Dance The Selkie Fowk 20361
Also known as “The Seal People” (translation).
Reel · 32 bars · 3 couples · Longwise - 4 (Progression: 213)
- Devised by
- Deirdre MacCuish Bark (2021)
- Intensity
- 880/844/866/888 = 59% (whole dance)
- Formations
-
- Rights and Lefts (R&L)
- Set in line in twos (SETLIN;2P;)
- Turn Partner and Corners (PCPC)
- Reel of three - across (REEL;ACROSS;R3;)
- Hands round - 6 - L or R (HR;6P)
- Steps
-
- Pas-de-Basque, Skip-Change, Slip-Step
- Recommended Music
- Extra Info
- Along the north and west coasts and islands of Scotland there are many stories and songs telling of the Selkies, …
Along the north and west coasts and islands of Scotland there are many stories and songs telling of the Selkies, (the seal people) who are reputed to be able to shape change from seals into humans. They mix and marry into the local communities but almost always the lure of the sea is too much and they return to their sea homes in the shape of seals.
Fowk is the Scottish variant of Folk, especially in Orkney: the word is also to be found in the Yorkshire dictionary of 1887. The last 8 bars shows the sea waves swirling in & pulling the Selkies back into the sea.
Bars 9–16 are based on the movement ‘Swing Corners,’ from Thomas Wilson’s 1811 Manual, “Analysis of Country Dancing”.
The Selkie Fowk 3/4L · R32
- 1–
- 1c+2c 6 bars of R&L | 2c+1c set (2,1,3)
- 9–
- Swing Corners : 1c turn P RH and face 1cnrs | turn 1cnrs LH and face P ; turn P RH and face 2cnrs | turn 2cnrs LH ¾ into lines3 across, 1c facing 3cnrs
- 17–
- Reels3 across {6}, 1c RSh to 3cnrs | 1c turn P RH ¾ to 2pl (2,1,3)
- 25–
- Circle and Swirl : Circle6 L ; on [29] all dance to centre bringing arms up, pivot R and chase clw to places (2,1,3)
