A View Of The Valley

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

1- 4 1st and 3rd couples cross over giving right hands and cast off one place as 2nd and 4th couples step up.
5- 8 1st and 3rd couples turn giving left hands and end facing their first corners.
9-24 Dance to Far Corners and Set. This is a five couple version of Dance to Each Corner and Set for three couples but only those dancing out to 1st and 5th places set. Those dancing out to 3rd place turn to face the other half of the set and immediately continue dancing in and round the opposite corner person. 1st man and 3rd woman never reach the corners but just dance round the centre twice.
 9-10: 1st and 3rd couples change places with their 1st corners passing them right shoulder, the 1st corners also pass each other right shoulder and turn to face the 2nd corners. Meanwhile the far 2nd corners (in 1st woman's and 5th man's places) set.
 11-12: Those now in the centre repeat this pattern with the 2nd corners as those now in 1st man's and 5th woman's places set. 2nd man and 5th woman need to make a sharp turn to the right to face into the other half of the set.
 13-24: Repeat the pattern of bars 9-12 three more times.
 On bars 23-24 1st and 3rd couples end on the centre line with the men in the top half of the set and the women at the bottom. 1st couple are facing down and 3rd couple are facing up. The corners end diametrically opposite where they started, 5th couple at the top, 4th couple in 3rd place and 2nd couple at the bottom, all on opposite sides.
25-26 1st and 3rd couples dance two bars of a right shoulder reel of four on the centre line.
27-28 On meeting their partner 3rd and 1st couples turn once round with the right hand to end with 3rd man facing 5th man at the top, 3rd woman facing 4th woman and 1st man facing 4th man in 3rd place and 1st woman facing 2nd woman at the bottom.
29-32 3rd man and 5th couple also 1st woman and 2nd couple dance half a right shoulder reel of three across the set as 3rd woman and 1st man dance half a right shoulder reel of four across the set with 4th couple. 3rd and 1st couples end crossing back to their own sides passing their partners by the left shoulder. The final order is 5,3,4,1,2.

(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA June 2019)

Dance Notes

An earlier version of this dance had the Dance to Each Corner and Set figure just for 12 bars with a more complex return to new places. After seeing Moira Turner's If You Ever Get There, it seemed wiser to have 16 bars of the figure which then puts the corners back in more sensible places leaving only the dancing couples to find each other again.

During the central figure four pairs of dancers will set to the same person in the far corners twice: 4th couple to partner, 5th man to 2nd woman, 2nd man to 5th woman and 3rd man to 1st woman. However as 1st man and 3rd woman dance twice around the centre they never set to each other.

(Dance notes by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA June 2019)

Keith Rose's Crib Diagrams

A View Of The Valley - Full Size And Key To Symbols

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Dance Information

Recommended music: Suggested tune Dalrymple Jig by Jimmy Shand, Senior and/or Dave Provan's Fancy by John Renton; suitable recording Wake Up Ones (Neil Barron and his SDB: Sheffield Diamond Jubilee - The Third Sheaf Collection SCDs).

(Dance information by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA June 2019)

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