Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary

Whirlwind Affairs

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

Whirlwind Affairs (S8x32) A 32 bar strathspey for three couples in a four couple longwise set. Murrough Landon

1-4 1st couple cross giving right hands and cast one place as 2nd couple step up.
5-8 1st man with 2nd couple and 1st woman with 3rd couple dance right hands across. 1st couple end in the centre, left shoulder to each other, facing own sides.
9-16 Tourbillon for three couples:
 2nd and 3rd couples half turn their partner with both hands to end beside them on the sidelines. Meanwhile 1st couple cast one place to their right.
 All take hands on the sides and set.
 1st couple half turn the person on their right with both hands. 1st couple end in the same place with their new partner now opposite them. Meanwhile 3rd man and 2nd woman cast inwards to 2nd place own sides.
 All cross to opposite sides giving right hands.
 Finish with 1st, 3rd, 2nd men down the women's side and 3rd, 2nd, 1st women down the men's side.
17-20 All take hands on the sides and set. Then all cross back to own sides giving right hands.
21-24 All take hands on the sides and set advancing. Then, pulling left shoulder back, cast away, curving back to own sides.
25-32 All dance the Bourrel for three couples to end back with original partners in the order 2,1,3.

(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA August 2018)

Dance Notes

For the central part of the dance all couples have a little dalliance with another partner before thinking better of it and returning to their own partners at the end.
The tourbillon figure for three couples comes, slightly modified, from Sulis Minerva devised by Rosamund Rawlings.

(Dance notes by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA August 2018)

Dance Instruction Videos

Whirlwind Affairs - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction Video

Dance Information

Recommended Music:
Tune to be decided.
Example recording: Up in the Air (Catherine Fraser and Duncan Smith: Old Favourites and Odd Couples).

(Dance information by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA August 2018)

Whirlwind Affairs
"The Lovers' Whirlwind" William Blake (1757-1827), Pen And Ink And Watercolour, c. 1824 to 1827
Image copyright William Blake [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

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