Table of Contents

B

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Bellamira Bellamira ~ Bolton Henry Playford 1689 Charles Bolton 1985 Bare Necessities Duple Minor Bellamira ~ Hume Henry Playford 1689 Colin Hume 1995 Bare Necessities Duple Minor Bellamira ~ Kennedy Henry Playford 1689 Douglas & Helen Kennedy 1929 Playford Assembly Bare Necessities Duple Minor

E

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Ecclefechan Feline		Bob McMurtry ~2006		Triple Minor

F

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Flowers of Edinburgh - Mayfaire		Traditional (date unknown)	Colin Hume	Duple Minor

K

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Kensington Court		Henry Playford 1695 Charles Bolton 1985		Duple Minor

L

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Land of Mist and Wonder		Gary Roodman 2018	Cilantrio	4 Couple Longways permutation: 3142

P

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Prince George's Birthday		John Young 1710 Fried de Metz Herman 1990	Bare Necessities	Duple Minor

R

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Rennie's Rant		Anne Clark 2016		Triple Minor
Round About Our Coal Fire		Richard Bride 1766 Tom Cook 1987 Playford Assembly	Bare Necessities	Duple Minor

Warning: The figures for each dance is generated programmatically by regular expression matching and may be in error. Also, for old dances, they reflect the figures used by the interpreter which may not match those of the deviser.

Down the Middle and Back

Also known as: Lead Down the Middle and Back.

Bars: 4,8.

The active couple joins hands. In English usually inside hands, in Scottish usually right hands in right, and leads down. After 4 bars they turn and lead up to places.

Variants

Often this is part of "lead down the middle and back and cast off". The timing of this is handled slightly differently in Scottish than in English. English dancers will generally lead down sedately for 4 bars, then skip up more quickly in two bars, and cast off in two, while Scottish dancers will lead down for 3 bars, lead back up for 3 bars (at the same pace) and cast off.

History

The earliest dance I can find that uses this figure is Playford's Black Jack from 1670: The 1. cu. leads down the middle and back again.

Playford was more likely to have the 1s lead down and cast around the 2s and return to place, rather than just leading down and back.

During the 18^th century the simple lead down and back became more common while the lead and cast back faded.

See Also

• Down the Outside and Back

This website is copyright © 2021-2026 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.