Question 1

A Mile to Ride: Book 26 Bars 1-4, instructions say that 1st couple finish below 2nd couple which would suggest that 2nd couple don't step up or down, yet the diagram shows the 2nd couple in top place at the start of bar 5,so do they step up on bars 1 & 2 & back down on 5 & 6 or stand still?

Question:

I should be grateful if you could ask the Technique Advisory Panel how they would prefer teachers to deal with bars 15 and 16 of this dance.

Book 42, and also the Bankhead Book, say the 2^nd couple dance up to first place on own sides.   Some teachers like to follow this strictly, and they have the 2^nd couple simply dance up and straight out to the side on bar 16.

However, Book 42 Teaching Notes, issued to staff at St Andrews 2002, indicates the 2^nd couple should cast into place on bar 16.

From John Middleton in N. America 

We were at a teachers'  workshop last weekend and one of the dances that the teacher had chosen to work on was the above-mentioned "Argyll's Bowling Green".  Great lesson with everything going wonderfully until we reached bars 21-24!!!  The class was instructed to "Set to second corners but turn partner with both hands to own sides one place down."   Great  --  until two of the newer teachers with brand-new copies of Book15 pointed out that the instructions in their books stated that "1st couple set to second corners and turn partner with the right hand to own sides".  As you can imagine a fairly extensive discussion ensued. 

Two questions, therefore, to which I volunteered to try to find answers:

1.  When was the change in instructions effected?   Most of us thought that we had up-to-date copies of the books and were unaware that the latest printing of the book in question had this change.

2.  Where does 1st couple finish after setting to second corners: a) on the opposite sideline between their corners (as in set to corners prior to turning);  b) facing up and down the dance; or c) in some intermediate position?

From Book 8

Question:

Bars 9 -16    I presume the lady returns to place slipping into place or does she turn the long way around?

Bars 17-20    Is that a nearer hand lead and if so does that make Bars 21-24 also a nearer hand  lead?

Bars 27-28    Is that really just a half turn

Bars 33-38    Are they left shoulder reels with first corners to begin?

Bars 39-40    Is that a cross right hand or pass right should to finish?

Question:

In the dance ‘The Braes of Balluder’, the instructions for bars 17 – 24 say ‘First couple set and turn corners’.  I am not sure whether this would be a 2 handed turn with a setting step, or a right handed turn with a travelling step.

Question:

Re: Book 7, #9

Could you please advise how we should dance bars 17 - 24: first and second couples dance four hands across and back again, finish facing corners.  Second couple move up.

Questions:

Question 1. in bars 3-4 and 11-12, does the 3rd couple set back to the 1st and 2nd couples respectively?

Question 2. Is there an 'approved' way to dance the transition between slip step and pas de basque, specifically in bars 2-3 and 10-12? The Manual (1992 version), page 5.6, states: "There are occasions when it is helpful to blend the last two slip steps of a movement into one step, in order to facilitate entry into the different step which follows (e.g. Book 29 The Charmer, bars 1-16, where four slip steps are followed by pas de basque or skip change of step)." What exactly is meant by the term "blending"?

The "step-together" which is also taught for the change of direction in circles/hands round? Or something different?

Question

Bars 1-8    Is there any particular phrasing for the 1st cpl.eg.1st man taking 2 bars to cast to the bottom,2 bars to cross over, leaving him 4 bars to cast up & in to face 2nd man & 1st lady taking 2 bars to cross,2 bars to cast to the bottom, leaving 4 bars to cross & cast up & in to face 3rd man.

Bar 24    As 1st lady has quite a long way to go in the last 8 bars, is it permissible for her to finish her 2nd reel quite far down the dance, ready to cast up.

Bar 32    As 1st lady has been dancing to her left in the last 8 bars, does she continue on that track coming into 4th place or pulls back LS or does she cross over & pull back RS into place.

Question

Crieff Fair

Bars 15-16.

The wording in 101 SCD and the 1994 edition of book 10 differs from the recent compilation Books 7-12 (2009) which says "1st couple finish facing first corners, 1st woman turning under her own right arm".

Does this mean 1st woman turns left about under their joined right hands using skip change of step rather than the pas de basque mentioned in an earlier publication?

Question

Bars 31-32:  This dance ends with a three couple Knot and at the beginning of the 3^rd, 5^th and 7^th times through the 4^th couple is needed immediately to begin the half turns and reels of three on the sidelines. I have seen a suggestion on the Strathspey archive that on the last two bars of the Knot the dancing couple (in the middle) and the bottom couple dance left hands across half way so the dancing couple finish at the foot of the set. Is this the method you would recommend?