Xylem And Phloem

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

Xylem And Phloem (S3x32) 32 Bar Strathspey for 3 Couples in a Triangular Set. Murrough Landon
For three couples in a nominally triangular set - though best viewed as a hexagon with six equally spaced dancers.

1-8 1st couple dance a figure of eight on their own side around 2nd or 3rd couple, starting by dancing down with nearer hands joined, then out between the side couples and end back in original places.
9-16 1st couple with 2nd man and 3rd woman dance lefts and rights, starting by changing places up and down with the left hand and ending with a half right hand turn to face each other. 3rd man and 2nd woman face across the set.
17-24 All dance the "Samara" progression, ending in the order 2,3,1:

	3rd man & 2nd woman	2nd man & 1st woman	1st man & 3rd woman
17-18	Half turn giving both hands to end facing each other in the centre.	Chase a third of the way round clockwise to 3rd man's and 2nd woman's places.	Petronella, along the side, one position to their right to end in 1st woman's and 2nd man's places and face clockwise.
19-20	Petronella, curving out to their right, to end in 1st man's and 3rd woman's places and face clockwise.	Half turn giving both hands to end facing each other in the centre.	Chase a third of the way round clockwise to 2nd woman's and 3rd man's places.
21-22	Chase a third of the way round clockwise to 1st woman's and 2nd man's places and face in.	Petronella, curving out to their right, to end in 1st man's and 3rd woman's places and face in.	Half turn giving both hands to end facing each other in the centre.
23-24	Set.	Set.	Pull right shoulder back and cast away to the position behind them.

25-32 All circle six hands round to the left and back, ending in the order 2,3,1.

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

Dance Notes

The figure of bars 17-24 was inspired by the Rose progression (devised by Rod Downey) which is here extended to three couples.
The executive summary is:
3rd man and 2nd woman: half turn, petronella, chase, set;
2nd man and 1st woman: chase, half turn, petronella, set;
1st man and 3rd woman: petronella, chase, half turn, twirl away.

In bars 9-16 the top two and bottom two dance together as in a square set.

In bars 17-24 all dance with the diametrically opposite person.

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

Keith Rose's Crib Diagrams

Xylem And Phloem - Full Size And Key To Symbols

Dance Instruction Videos

Xylem And Phloem - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction Video

Dance Information

Xylem and Phloem are different types of tissue found in trees.

Samara is the name for the seed pods of Maple trees with triangular wings that rotate away from their parent tree as they fall which is reminiscent of the twirling and chasing in the figure of bars 17-24.

The title sounds a bit like "Silent and Flowing" as a dancer's feet and figures should be.

Music: Tune: Margaret's Ghost.
Recording: 3x32 Song Airs (Green Ginger: Miss Ogilvie's Fancy)

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

Xylem is one of the two types of transport tissue in vascular plants. The basic function of xylem is to transport water from roots to stems and leaves, but it also transports nutrients. The word "xylem" is derived from the Greek word (xylon), meaning "wood"; the best-known xylem tissue is wood, though it is found throughout a plant.

Phloem is the living tissue in vascular plants that transports the soluble organic compounds made during photosynthesis and known as photosynthates, in particular the sugar sucrose, to parts of the plant where needed. This transport process is called translocation. In trees, the phloem is the innermost layer of the bark, hence the name, derived from the Greek word (phloios) meaning "bark".

Both terms, Xylem and Phloem were introduced by Nägeli in 1858.

Xylem (Blue) Transports Water And Minerals From The Roots Upwards.
Phloem (Orange) Transports Products Of Photosynthesis To Various Parts Of The Plant.

Published in Xylem And Phloem, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA.
Dance information licensed under this Creative Commons Licence 3.0.
Text from this original Xylem article on Wikipedia.
Text from this original Phloem article on Wikipedia.
Image copyright Nefronus, Creative Commons Licence 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Back to the top of this Scottish Country Dancing Instructions 'Xylem And Phloem' page