Question

Peggy’s Love: Book 8. I am looking to dance Peggy’s Love at an upcoming dance competition and have a query about it.  I have an acquaintance who danced this dance as part of their full certificate in the 1970’s under at the RSCDS summer school.  The certificate class chose how best to dance bars 9-12 and they decided that it would be best to dance up to corners without giving hands.  When the class danced it that way in the examination where Miss Milligan was one of the examiners, no comment was made. 

I am aware that the most recent edition of the published dance says that the 1^st couple lead up to face first corner.  My question is therefore, for a competition, should the 1^st couple lead up, right hand in right, or would the variation danced in the 1970’s certificate class be acceptable.

Answer

Bars 9 – 12 are a serious stretch for even the best dancer. The current instructions do say “lead”, which an adjudicator may expect to see.  Another practical compromise would be to 'dance'  -  implying 'nearer hands'  - which  retains the spirit of giving hands (rather than just doing nothing) while offering a worthwhile helping hand to one's partner.