Toward Castle
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
Toward Castle A ninety-six bar Reel for four couples in a square set, devised by John W Mitchell, published in Whetherly Book 7.1- 4 First man and third lady dance a half figure of eight round second couple, crossing between second couple to commence, whilst their partners do the same round fourth couple. First and third couples finish back to back with their partners in the centre of the set.
5- 8 First man turns second man one and a half times with the right hand to change places, third and fourth men do the same. Meanwhile second and third ladies turn one and a half times with the left hand, first and fourth ladies do the same.
9-16 Second and fourth couples set for eight bars in the centre of the set.
17-24 Second and fourth couples dance a ladies' chain.
25-32 Second and fourth couples dance right hands across in a wheel and back with the left hands to their original places, passing third and first couples by the right. On bars 31 & 32, third and first couples advance with pas de basque step.
33-40 First and third couples dance right hands across in a wheel and back with the left hands to finish in lines across the set.
41-48 Reels of four across the set, first couple with second man and fourth lady and third couple with second lady and fourth man. In each reel the ladies pass right shoulder to commence as do the men.
49-56 First and third couples dance a ladies' chain.
57-64 First and third couples dance four hands round to the left in a circle and back to the right.
65-68 First and third couples set.
69-72 First man and third lady dance a half figure eight round second couple back to original places, crossing between second couple to commence: first lady and third man dance a similar half figure eight round fourth couple back to place.
73-76 All turn partner one and three quarter times with the right hand, to finish with ladies in the middle facing their partners.
77-88 Double reel of four, to commence the men passing their partners by the right to give left hands across in a wheel.
89-96 Each man takes his partner on his right in a promenade hold, they promenade clockwise round the set to place.
Repeat with second and fourth couples starting.
Recommended tune: Toward Castle
(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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