Review of a Third Book of Graded Scottish Country Dances

A Third Book of Graded Scottish Country Dances

The cover says ‘for younger and less experienced dancers’, but this book of 14 dances was enjoyed by our general class of mixed ability dancers and we have chosen several for our social dance programmes.

As teachers, it is excellent to have at our fingertips a book of dances chosen to help the teaching of specific formations (all listed for quick reference). The ‘dance flow’ is good in all of the dances, but there is still the challenge of correct phrasing to make the dances interesting and give emphasis to each teaching point.

Our personal favourite is what we consider the most challenging dance in this book, The Compleat Gardener. This features two formations which have become popular in our area, set and rotate and corners pass and turn. However, our favourites for emphasising teaching points as well as our class’s enjoyment of the dance were The Captain’s House (reels of three on the side into half diagonal reels of four), Out of Thin Air (tournée and turning corner and partner), The Paisley Weavers (grand chain and ladies’ chain), and Karin’s Strathspey (two-couple knot and reels of three on the side). Craigleith can be enjoyed by everyone at any time! There are more formations, all listed in the back of the book together with diagrams of all the dances, for those who prefer that shorthand notation to ‘see’ the dance shape.

Our class enjoy dancing to the CD for this book. The musical arrangements must have been an absolute ‘tour de force’ by George Meikle. Although some of the tunes were already allocated to the dances, George has supplemented them with some lovely tunes, but, as usual, all played with a delightful tempo and impetus. A great book that we feel could have ‘held its own’ last year, had it been chosen as the only new book of 2014.

Ian and Liz Stead, Chesterfield Caledonian Dance Class Available from RSCDS www.rscds.org/shop