The Drama of Hamilton House

There is Scottish Country Dancing, and then there is ceilidh dancing. Scottish Country Dancing, which derived from 17th century English country dances and older Highland dances, is beautiful and complicated. Quite a lot of thought went into creating English and Scottish country dances, and it takes a lot of thought and practice to do them correctly.

Ceilidh dancing involves simplified versions of Scottish country dances. These versions are so simple they can be explained in a few minutes, given a run-through, and then left to the tender mercies of the galloping company with only a caller to keep some semblance of order.

I would love to become a Scottish Country Dancing expert, but for the time being I am merely a wistful apprentice of ceilidh. Although improving, I am a bear of very little dancing brain.

One of the more difficult Scottish country dances–for me, at least–is Hamilton House. Hamilton House will end the first hour of dancing at Saturday’s Michaelmas Dance, and the Mrs McLean’s Waltzing Party regulars were given an introduction to it earlier this month. We divided into two groups, and those of the other group “got it”. My group did not, and I certainly shared in the confusion.

I decided, therefore, to have a look at Hamilton House on the London Reels society’s YouTube page. While watching the figures in some dismay, I recalled that my brain thinks in stories. I therefore dubbed the female dancers Anne, Babs, Cath, and Dot, and the male dancers Alex, Bob, Chaz, and Dave.

Hamilton House is called “the flirting dance”, and that gave me the inspiration for telling myself the story of its figures.

In short, the eight friends are all at a dance at Hamilton House. There are four parts to their story, one for each couple, with two chapters each.

HAMILTON HOUSE

PART ONE: “Anne and Alex”

Chapter One

Anne begins Chapter One by snubbing Alex and flirting (setting) with Bob and then abandoning Bob at once to dance (turn) with Chaz.

Seeing this, Alex then flirts (setts) with Babs briefly before abandoning her to dance (turn) with Cath. Anne, meanwhile, goes behind the backs of both Chaz and Bob to stands between Babs and Bob, breaking them up.

To teach Anne a lesson, Alex stands between Cath and Chaz, breaking them up.

The two lines of three then join hands and sett (skip) to their left, then to the right, then to their left again, and then to the right, like bees commenting on all this relationship drama.

Then Alex seems to reconcile with Anne by grasping her hands and turning her around, but–NO! He dumps her between Chaz and Bob, as if telling her to take her pick, and backs up between Cath and Babs.

The two new lines of three join hands and sett to their left, then to their right, and then to the left, and finally to the right again, buzz, buzz, buzz.

But then Alex really does reconcile with Anne by grasping her hands, turning her in a circle, and putting her back with the girls, this time between Babs and Cath. He stands across from her between Bob and Chaz, and then all six of them join hands and skip in a circle, clockwise for the count of eight, and then counter-clockwise for another eight.

Dot and Dave have been watching all this disapprovingly from the kitchen. Nevertheless, they will get dragged into the drama in Chapter Two.

Chapter Two

Babs and Bob have had enough of the drama, and refuse to take part in this chapter. They stand watching in the hall. Intrigued, Dot and Dave come out of the kitchen.

That fickle Anne now turns her sights onto both Chaz and Dave. First she snubs poor Alex to flirt with Chaz and then she dances with Dave. In retaliation, Alex flirts with Cath and dances with Dot.

Anne, naturally, goes behind the backs of Dave and Chaz to stand between Cath and Chaz, breaking them up. Alex, for his part, stands between Dot and Dave, causing their rift.

And then the two lines of three join hands and do their sett to the left, sett to the right, sett to the left, sett to the right routine.

Again Alex pretends to reconcile with Anne by seizing her hands, turning her around, and abandoning her between Dave and Chaz. He then backs up between Dot and Cath, so as to have a girl on both arms.

The two new lines of three join hands and do their dramatic Lovers’ Triangle bee dance.

But then once again Alex does really forgive Anne. He seizes her hands, turns her around, and leaves her between Dot and Cath. He stands across from her between Dave and Chaz, and then all six hold hands and do a circle dance of reconciliation.

One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six! Seven! Eight!

Oth-er di-rec-tion! Six! Seven! Eight!

And then Anne and Alex retire to the kitchen (that is, to the left of Dot and right of Dave), Babs snubs Bob, and it’s time for:

PART TWO: “Babs and Bob”

The whole story unfolds again, just as it happened before, only in Chapter One Babs flirts with Chaz, dances with Dave, and in revenge Bob flirts with Cath and dances with Dot. They are literally in the same position Anne and Alex were in PART ONE, Chapter One.

In PART TWO, Chapter Two, Cath and Chaz have retreated into the hall in disgust, and Anne and Alex have come out of the kitchen. Babs flirts with Dave, and dances with Alex, whereas Bob flirts with Dot but dances with Anne.

Having read all that, you may now see the drama in dance form as presented by London Reels:

I hope this helps you dance Hamilton House, and I certain hope it helps me!

To buy tickets for the Eastertide Dance 2025, please contact me at info@tradcathsocialdancing.co.uk.