Dashing White Sergeant

The tradition & historical record

The Dashing White Sergeant is a Scottish country dance, performed to a similarly titled piece of music. The dance is in 44 time, thus it is in the form of a reel. The dance is performed by groups of six dancers and is progressive. ¹

The title comes from the original lyrics, traditionally attributed to the 18th century General, John Burgoyne. It was set to music by the English composer, Sir Henry Rowley Bishop in 1826. The song was to be part of one of Bishop's operas, but there is no evidence it was ever incorporated into one. It was adapted into a military march and was the regimental march of the Royal Berkshire Regiment. It quickly became very popular in the United States both as a song and a dance tune, and was added to the repertoire of the West Point Military Academy, where it is still played today at certain events. It has been suggested that it was the inspiration for "I Wish I Was in Dixie", as the opening bars bear a resemblance. The dance steps come from the tradition of Swedish circle dancing, that was popular in Victorian Britain. The better known lyrics shown below, were written by the Scottish composer, Sir Hugh S. Roberton for the Glasgow Orpheus Choir. The earlier version by Bishop and the later arrangement by Sir Hugh Roberton bear no relationship to one another. ¹

The six dancers form a circle, traditionally of three men and three women standing alternately, which will break apart into two sets of three dancers. All six join hands and the circle turns anti-clockwise for eight counts, then clockwise for eight counts. The circle then separates into the two sets of three. The dancer in the middle (leader) of the three turns to the partner on the right, sets to (dances with) them for four counts and turns them for four counts, then repeats this with the partner on the left. The leader then turns the partner on the right again, followed by the partner on the left, the partner on the right, the partner on the left. He then joins hands with both partners so the three form a straight line facing the other set of three. Both sets walk towards each other for two steps, and stamp their feet three times (over the course of two counts, therefore including one off-beat), then retreat for two steps and clap their hands similarly to the stamping. They then walk towards each other again (again holding hands), and one set raises its arms to form archways under which the other dancers pass to meet the next set of three coming from another circle, with whom the dance is repeated. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Dashing White Sergeant”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Dashing White Sergeant is Scottish country dance, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 1 external register, which can be verified through the citation. ²