In  memory  of  <</dd/person/531/|Bob Grant>>,  1935-2021.  Bob  was  a  renowned  teacher  in  Edinburgh,  travelling around  the  world  to  teach,  and  was  also  my mentor for the final  part  of  my  Teacher’s  Certificate. Muriel’s  tune  “Bob  Grant  of  Edinburgh”  was  played  during  his  funeral,  and  I  felt  he  needed  to be  honoured  with  a  dance  to  match.  

The  set,  hands  across  and  twiddle  on  bars  3-6  evokes  the  set,  turn  and  twiddle  at  the  start  of Bob’s  dance  “Dancing  Forth”.  

When  I  first  learned  the  strathspey  poussette,  I  was  taught  it  in  the  symmetric  way  described here,  and  I  still  prefer  it  this  way.    Bob  Grant  wrote  an  article  for  RSCDS  magazine  Scottish Country  Dancer  (issue  13,  October  2011)  about  the  strathspey  poussette,  describing  how  in books  19  and  20  it  was  originally  described  symmetrically  and  only  later  was  the  standard changed  to  the  current  recommendation  with  1st  couple  nearer  the  men’s  side  and  2nd  couple nearer  the  women’s  side  at  the  end  of  bar  one.  

Bob  received  a  lot  of  comment  from  other  dancers  wishing  for  the  return  of  the  symmetric poussette.    In  this  dance,  the  strathspey  poussette  should  be  danced  the  way  I  first  learned  it  and the  way  Bob  advocated.