Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary

Snakes And Ladders (Murray)

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

SNAKES AND LADDERS (S5x32) 5C Set Evelyn Murray Pinewoods Collection 2
1- 8 1s leads down below 5th place, cross, cast up to 1st place and cross RH to original place as 5s cross RH, cast up to 1st place and lead down crossing over to original place
9-16 1s+2s dance RH across and LH across while 4s+5s dance RH across and LH across while 3s turn RH (4 bars) and LH (4 bars)
17-20 1s and 2s cross RH and circle ½ way to the left
21-24 1s and 3s cross LH and circle ½ way to the right
25-28 1s and 4s repeat 17-20
29-32 1s and 5s repeat 21-24

(MINICRIB. Dance crib compiled by Charles Upton, Deeside Caledonian Society, and his successors)

Dance Information

Also see the dance Snakes And Ladders (Downey) by Rod Downey.

Snakes and ladders is a board game for two or more players regarded today as a worldwide classic, which originated in ancient India as Moksha Patam, and was brought to the UK in the 1890s.

It is played on a game board with numbered, gridded squares. A number of "ladders" and "snakes" are pictured on the board, each connecting two specific board squares. The object of the game is to navigate one's game piece, according to die rolls, from the start (bottom square) to the finish (top square), helped by climbing ladders but hindered by falling down snakes.

The game is a simple race based on sheer luck, and it is popular with young children. The historic version had its roots in morality lessons, on which a player's progression up the board represented a life journey complicated by virtues (ladders) and vices (snakes).

Snakes And Ladders
Snakes And Ladders


Dance information licensed under this Creative Commons Licence 3.0.
Text from this original Snakes And Ladders article on Wikipedia.
Image copyright Auckland Museum, Creative Commons Licence 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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