Splendour In The Grass

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

Splendour In The Grass (3x32S) 32 bar strathspey for three couples in a longwise set, Murrough Landon, 2020

1- 2 1st and 2nd couples set.
3- 6 1st woman and 2nd man cast, and followed by their partners, they chase half way round clockwise.
7- 8 2nd and 1st couples cross back to their own sides passing right shoulder.
9-12 2nd, 1st and 3rd couples advance for one, retire for one and link as in Set and Link for three couples. 1st couple end on the centre line facing clockwise, 1st man slightly above 1st place, 1st woman slightly below 3rd place. 3rd and 2nd couples end facing their partner across the set in 1st and 3rd places respectively.
13-16 1st couple cast clockwise to 2nd place opposite side. Then, giving left hands, they turn three quarters to end on the centre line with 1st man below 1st woman. Meanwhile 3rd and 2nd couples dance back to back with their partner.
17-20 3rd couple with 1st woman, and 1st man with 2nd couple, each dance right hands across to the same places. 1st couple end left shoulder to each other on the centre line.
21-24 1st woman followed by 3rd couple and 1st man followed by 2nd couple dance the Snake Pass, curving left shoulder around the other dancers and ending on the sidelines in the order 2,1,3.
25-32 1st and 3rd couples repeat bars 1-8, but with 1st man and 3rd woman casting and both couples chasing half way round anticlockwise, then passing left shoulder to end on their own sides in the order 2,3,1.

(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA September 2020)

Dance Notes

The figure of bars 1-8 and 25-32 has a 2-4-2 bar pattern so may cross the music.

The people who cast in those figures are always the man in 2nd place and either top or bottom woman.

(Dance notes by the deviser, Murrough Landon)

Keith Rose's Crib Diagram

Splendour In The Grass Keith Rose's Diagram

Splendour In The Grass - Full Size And Key To Symbols

Dance Instruction Videos

Splendour In The Grass - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction Video

Dance Information

The title comes from seeing a sign attached to a lamp post on Hampstead Heath which read:

"There is splendour in the grass" (Wordsworth).
There is also my lost hearing aid!
Unusually pleasant reward offered...

The dance contains the Snake Pass figure but any snakes in the grass should be assumed to be slow worms (which are actually lizards).

Recommended music: Suggested tune Poppy Fields Strathspey by Ian Robertson; suitable recording Strathspeys 3x32 (Ian Robertson and Rob Alderton: Double Take).

(Dance information by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA September 2020)

Published in Splendour In The Grass, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA.

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