When this dance was originally published the suggested tune was
Burns' Night
. This is now replaced by
Doug Macdonald's Birthday
which was subsequently written for the dance as a present to the deviser from his wife
Anthea
.
Advice for Teachers (from the deviser)
The main focus in teaching this dance should be an emphasis on smooth and natural flow between the half-reels which make up bars 9-24 of this dance. The primary rule is that there should be no sharp corners and no sudden changes of direction in these reels. The half reels of bars 9-12 and 17-20 are oriented primarily along the diagonal, while the half reels of bars 13-16 and 21-24 are primarily on the sidelines. So, it requires a little bit of thought and physical effort to make those those half reels flow effortlessly and naturally from one to the next. With that in mind, here is some advice.
At the end of the first and third half reels on the diagonal, first couple should be ready to blend into a half reel on the sidelines, but they should not be in the middle of the sidelines at the end of bar 12. Keep in mind that second corners are starting from a standing start after setting, so first couple should be approaching the sideline, but not yet quite there.
At the end of bars 13-16, first couple should dance as if they’re intending to come shoulder-to-shoulder to re-form the first corner diagonal, but they should not come fully shoulder-to-shoulder. That would require too sharp a turn to go out the sideline in a graceful way. Instead, first couple should BEND their motion toward the sidelines when they’re about a meter away off each other’s starboard bow. I hope that nautical metaphor makes sense.
At the end of bar 24, first couple should end up left-shoulder-to-left-shoulder ready to give left hands for a half-turn. Their left-hand half turn should take two bars, and should be exactly a half turn, ensuring that they don’t interfere with the supporting couples crossing the set. They’ll take four bars to dance out the end of the set and cast left into the sidelines, which synchronizes them with the phrasing of the first couple.
The dance is fairly leisurely-paced, but bars 27-30 may require careful attention to phrasing.
Bars 27-30: First couple has four bars to dance from the middle of the set out the end and cast to the sidelines. They should try to gauge where the sideline is, and be in line with the corners for the final setting.
Bars 29-30: Second corners are changing places on the sideline AND doing a courtesy turn before the final setting. So they particularly may need to lengthen their steps substantially to make that work gracefully.