Trip to Skye – English country dance
This longways English country dance, “Trip to Skye,” is written to and named after the 1985 tune by John Whelan. Thanks to John for his permission to use this beautiful tune. It’s performed in the video by Dána (edited to a danceable version by me), which is available on YouTube or to purchase at Apple Music and Amazon. I started writing the dance in April 2023, and finished it in January 2024.
Some of you might remember this tune, Trip to Skye. It’s an old one from 1985 that’s great for cross-step waltz, as students of Richard Powers will recall — so of course I couldn’t help but to build some cross-step footwork into this choreography. 🙂 I’m so delighted I was able to get permission to use the tune from the lovely John Whelan. Thanks John!
This dance and Steppy Downs came together side by side, and each took several months to develop. They both feel a bit similar to me, which isn’t great — but hopefully they’re different enough, especially when not compared to each other, that people will enjoy both of them. Skye also has a similar A section to Little Grey Cat. What can I say, I like that figure. 🙂
I wrote Skye’s first draft in April of 2023, and tested it with the original recording by John Whelan (the composer) and Eileen Ivers. My dancers did not like the tune, saying it didn’t feel like an ECD tune to them. That was disheartening, but I believed in the tune, so I let the dance rest a while. When the opportunity to test it during the choreography class at Pinewoods English Week came up, I grabbed it. The incomparable Anna Patton played the tune on clarinet for class — which included at least two of the people who had tested it in April. They liked the tune much better this time around, totally assuaging any fears I had about it. Hooray!
So I set out to find different recordings for practices, and landed on the beautiful one in the video above, by Dána. After revising the dance in September and November 2023 with a couple of different endings, I tested it again, and sent it to friends outside my community for other opinions. My friend Rachel Pusey called it in Seattle and said they liked it, though the ending still wasn’t quite working. A1 and 2 and B1 have pretty much stayed the same since the first draft, but I couldn’t figure out a satisfying B2. I finally landed on the ending on January 13, 2024 (same day as Steppy Downs), and got a clean video of it on January 16 at the Dance Kitchen.
Trip to Skye
An English Country Dance by Renée Camus
© April 4, 2023
Final instructions: January 13, 2024
Tune: Trip to Skye, by John Whelan, 1985
Duple-minor longways
Easy-Intermediate
AABB
B-minor
3/4 (quarter = ~122)
| A1 | 1-4 | Circle L halfway (2mm), then cast back over L shoulder one place (2mm). |
| 5-8 | Neighbors L-shoulder once round (across the set). | |
| A2 | 1-4 | Circle R halfway (2mm), then cast back over R shoulder one place (2mm). |
| 5-8 | Partners R-shoulder once round (across the set; end at home). | |
| B1 | 1-4 | Take hands four and balance the ring with a crossover setting step, then balance in and out, turning the ring left halfway round. |
| 5-8 | Repeat B1 1-4 back to home. | |
| B2 | 1-4 | Neighbors set and link (keeping hands): Set facing partner across, then change places with neighbor while turning over R shoulder. |
| 5-8 | Partners balance forward and back (with hands), then 2-hand turn once round. |
Teaching notes:
- This dance uses a crossover setting step similar to (the West Coast interpretation of) Irish Lamentation. It’s the cross-step waltz basic: Dancers start by crossing their right foot over their left. Starting the whole dance with the R foot may help.
- It’s nice to have a lot of space for this dance, both up and down the set and across.
See more of my English country dance choreographies.