The Thack Cottage
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
The Thack Cottage A thirty-two bar Strathspey for four couples in a longwise set, devised by John W Mitchell, published in Whetherly Book 7.1- 4 All set with Highland Schottische step.
5- 8 First couple lead down between second couple and cast off into fourth place, whilst fourth couple lead up between third couple and cast up into first place. At the same time second couple casts up into first place and crosses into second place on the opposite side, and third couple casts off into fourth place and crosses up into third place on the opposite side.
9-16 First lady, third man, second lady and fourth man dance a diagonal reel of four: to start first lady and third man pass by the right as do second lady and fourth man.
17-24 First man, third lady, second man and fourth lady dance a reel of four passing left shoulder at the ends to commence: i.e. first man and third lady pass by the left as do second man and fourth lady.
25-28 First couple dance up between third couple and cast up to original places. Meanwhile fourth couple dance down between second couple and cast off into original places. At the same time second couple cast up to the top and cross back to original places and third couple cast off and cross up to original places.
29-32 First couple lead down the middle to fourth place, turning out to cast up into line, whilst second, third and fourth couples set and dance up one place on the sides.
Repeat with new top couple.
Recommended tune: The Thack Cottage
(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 7, 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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