Dance Pulling Bracken 5389

It is suggested that at the end of their second time through the dance, the dancing couple finish in 3rd place and progress to the foot by again dancing bars 1–8 with the 4th couple, who will then flow naturally into the Grand Chain. [from the original SDA leaflet 68, 1975]

On 3 jan 2013 Angela Bulteel wrote on “Strathspey”: My husband Tony Bulteel wrote this dance, and whenever he was teaching it, he always taught the retiring 1s to reel with the 4s while the new 1s were doing their 1st reel across. However, I am fairly certain this was not actually written into the dance at the time it was first published, I believe it was more of a suggestion added at the bottom of the instructions, and as such, I think it gets forgotten, which is rather a shame as it does look particularly good, especially when couples are covering well. Tony is 85 now and did express the hope that dancers would continue to dance the extra reel to finish in 4th place. Hope this helps.

On 30 may 2016 Angela Bulteel wrote on “Strathspey”: My husband Anthony Bulteel, sadly now deceased, wrote Pulling Bracken and I couldn’t help noticing the request for instructions and sheet music. I do not have the written instructions for his dance but would like to mention that it was written and titled Pulling Bracken because my husband loved the tune of the same name. Some time after he wrote the dance someone wrote a piece of music which they decided to say was to be the original tune for Tony’s dance. This was done without asking or even seeking my husband’s approval or agreement. May I just say that if this is to be danced by your group at an occasion where a live band is playing, may I request that the original tune of the same name be played for the dance? Although I do not have the sheet music, I’m sure there are many musicians out there who would be willing to supply a copy of this melody to you. May I also say it’s good to know this dance is still on many programmes. Kindest regards Angela Bulteel.