Video of "Patterns' Pleasures" dance

[donwfbell]

Patterns' Pleasures (2025)

by Chris Sackett 

tune by Shira Kammen

For Terry & Mary Gaffney

Musicians: 

Rachel Bell (accordion), Eric Martin (fiddle)

Danced at Ampleforth, Pinewoods English Week August 2025.

This dance is unusual in that it incorporates a Scottish dancing figure (Schiehallion reel/(hey) into an English country dance. The Schiehallion hey is a complex figure typically performed by four couples in a square set. 

Origin: 

The figure takes its name from the dance Schiehallion (a medley), which was devised by Hugh Thurston. He named it after the mountain Schiehallion, noted for its mathematical symmetry

Movement: 

Dancers execute 4 loops around the square in a counterclockwise direction returning to their original positions.

How the Dance Came About: 

Terry Gaffney had the high bid on a tune by Shira Kammen and a dance by Chris Sackett at a dance camp. Terry asked for a mixer. Chris chose a square format to accommodate the mixer request. Chris thought Shira’s tune might support a Schiehallion reel (hey) well. The Schiehallion figure comes out of the Scottish tradition and allows all eight dancers in the square to be active at once. From there, the rest of dance formed around that figure.

Warning: If you don't get the timing for the crossing in the middle just right, it could resemble a double figure 8 car crash demolition derby.

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