Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary

Tread We A Measure

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

Tread We A Measure (S8x40) 3C (4C set) Lewis N Derrick 1990

1-8 The 1st, 2nd and 3rd couples dance six hands round and back
9-16 The 1st and 2nd couples dance the knot, at the end the 2nd couple dance out to own sidelines in first place while the 1st couple continue turning with left hands to end in the middle facing their first corners
17-20 The 1st couple and their first corners advance one step and retire one step then turn by the right hand so the 1st couple end in the middle, 1st woman between the 2nd couple, 1st man between the 3rd couple
21-24 The 1st couple advance one step and retire one step then turn left hands to face second corners
25-28 The 1st couple and their second corners advance one step and retire one step then turn by the right hand so the 1st couple end in second place on opposite sidelines
29-32 The 1st couple advance one step and retire one step then turn left hands to face first corners
33-38 Passing first corners by left shoulders to begin, the 1st couple dance reels of three across, 1st woman with the 2nd couple, 1st man with the 3rd couple, ending in second place on own sides
39-40 Giving hands on sidelines, the 2nd, 1st and 3rd couples set

Repeat having passed a couple

(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Lewis N Derrick 2020)


Dance Information

The title of this dance, Tread We A Measure, comes from the Lochinvar - Poem written by the Scottish poet Sir Walter Scott in 1808.

The bride kissed the goblet; the knight took it up;
He quaffed of the wine, and he threw down the cup.
She looked down to blush, and she looked up to sigh,
With a smile on her lips and a tear in her eye.
He took her soft hand ere her mother could bar,-
"Now tread we a measure!" said young Lochinvar.


Suggested tune: The Road to the Isles.

Devised 1990, first published electronically 2020.

Copyright 1990, 2020 Lewis N. Derrick.

(Dance information from The McGhie Scottish Country Dance Sheets #33, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Lewis N Derrick)

Lochinvar Poem - Information Video

Now tread we a measure, Lochinvar page 2, Glen collection of printed music
Now Tread We A Measure, From Lochinvar, Glen Collection Of Printed Music, Banquet Of Euphrosyne, c. 1811


Published in The McGhie Scottish Country Dance Sheets, Collection 4, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Lewis N Derrick.
Dance information licensed under this Creative Commons Licence 3.0.
Text from this original Lochinvar article on Wikisource.
Image copyright https://digital.nls.uk/special-collections-of-printed-music/archive/90384504

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