own partners.
45-46 First and third couples turn three quarters with the right hand to own side of the set, whilst fourth couple cross to own side giving right hand in passing.
47-48 All join hands on the sides and set. Finish in the order 5, 3, 4, 1, 2.
Repeat with new leading couples. Recommended tune: The Sly Old Fox.
(Dance crib reproduced from The Whetherly Book Of Scottish Country Dances, revised and republished by Alison Mitchell)
Keith Rose's Crib Diagram
Published in The Whetherly Book Of Scottish Country Dances Number 12, by John W Mitchell, revised and republished by Alison Mitchell; instructions reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence (CC BY-ND 4.0).
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