Three Hares
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
Three Hares (J3x40) (Triangular) A 40 bar jig for three couples in a triangular set. Devised By Murrough Landon May 2026.1- 8 All three men dance left shoulder around their corner, come into the centre, join nearer hands in a triangular shape, then "circle" once round to the left to their original places.
9-16 All three women repeat bars 1-8, starting left shoulder around their partner.
17-20 The men all pull back their left shoulder and cast behind their partner to the next men's place anticlockwise. They then curve out to their right, ending a little beyond the sidelines in the corners of a large triangle facing in: 1st man is outside 3rd couple's place, 2nd man is outside 1st place and 3rd man is outside 2nd place.
21-24 The three women dance left hands across just over once round to end with their backs to the centre, facing out to their partner, about an arm's length inside them, leaving plenty of space in the centre.
25-36 All now dance the "Following" figure from The Celtic Brooch (Elementary Set #2). The men dance in passing their partner right shoulder, pass the other men right shoulder in the centre and dance out to next corner anticlockwise from their starting place (1st man is now outside 2nd place). They repeat this pattern twice more to their original corner.
Each 4 bars is a smooth crescent, turning in on bar 4 to make an angle into the next curve.
Meanwhile on bars 25-26 the women dance out to their partner's corner place, then follow their partner's path 2 bars behind, accelerating slightly at the end to face them.
37-40 All turn their partner with the right hand one and a quarter times, moving in to end on the original sidelines. The final order is 2,3,1.
(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA May 2026)
Dance Instruction Videos
Three Hares - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction VideoDance Information
The dance was inspired by the three hares, a triangular symbol showing three hares or rabbits chasing one another, each apparently with two ears although only three ears are depicted between them.The motif is found in Germany and France, in a number of churches in Devon, and also in China, suggesting that it may have travelled along the Silk Roads.
Recommended music: Suggested tune: Country Dance (Traditional).
Suitable recording: Country Dance (Chris, Julie and Nick Dewhurst: Short and Sweet).
(Dance information from notes supplied by the deviser, May 2026)
Published in Three Hares, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Murrough Landon. Licensed under CC BY-SA.
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