Ladies' Chain

Ideally, the Dancers start with the Ladies Facing each other slightly Diagonally Across the set and with each Man Facing Out on the left of a Lady (not necessarily his Partner); this will normally be the case when the preceding Figure leaves the Men Facing Out as, for example, in Mrs Stewart's Jig. Sometimes the Men Start from Standing Facing In; for elegance, they should Pull left shoulder back and Cast anticlockwise into the adjacent Lady's Place. In the least favourable situation, as in Kendall's Hornpipe, 1st man finds himself Facing In as he completes the preceding Figure; again Casting clockwise is more elegant but perhaps the dance is better avoided (or modified to interchange bars 1-8 and bars 9-16 as in Kendall's Jig).

Note that having the Men Start from Facing In by Pulling left shoulder back and Casting differs from the RSCDS recommendation (which is, effectively, Dance direct to the adjacent Lady's Place) but is much more satisfying to those for whom Flow of the dance is of paramount importance.

The whole Figure takes 8 bars. On the first 2 bars, the Ladies Cross By the right, each Finishing Facing Out in the Opposite Man's Position While each Man Casts anticlockwise to Face In in the adjacent Lady's Position. On the next 2 bars, the Dancers Turn by the left halfway on the Sides, the Men Finishing back in their Starting Positions, Facing Out, the Ladies on Opposite Sides, Facing In. These 4 bars comprise the half Figure (see Ladies' Chain Halfway for more detail) and are repeated from the new Positions so that all return to their Starting Positions. Note that the Men do not make a Polite turn at the halfway point; instead, they Finish Facing Out, ready for the second Ladies' chain halfway. Unless the next Figure requires otherwise, the Men do Finish the whole Figure with a Polite turn so that all are Facing In.

Other variants exist for adjacent Scottish Country Dancing Couples in a 3-Couple Triangular set as, for example, in Indian River Strathspey and Up and down in a Longwise set as, for example, in The Kenora Reel.

The double Figure occurs in JB² (JB Squared), a Square set in which the Dancers in 2nd and 4th couples' places perform a Ladies' chain which overlaps at right angles a Ladies' chain performed by those in 1st and 3rd couples' places; instead of Crossing By the right, the four Ladies Dance Right hands across, again a little more than halfway as in the single Figure.

Border Meeting
Burns Bicentenary Strathspey
Campbell's Caper
Craigleith (Goldring)
Crathie Bellman
Glenalmond Gamekeeper
Grants' New Rant
Hazelbank
Immigrant Lass
Lamp Black Lizzie

Dance Video Clip Which Demonstrates Ladies' Chain

Links To Pages Related To 'Chains'

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