Bonny Lass of Aberdeen

Bonny Lass of Aberdeen is an American Country Dance. It was devised by Asa Willcox in 1793 and published in Asa Willcox's Book of Figures. It was interpreted by James E. Morrison in 1976 and published in Twenty Four Early American Country Dances, Cotillions & Reels for the Year 1976. It is a proper Triple Minor dance. The minor set lasts 32 bars.

Willcox writes:

Cast off two couple cross over cast up one couple set 3 & 3 at sides turn partners half round set 3 & 3 at top and bottom Gentm turns third Lady his partner second Gentm turns second Lady his partner third Gentm then turns your partner into her place.

See also Smukler & Millstone's Market Lass, and Stockbridge's Bonny Lass.

Bonny Kate of Aberdeen uses the same tune but a different figure.

The animation plays at 120 counts per minute normally, but the first time through the set the dance will often be slowed down so people can learn the moves more readily. Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color, however the border of each dancer indicates what role they currently play so the border color may change each time through the minor set.

The dance contains the following figures: hand turn (allemande), set, cast, lead, cross go below (and probably others).

If you find what you believe to be a mistake in this animation, please leave a comment on youtube explaining what you believe to be wrong. If I agree with you I shall do my best to fix it.

If you wish to link to this animation please see my comments on the perils of youtube. You may freely link to this page, of course, and that should have no problems, but use one of my redirects when linking to the youtube video itself:
https://www.upadouble.info/redirect.php?id=BonnyLassOfAberdeen

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The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. The interpretation is copyright © 1976 by James E. Morrison. My visualization of this dance is copyright © 2023 by George W. Williams V and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

This website is copyright © 2021,2022,2023,2024 by George W. Williams V
Creative Commons License My work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Most of the dances have more restrictive licensing, see my notes on copyright, the individual dance pages should mention when some rights are waived.