Speyhead
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
Speyhead A sixteen bar Strathspey, sixteen bar Reel medley for four couples in a longwise set. Strathspey Devised by John W Mitchell, Published in Whetherly Book 11.1- 8 Second and third couples dance a half reel of four progression (three quarter turn with right hand, a half reel of four and turn three quarter right hand to finish back to back in the centre facing nearest corner).
9-12 Second and third couples turn their corners with the left hand and then dance right hands across in a wheel half way.
13-16 First man, second lady, third man and fourth lady dance a diagonal half reel of four passing left shoulders at the end to start. First lady, second man, third lady and fourth man do the same. All give right hands across when passing in the middle. Reel
17-24 Second and third couples dance double Hello-Goodbye setting (set to corners, opposites, corners, opposites).
25-26 Second and fourth men turn with the right hand, first and third ladies do the same, whilst second and fourth ladies turn with the left hand and first and third men do the same. Finish on the sides in the order 4, 2, 3, 1.
27-28 All join hands on the sides and set.
29-32 Fourth and second couples dance half rights and lefts, third and first couples do the same.
Repeat with new end couples leading. Recommended tunes: Strathspey: Music of the Spey; Reel: Fitful Head
(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 11, 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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