Todlen Hame ~ RSCDS

Todlen Hame ~ RSCDS is a Scottish Country Dance. It was devised by Thomas Wilson in 1816 and published in A Companion to the Ball Room. It was interpreted by RSCDS in 1951 and published in RSCDS Book 16. It is J8×32 3C/4C, a proper Triple Minor dance. J32.

Wilson writes (page 46):

SINGLE FIGURE 1^st. strain played straight thro 2^d. repeated
Hey on your own sides
swing with right hands round 2^d. Cu: then with left
OR THUS Cross over one Cu: half figure round the 3^d. Cu: & lead outsides

DOUBLE FIGURE Tune played twice thro as marked
Whole figure at top Chain figure 6 round lead down the middle up again & right & left with top Cu: & lead through the bottom & top

The music is an eight bar strain and a four bar strain. In the double figure (which is what the RSCDS uses) these should be played ABBABB.

Wilson defines most of his figures in his An Analysis of Country Dancing, 3rd Edition.

Whole figure at the top may be found on page 39. The active lady starts and crosses down, looping around the man below her then she again cross between the couple below, looping around the woman below and casts up to her own place. The active man starts a little after her and mirrors her motions, looping the woman below and then the man below.
Chain figure of six may be found on page 78. The top couple face their partner, as the others face their neighbor then everyone does rights and lefts until they return to where they started. Wilson does not specify how to fit the 6 changes into 8 bars of music.
Lead down the middle, up again may be found on page 7. The top couple meet and join hands, then lead down to between the 3s, and lead back to 2nd place as the 2s move up. This usually takes 4 bars.
right and left may be found on page 46-49. It does not mean what I expect, instead: 2nd corners change by left shoulders, 1st corners right, 2nd corners change back by left, 1st corners by right. And all of this in four bars
Wilson does not seem to define lead through the bottom & top but it seems self-explanatory.

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: set, cast, hey, rights and lefts, grand chain (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=TodlenHame-RSCDS

The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. The interpretation is copyright © 1951 by RSCDS. My visualization of this dance is copyright © 2024 by George W. Williams V and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.