The Bonniest Lass in all the World is a Scottish Country Dance. It was published by Thompson in about 1757 in Thompson's Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, Vol I. It was interpreted by RSCDS in 1947 and published in RSCDS Book 14. It is S8×40 3C/4C, a proper Triple Minor dance. St40.
Thompson writes:
The 1st. Cu. Foot it and turn then Foot it sides and turn then lead down two Cu. cast up one and Foot it and Right hands and Left at top The 1st. Man hands 3 round with the 3rd. Cu. and the 1st. Wo. hands 3 round with the 2nd. Cu. then the Man hands round with the 2nd. Cu. and the Wo. with the 3rd. Cu. lead out sides and turn
There seems to be some doubt as to the turns in the first 8 bars, some sources say they are right hand turns, some say both hand turns.
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.
An online description of the dance may be found here.
The dance contains the following figures: hand turn (allemande), set, circle, cast, lead, rights and lefts, lead and cast, lead out through the sides (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=TheBonniestLassInAllTheWorld-RSCDS
The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. The interpretation is copyright © 1947 by RSCDS. 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
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.