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Dance The Bob o' Dowally 608

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

Devised by
Unknown (1760)
Intensity
440 448 808 880 = 58% (1 turn), 44% (whole dance)
Formations
Steps
  • Strathspey setting, Strathspey travel
Published in
Recommended Music
Extra Info
The Bob o' Dowally

Dowally is a small Perthshire village nestling among the hills and woods about four miles north of the cathedral town of Dunkeld. On the east side of General George Wade’s road into the Highlands, it faces on the west the rushing, racing River Tay.

According to Chambers’ Scots Dictionary, the word “bob” means, among a number of other things, “a dance”. Thus, there is “The Bob o’ Dowally“, “The Bob of Fettercairn”, “The New Bob” in Niel Gow’s First Repository, “Brisk Bob” by Duncan Macintyre and, last and most famous, the old song “The Bob of Dunblane”.

Come, lassie, lend me your braw hemp heckle,
  An’ I’ll lend you my thripling kame;
For fainness, deary, I’ll gar ye keckle,
  If ye’ll gae dance the Bob o’ Dunblane.

Haste ye gang to the ground o’ yer trunkies,
  Busk ye braw an’ dinna think shame:
Consider in time, if leading of monkies
  Be better than dancing the Bob o’ Dunblane.

Be frank, my lassie, lest I grow fickle,
  An’ take my word an’ offer again.
Syne ye may chance to repent it micke,
  Ye didnae accept o’ the Bob o’ Dunblane.

The dinner, the piper and priest sall be ready,
  An’ I’m grown dowy wi’ lying my lane;
Away then, leave baith minny an’ daddy,
  An’ try wi’ me the Bob o’ Dunblane.
– Anonymous

This old folk song was used by Robert Burs as the basis for his song:

Lassie, lend me your braw hemp heckle,
  And I’ll lend you my thrippling kame;
My heckle is broken, it canna be gotten,
  And we’ll gae dance the Bob o’ Dunblane.

Twa gaed to the wood, to the wood, to the wood,
  Twa gaed to the wood – three cam hame;
An it be na weel bobbit, weel bobbit, weel bobbit,
  An it be na weel bobbit, we’ll bob it again.

Far mor bawdy than the original and full of double, and even triple, meanings, Burns’ nonsensical ditty is far inferior to the original. Hence, poet and song writer Robert Tannahill (1774–1810) and Robert A. Smith, editor of The Scottish Minstrel, wrote a more polite version called “Jessie the Flower of Dunblane”. The Dunblane referred to is Dunblane, a market town in Perthshire very near Stirling.

The Bob o' Dowally 3/4L · S32
1–
1c cast off 2 places (2c+3c up) | turn BH ; 2c cast off 2 places (3c+1c up) | turn BH (3,1,2)
9–
All set | turn P BH ; 3c cast off 2 places (long cast) (1c+2c up) (1,2,3)
17–
1c+3c circle4 L, 1c moving down to meet 3c ; 1c dance up | cast to 2pl (2c up)
25–
2c+1c R&L
The Bob o' Dowally 3/4L · S32
1-8
1s cast 2 places & turn 2H (2s+3s step up 1-2); 2s cast 2 places & turn 2H (3s+1s step up 5-6)
9-16
3s+1s+2s set & turn partners 2H; 3s cast to original places (1s+2s step up 15-16)
17-24
1s+3s circle 4H round to left (1s move down to meet 3s); 1s end in middle, between 2s, facing up, dance up & cast to 2nd place (2s step up 23-24)
25-32
2s+1s dance R&L. 2 1 3

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NameDateOwnerLast changed
David Wasson, Third Sunday Book 1 Workshop David Wasson March 7, 2021, 3:25 a.m.
Third Sunday Book 1 Workshop 2021-03-21 Karen Sollins Feb. 28, 2021, 6:40 p.m.
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Jena 02.01.2023 2023-01-02 Kathrin Kraume Jan. 2, 2023, 4:57 p.m.
Pinewoods 2023 Session 1 2023-07-07 Karen Sollins June 17, 2023, 10:14 p.m.
Jena 09.01.2023 2023-01-09 Kathrin Kraume Jan. 8, 2023, 4:41 p.m.
20211117 Fairlee Class 2021-11-17 Dawn Hathaway Nov. 16, 2021, 2:09 a.m.
RSCDS Book 02 Martina Mueller-Franz June 8, 2016, 2:20 p.m.
RSCDS Book 2 Ward Fleri Dec. 2, 2020, 2:43 a.m.
Only 1 Common Figure (Easy) Ruth Clarke Sept. 16, 2015, 2:22 p.m.
RSCDS Beginners Framework 2B Rachel Pusey Aug. 11, 2019, 10:43 p.m.
RSCDS Core Repertoire 2016: Basic Anselm Lingnau Sept. 26, 2023, 3:34 p.m.

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IdSubjectDateSubmitterAssigned toPriorityDisposition
3208 incorrect recording referenced July 31, 2023, 1:55 a.m. Bruce Herbold Anselm Lingnau Normal Being handled
30 Error in the diagram Feb. 25, 2012, 1:43 a.m. Eric Ferguson Keith Rose Normal Fixed