Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary

Taobh Ri Taobh

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

Taobh ri Taobh
Maggie and Duncan Keppie Gaelic College SCD Book 8: The Handy Dozen
Reel 8 x 32 bars 3 Couple Repeat 4 Couple Set Longwise Set

  1-4   TURN PARTNER: 1st and 2nd couples turn partner with right hand;

  5-8   WHEEL: 1st and 2nd couple dance right hands across once round ending nearer hands joined with partner, 1st couple facing 2nd couple;

  9-16 HAND-IN-HAND REELS OF 3: 1st, 2nd and 3rd couples dance Hand-in-Hand reel of 3, starting with 1st and 2nd couples passing right shoulders (this reel is performed by dancing a reel of 3 nearer hands joined with partner when dancing up or down the reel and changing hands at the top and bottom of the reel as one reverses direction so staying on your own side of the set);

17-20 WHEEL: 1st and 2nd couple dance right hands across once round;

21-24 1¼ TURN ON SIDE: 1¼ right hand turn, 1st man with 2nd man, 1st woman with 2nd woman (end with 2nd woman and 1st man back-to-back in middle);

25-32 REEL OF 4: 1st and 2nd couple dance a reel of 4 ending on own side in progressed places (on bars 31-32, 2nd woman and 1st man dance straight across to own side as 1st woman and 2nd man cast down and up, respectively).

Repeat having passed a couple.

(Dance crib compiled by the devisers, Maggie and Duncan Keppie)


Dance Information

"Taobh ri taobh", which literally means "Side by side" in Gaelic, refers here to the hand-in-hand reels of three. "Taobh ri taobh" should be pronounced as "Toeuv ree toeuv" in English with the following conventions:
  "oeu" is as in the French "coeur"; and
  "ee" is as in "beet".
See Gaelic Dance Names for more information on Gaelic spelling and pronunciation.

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