Dance The Birks of Invermay 522

Also known as “Birks of Endermay” (unofficial).

Strathspey · 32 bars · 3 couples · Longwise - 4 (Progression: 213)

Devised by

Thomas Skillern (1776)

Intensity

541 888 800 888 = 68% (1 turn), 52% (whole dance)

Formations

Promenade 3 couples (PROM;3C;)
Figure of Eight - half (FIG8;1C;HALF;)
Hands round - 6 - and back (HR;6P;BACK;)

Steps

Strathspey travel

Published in

Book 16 [2]
Scottish Country Dances Books 13 to 18 (Combined A5 edition) [40]
Pocket: Books 16,17,18 [2]
Thirty Popular Scottish Country Dances [23]
101 Scottish Country Dances [3]
Fifty Scottish Dances [3]
Skillern's Compleat Collection of Two Hundred & four Reels and Country Dances
Collins Little Books: Scottish Dance [146]
Scottish Country Dances in Diagrams. Ed. 9 [16] (diagram only)
Scottish Country Dances in Diagrams. Ed. 8 [16] (diagram only)
Scottish Country Dances in Diagrams. Ed. 7 [12] (diagram only)
Scottish Country Dances in Diagrams. Ed. 6 [12] (diagram only)

Recommended Music

Extra Info: The Society’s version of this dance can be traced back to Skillern’s Compleat Collection of Two Hundred & four Reels …

The Society’s version of this dance can be traced back to Skillern’s Compleat Collection of Two Hundred & four Reels and Country Dances of about 1789 where it is given as Birks of Endermay.

The Birks of Invermay

The smiling morn, the breathing spring,
Invite to tuneful birds to sing;
And while they warble from each spray,
Love melts the universal lay.
Let us, Amanda, timely wise,
Like them improve the hour that flies,
And in soft raptures waste the day
Among the birks of Invermay.

For soon the winter of the year,
And age, life’s winter will appear;
At this, thy living bloom will fade,
As that will strip the verdent shade;
Our taste of pleasure then is o’er;
The feathered songsters love no more;
And when they droop, and we decay,
Adieu the birks of Invermay.
– David Mallet (1705–1765)

About eight miles southwest of the city of Perth, in lovely Strathearn, is the village of Forteviot. It is here that the Water of May tumbles down from the Ochil Hills to meet the River Earn. Not far from the village stands a sign pointing to “The Birks of Invermay”, a park of birches in the low-lying land about the Water of May. Beside the river are the ruins of the original Invermay Castle, the setting of Sir Walter Scott’s novel, Redgauntlet. Over the entry to the castle are the arms of the Drummonds, the original stewards of Strathearn. The House of Invermay was the home of the Belshes.

David Mallet, who wrote the song, was the son of a Perthshire farmer named Malloch. In 1720 he entered Edinburgh University, where he became a friend of James Thomson, who later wrote The Seasons. Caught up in the furore for pastoral verse, he had several poems printed in The Edinburgh Miscellany and in 1723 he wrote the ballad “Wlliam and Margaret” which was published in the Tea Table Miscellany. With his new-found fame, he changed his name from Malloch to Mallet or Malet. For several years he was tutor to the sons of James Graham, 1st Duke of Montrose. In 1740, then in London, he collaborated with James Thomson in writing Alfred, A Masque, which contained the famous “Rule Britannia”. The music for Alfred was written by Dr Thomas Augustine Arne. Mallet became secretary to Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, and in 1760, just four years before Mallet died, he received a sinecure from John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, later Prime Minister.

From “Scotland Dances”, by Eugenia (Jeannie) Callander Sharp (Used by permission.)

Name	Artist	Album	Media	Trk	Type	Time	Pace
The Birks of Invermay	Terpsichore	Terpsichore, Scottish Dance Music	CD+	10	S32 8	8:17	62.1
The Birks of Invermay	Bobby Crowe and his Scottish Dance Band	Scottish Dance Favourites Volume 1	CD	9	S32 8	8:30	63.8
The Birks of Invermay	Bobby Crowe and his Scottish Dance Band	Book 16. Music for Twelve Scottish Country Dances	CD+	2	S32 8	8:30	63.8
The Birks of Invermay	Jimmy Shand and his Band	Scottish Country Dances in Strict Tempo (No. 2)	LP	2	S32 8	0:00	0.0
The Birks of Invermay	Bobby Frew Four	Memory Lane	CD+	3	S32 8	8:39	64.9
The Birks of Invermay	Andrew Rankine and his Band	London Highland Club Diamond Jubilee	LP+	8	S32 8	7:54	59.2
The Birks of Invermay	Jimmy Shand and his Band	My Scotland	LP	3	S32 4	0:00	0.0
The Birks of Invermay	Adam Rennie and his SCD Quartet	Village Hall to Royal Ball	MC	9	S32 3	3:12	64.0
The Birks of Invermay	Robert H Mackay	Fifteen Dances, Part Two	MC	8	S32 8	0:00	0.0
The Birks of Invermay	Jim Cameron and his Scottish Dance Band	Jim Cameron's Scottish Dance Band Vol 3	CD	17	S32 3	2:51	57.0
Birks of Invermay	Craigievar Scottish Dance Band	Highlander Music Scottish Dances Vol 14	CD	15	S32 8	8:07	60.9
The Birks of Invermay	Pinewoods 2010 Musicians	Live From C Sharp	CD	6	S32 8	8:16	62.0
The Birks of Invermay	Luke Brady's Scottish Dance Band	Take Your Partners For … Vol. 5	CD	3	S32 8	8:17	62.1
The Birks of Invermay	Alasdair Fraser & Muriel Johnstone	Just As It Was 2	CD	5	S32 8	8:52	66.5

The Birks of Invermay 3/4L · S32

1–: 1M+2W turn BH ; 1W+2M turn BH {3} to places, [on 8] 1c+2c+3c dance in
9–: 1c+2c+3c Promenade
17–: 1c cross RH, cast ; lead up, cross and cast (2c up)
25–: 2c+1c+3c Circle6 and back

E-cribs

The Birks of Invermay 3/4L · S32

1-8: 1M+2L turn 2H, 1L+2M turn 2H (3 bars) &1s+2s+3s dance in for…
9-16: 1s+2s+3s Promenade
17-24: 1s cross RH, cast to 2nd place, cross up between 2s & cast to 2nd place (2s move up on bars 23-24)
25-32: 2s+1s+3s circle 6H round & back

MiniCribs

Keith Rose's Diagrams

Combined View

Watch on YouTube