Abbreviations used in MiniCrib and Eric Ferguson's Cribs

Key to Text Cribs

MiniCrib

MiniCribs from Charles Upton and the MiniCrib Team are the cribs you’ll most frequently

see.

Please see http://www.minicrib.org.uk/ about MiniCrib and how to produce your own crib

sheets using it. They are regularly updated with the latest dances and corrections. Choose the

‘Macro enabled ADVANCED database’ version if you have Word 2000 or later.

This is a typical example

MAIRI'S WEDDING (R8x40) 3C (4C set) Cosh 22 SCDs

1- 8 1s turn RH & cast to 2

place, 1s turn LH to face 1

corners

9-16 1s dance 1/2 diagonal reel of 4 with 1

corners, 1s dance 1/2 diagonal reel with 2

corners

17-24 1s dance 1/2 diagonal reel with 3

corner (pstns), 1/2 diagonal reel with 4

corner (pstns)

25-32 1s dance reel of 3 across (Lady with 2s, Man with 3s - LSh to 1

corner)

33-40 2s+1s+3s circle 6H round & back

The heading line contains the dance name, the type of the music and how many times it is

repeated, the number of couples and shape of the set for the dance, the name of the devisor

and where it was published. Here the dance is Mairi’s Wedding. The music is for a Reel,of 8

times 40 bars. The dance is for 4 couples in a longwise set with 3 couples dancing each time

through. Longwise is assumed for set – it could also be Sq.Set for a Square of 4 couples for

instance. The dance was devised by James B. Cosh and appeared in “Twenty-Two Scottish

Country Dances”. Well actually it appeared in a much earlier “Six Scottish Country Dances”

by him but let’s not get into that!

This key to MiniCrib can be seen by entering ZZ for the dance and is shown below.

Many dance figures are described in MiniCrib and a list can be seen by ZZ when selecting a

dance, for instance “ZZ Rondel” outputs a description of the Rondel.

ZZ ABBRIEVIATIONS

? indicates optional action

Adv+Ret advance and retire

B’tw’n between

BtoB back to back (couple with backs to each other)

cnr corner

Fig(s) of 8 Figure(s) of Eight

Diamond Poussette Strathspey poussette (sometimes called all round poussette)

Double Fig of 8 Double Figure of Eight

diag Diagonal

J8x40 40 bar Jig danced 8 times

L Lady

LH left hand

LSh left shoulder

M Man

NHJ Nearer hands joined

opp opposite

PdB pas de basque

prtnr partner

pstn position

Reflection Reel Mirror Reel

R5x48 48 bar Reel danced 5 times

R&L Rights & Lefts

RH right hand

RSh right shoulder

S3x32 32 bar Strathspey danced 3 times

RH across Right Hands Across

LH across Left Hands Across

2H Both Hands

Twirl Turn Right (or Left) about - pull back RSh (or LSh) rotating to face opposite direction

Tandem Reel Couple (one behind the other) dance a reel in Tandem with the same person leading

Alternating Tandem Reel Couple (one behind the other) dance a reel in Tandem with the leading person

alternating

ZZ CORNERS

Corners are numbered anticlockwise thus 3

corner is partner’s 1

corner & 4

corner is Partner’s 2

corner

Cribs by Eric Ferguson

This is from http://my.strathspey.org/u/anselm/stories/etf-cribs/, Many of the cribs on the

Strathspey Server at http://my.strathspey.org/dd/index/ are by Eric Ferguson and they will

appear in cribs on the web.

They differ most obviously from MiniCrib in using 1C instead of 1s for the first couple and

1W for first woman instead of 1L for the first lady.

Here is Eric Ferguson’s crib for Mairi’s Wedding

Mairi's Wedding 3/4L · R40

1– 1c turn RH | cast (2c up) ; turn LH to face 1cnrs

9– 1c ½Reel4 with 1cnrs (pass P Lsh) ; Repeat with 2cnrs

17– Repeat with 3cnrs (1cnr person) ; Repeat with 4cnrs (2cnr person)

25– 1W+2c & 1M+3c Reels3 across, Lsh to 1cnr

33– 2c+1c+3c circle6 and back

Note: Cosh explicitly tells 1c to pass Lsh in [9-24]; however the Rsh pass is quite common,

and nicknamed »Mairi's Divorce«.

Abbreviations

Some abbreviations that are not immediately evident have been highlighted in bold below.

Abbreviations may change between versions. I welcome suggestions for improving the system of

abbreviations.

½ Half

1- (etc) Bar numbering. If no second bar number is shown, it is an 8-

bar section

| separates 2-bar sections (but many older cribs still use a “,”)

; separates 4-bar sections.

or {n} duration = that number of bars

1C, 2C, 3C, 4C, 5C, … 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th , 5th .. couples

1M, 2W 1st man, 2nd lady/woman, (As the RSCDS uses Woman, we

use W; L always means Left).

1M(1W) instruction down(up)

shorthand for 1M instruction down while 1W instruction up

(used for »meanwhile« figures)

1pl, 2pl, … 1st, 2nd, … place.

1plx, 2plx, …. 1st, 2nd, … place on opposite side

1cnr, 2cnr 1st, 2nd, corner »person« or »position« is added when needed.

3cnr, 4cnr Partner's 1st, 2nd corner

All All those dancing, not all those in the set

P Partner

R Right

L Left

RSh, LSh right and left shoulders

clw, cclw clockwise, counterclockwise = anticlockwise

LH, RH, NH, BH Left, Right, Nearer and Both Hands

easy hand, EH the evidently most convenient hand

LHJ, RHJ, NHJ, BHJ Left, Right, Nearer and Both Hands Joined

lead vs dance Strictly, »lead« means RHJ, »dance« NHJ. older RSCDS texts

use »lead« for both; the correct formation is sometimes in

doubt. Some cribs still have this ambiguity.

(2C up) 2C step up

(2,3,4,1) or (to 2,3,4,1) (etc) indicates the order of couples in the set at that point.

(2x,3x,4,1) x indicates couples on opposite sides

BtoB Back to Back as a position

dance BtoB Dance Back to Back (the figure)

BiL Balance in Line (i.e. setting in line; dancers facing alternate

ways)

Circle_n_ (n=3,4,6,8,etc) n hands round ; always starts to the left unless specified

otherwise

A&R advance and retire

Turn CPCP turn 1st corner RH, Partner LH, 2nd corner RH, Partner LH

RHA, LHA right hands across, left hands across

R&L Rights and Lefts.

Diagonal R&L (1C change places RH with 1cnr positions, LH on sides, RH

with 4cnr positions, LH on sides)

S&Link Set and Link (for two or three)

H.Schottische Highland Schottische (setting step, poussette)

DTr Double Triangles

DDTr Double Double Triangles (in a 5C set, above and below)

Set »H&G« Set to Corners and Partner

Reel3 (Reel4) Reel of three, (of four) (only one reel)

Reels3 (Reels4) Reels of three, (of four) (two or more reels at the same time)

(not yet put into all the cribs)

Reel3{6} 6-bar reel of 3 (only one reel)

Reels3{6} 6-bar reels of 3 (two or more reels at the same time) (not yet

put into all the cribs)

Fig8 Figure of eight

DblFig8 Double figure of 8

Gr-Chain Grand Chain

La-Chain Ladies’ Chain

M-Chain Men’s Chain

Teapots 4-bar figure: 1M&1W, each with two others, dance Hands

Across (R, L or Mirror)

PdB Pas de Basque

promhold promenade hold

(Comments on the crib or the dance are added when needed as a final line.)

Most cribs are arranged in 8-bar phrases. That makes it much easier to ‘see’ and remember

each 8-bar phrase as a ‘chunk’ of information. The signs ‘ | ; | ’ subdivide the phrase, where

necessary, into 2-bar bits.

The sign is used ‘+’for those dancing a figure together, and ’&’ or ‘and’ when two

individuals/groups/pairs/dance the same figure simultaneously (eg: 1C+2C & 3C+4C RHA).

Not all cribs follow this convention yet.

MAXICRIB

These cribs by Reuben Freemantle appear in the Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary at

http://www.scottish-country-dancing-dictionary.com/ . Please see

http://www.scottish-country-dancing-dictionary.com/dance-cribs.html for a short description

of them and other cribs.

Other Lists of Abbreviations

http://www.richmondscottishcountrydancers.org/cheat-sheet-abbreviations.html from the

Richmond VA Scottish Country Dancers.

http://www.strathspey.org/hints/kwsProgram.html Codes for Figures adapted from the

Country Dance Index by Keith H Napier.

http://www.derboy.webspace.virginmedia.com/netherlee07/page8.ht Netherlee Scottish

Country Dance Club crib sheet abbreviations.