Tribute To The Borders
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
TRIBUTE TO THE BORDERS (J8x32) 3C (4C set) Roy Goldring RSCDS Leaflet Dances 311- 8 1s cross RH and cast 1 place, turn RH 1½ times to end in promenade hold facing 2M
9-16 1s dance ½ RSh reel of 3 on Man's side, cross to face 3L and dance ½ RSh reel on Ladies' side 1s end facing 3L (in top place), still in promenade hold
17-24 1s set to 3L, swivel right and set to 2L, set to 2M, set to 3M (2s+3s set advancing into centre) ready for...
25-32 3s+1s+2s Allemande. 213
(MINICRIB. Dance crib compiled by Charles Upton, Deeside Caledonian Society, and his successors)
Tribute to the Borders
Roy Goldring RSCDS Leaflet 11
Jig 8 x 32 bars 3 Couple Repeat 4 Couple Set Longwise Set
1-8 1s cross, cast and turn by the right, finishing in promenade hold facing 2M;
9-12 2M1s3M half reel of 3 on the Mn's side (1s giving right shoulder to 2M to start);
13-16 2L1s3L half reel of 3 on the Ls' side (1s giving right shoulder to 3L to start), 1s finishing (still with promenade hold) facing 3L (in 1L's place);
17-18 1s set to 3L, pulling right shoulder back to finish facing 2L;
19-20 1s set to 2L and finish facing 2M;
21-22 1s set to 2M and finish facing 3M;
23-24 2s 3s advance to take allemande hold WHILE 1s set to 3M and finish in allemande hold facing up;
25-32 3s1s2s allemande.
(MAXICRIB. Scottish country dancing instructions compiled by Reuben Freemantle)
Keith Rose's Crib Diagrams
Dance Instruction Videos
Tribute To The Borders - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction VideoDance Information
This jig is just one of the many delightful dances devised by Yorkshireman Roy Goldring.Truly one of the icons of Scottish country dancing, Roy spent many of his adult years in and around the community of Ilkley, also known in song for its famous moor ("Wheear 'ast tha bin sin' ah saw thee?"). And yes, some Yorkshire folks still talk like that... so it is said. Ilkley is located in an area of West Yorkshire known as Wharfedale.
While dancing around that location, including numerous appearances at RSCDS Leeds, Roy Goldring devised favourite after favourite known to us all throughout the Scottish country dancing world. As I look over a list of the many dances about which I have written over the past few years in this column, I am astonished to be reminded how many of them were devised by this man.
But let me not get too far off track! Roy's tribute in this instance refers of course to the border country between England and Scotland. Time was, going back to medieval days, the Borders covered a much broader area encompassing not only Dumfriesshire and Kirkcudbrightshire to the west (now Dumfries And Galloway), but also the English counties of Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmorland. In these contemporary days, the now more shrunken Scottish Borders country encompasses only the area between Solway Fifth and the mouth of the River Tweed at Berwick.
But does this piece of British real estate deserve a tribute? Well, certainly there was no shortage of past strife in the border country, with armed incursions crossing the English/Scots border in either direction to inflict harm against perceived enemies. I don't doubt that tribute was frequently paid by either side in the form of ransom money, or perhaps in payment of stolen livestock. Readers may have heard of the Border Reivers who were the 16th century equivalent of what were later called cattle rustlers in the United States' Wild West. So I will leave it to you to decide whether any form of Tribute to the Borders is merited from a more positive standpoint.
The Barry Pipes Canon 039- January, 2011.
(Dance information from set and link, RSCDS Toronto Newsletter - What's In A Name? The Barry Pipes Canon 2005-2018, reproduced here with kind permission. Copyright Barry Pipes. All rights reserved)
Hawick sits in the valley of the River Teviot and is the largest town in the Scottish Borders.
Hawick In The Scottish Borders
Image copyright Walter Baxter under this Creative Commons Licence 2.0.
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