Tour Scotland Travel Video 2019 New Year's Day Dashing White Sergeant Dance Pitlochry Highland Perthshire

Tour Scotland travel Blog of New Year's Day 2019 video of tourists and local Scots dancing the Dashing White Sergeant Dance at the Street Ceilidh on ancestry visit to Pitlochry, Highland Perthshire, Scotland. The Dashing White Sergeant is a Scottish country dance, performed to a similarly titled piece of music. The dance is in 4/4 time, thus it is in the form of a reel. The dance is performed by groups of six dancers and is progressive. The new year’s day street party draws around 5,000 people into town.

The six dancers form a circle, traditionally of three men and three women standing alternately, which will break apart into two sets of three dancers. All six join hands and the circle turns anti-clockwise for eight counts, then clockwise for eight counts. The circle then separates into the two sets of three. The dancer in the middle (leader) of the three turns to the partner on the right, sets to (dances with) them for four counts and turns them for four counts, then repeats this with the partner on the left. The leader then turns the partner on the right again, followed by the partner on the left, the partner on the right, the partner on the left. He then joins hands with both partners so the three form a straight line facing the other set of three. Both sets walk towards each other for two steps, and stamp their feet three times (over the course of two counts, therefore including one off-beat), then retreat for two steps and clap their hands similarly to the stamping. They then walk towards each other again (again holding hands), and one set raises its arms to form archways under which the other dancers pass to meet the next set of three coming from another circle, with whom the dance is repeated

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