"Diamond" Reel of Six

This is an interesting little reel for two gentlemen and four ladies which I would consider reasonable for anywhere from the late 1820s to, at least in Scotland, the 1870s or even later.  I'm hesitant to date it too specifically since neither of the sources I have are precisely dated, and while one is at best late 1820s and the other well into the mid-nineteenth century, this reel is perfectly compatible with Regency style.  Unless I were in a particularly strict-constructionist mood, I wouldn't blink an eye to see it performed at a Regency event.

I have only two sources for this Reel of Six: Lowe's Ball-Conductor and Assembly Guide, third edition (Edinburgh, c1830) and The Excelsior Manual of Dancing, by J. F. Wallace (Glasgow, c1875).  The dating on The Excelsior Manual is especially fuzzy.  The dances could be from as early as c1860, but the illustrations of the ladies dresses suggest the early 1870s to me.  In Traditional Dancing in Scotland, J. P. and T. M. Flett list it as c1872.  A later edition of The Excelsior Manual (datable from its contents to no earlier than the mid-1890s and listed by the Fletts as c1900) does not include this Reel of Six.  Nor have I found it in any other Scottish dance manuals of the nineteenth century, though my collection of those is thin enough that I wouldn't take that as a definitive statement about it having never appeared elsewhere.

Unlike most reels for six dancers, this reel is in "diamond" formation, like a Reel of Five.  The four ladies are at the four points of an imaginary diamond with the two gentlemen back to back in the center, and the reels are reels for four dancers rather than for three.  

In complexity, this Reel of Six falls somewhere between the simpler Reels of Five and the very elaborate one created by Regency London dancing master Thomas Wilson, which I described here.  There is no added circling or passing under arms, but it does include the fast cross by the outside dancers between the heying (reeling) dancers.  This is actually easier to pace with six dancers rather than five.  Other than that little detail, it consists of a standard alternation of heying (reeling) and setting, tweaked to accommodate the two extra ladies.  But unlike Wilson's choreographed reels, the sources for this one are impeccably Scottish.

(Note that the English used "hey" and the Scots used, and use, "reel" for the weaving-figure-eight figure.  Since the sources for this reel are Scottish, I am going to just use "reel" from here on.)

The Lowes did not give any specific timing in their description:

The Gentlemen, with two of the Ladies, form a reel of four, during which, and when the two Ladies are close together in the middle, the other two Ladies cross over, and re-cross, when the first two Ladies are in the middle again; all set, the Gentlemen turning to the Ladies alternately; they then reel with the other Ladies.

Wallace used very similar language but was more specific in giving the standard eight bars to the reel and eight bars to the setting.  Here's the breakdown; performance notes follow:

"Diamond" Reel of Six
Starting position: four ladies in "diamond" formation at the four compass points.  Two gentlemen back to back in the center facing two ladies along one axis of the "diamond".

8b    Reel of four by the two gentlemen and the two ladies they are facing.  Meanwhile, the other two ladies change places, crossing between the reeling dancers after the second bar and back after the sixth.

8b    The gentlemen set to the four ladies, two bars to each, beginning with the lady they are facing and moving clockwise around the set.

 

Repeat from the beginning, the gentlemen starting the reel with lady they are now facing (one to the left of the previous lady they started with) and reeling on the other axis of the dance.  After three more repetitions, they will end back where they began the dance.

 

Steps
Neither source discusses specific steps for Scotch reels, so I default as usual to the steps given by Scottish dancing master Francis Peacock in his Sketches relative to the history and theory, but more especially to the practice of dancing (Aberdeen, 1805) and the common workhorse setting step, the pas de basque.  Everyone begins with the right foot.

 

For reeling: Peacock's Kemshóole step, one per measure. 

 

For setting, I recommend the pas de basque as being the simplest all around, especially if done in a later-than-Regency context with the ladies wearing heavy petticoats, crinolines, or early bustles.  The gentlemen in particular really don't want any setting step that involves any backward motion.  The ladies have more space to step in, so they could do more elaborate steps, but and since the setting figure involves all the ladies and gentlemen setting with each other, it's nice if everyone matches.

 

For crossing over: two pas de basque edging forward toward the center, then two Kemshóole to quickly cross and turn around.  Repeat to return.

 

Performance and Reconstruction Notes

1. The instructions are unclear as to which ladies the gentlemen begin the setting to: the ones they have just reeled with or the ones a quarter-way around.  I am following Wilson's description of the common Reel of Five as well as his New Reel of Five in having the setting begin with the lady each gentleman passed first in the reel and is left facing at the end of it.  This also has the virtue of being easier both to dance and to remember.

 

2. Likewise, the direction in which the gentlemen turn as they set to each lady is not specified.  Once again, for lack of any better authority, I am following Wilson in having them move clockwise.  This also has the virtue of being easier if, as I recommend, one is using a simple pas de basque step to the right and left; each pas de basque to the right is done with extra travel to more one-quarter clockwise to the next lady.

 

3. And, of course, no one specified how or precisely when the ladies crossing between the reeling dancers should pass.  It needs to be when the two reeling ladies are "close together" the center, but after they pass each other, since the four reeling dancers really cannot delay if they are to get back to places.  That is, approximately, after the second and sixth measures of the reel, during the second opposite-gender pass.  I suggest the two ladies hang back for two measures as noted in the steps above, then cross rapidly and about-face with a turn to the right (not a sixteenth-century style S-curve!).  Repeat back to places.

 

4. Finally, as should be no surprise by now, no one specified which shoulder to pass when beginning the reel.  I favor starting by passing right shoulders with the opposite-gender person one is facing and the same-gender dancers then passing left shoulders in the center, repeating this four times to complete the standard reel for four.  There was no bias against left-shoulder starts in period, but in this case the dancers will have just done the pas de basque to the left and will be at a better angle for a right shoulder pass.

Music
There is no standard music; any suitable period reel will do.  The dance done four times through to get the gentlemen back to starting position requires sixty-four bars of music, or thirty-two bars played twice.  In the absence of live musicians, those willing to do the dance eight times through can find two very good reels of thirty-two bars played four times on the Spare Parts album The Regency Ballroom.  Both "Lady Mary Ramsay" and "Bonnie Highland Laddie" will work perfectly for this.

8b    Reel of four by the two gentlemen and the two ladies they are facing.  Meanwhile, the other two ladies change places, crossing between the reeling dancers after the second bar and back after the sixth.

8b    The gentlemen set to the four ladies, two bars to each, beginning with the lady they are facing and moving clockwise around the set.

 

Repeat from the beginning, the gentlemen starting the reel with lady they are now facing (one to the left of the previous lady they started with) and reeling on the other axis of the dance.  After three more repetitions, they will end back where they began the dance.

 

Steps
Neither source discusses specific steps for Scotch reels, so I default as usual to the steps given by Scottish dancing master Francis Peacock in his Sketches relative to the history and theory, but more especially to the practice of dancing (Aberdeen, 1805) and the common workhorse setting step, the pas de basque.  Everyone begins with the right foot.

 

For reeling: Peacock's Kemshóole step, one per measure. 

 

For setting, I recommend the pas de basque as being the simplest all around, especially if done in a later-than-Regency context with the ladies wearing heavy petticoats, crinolines, or early bustles.  The gentlemen in particular really don't want any setting step that involves any backward motion.  The ladies have more space to step in, so they could do more elaborate steps, but and since the setting figure involves all the ladies and gentlemen setting with each other, it's nice if everyone matches.

 

For crossing over: two pas de basque edging forward toward the center, then two Kemshóole to quickly cross and turn around.  Repeat to return.

 

Performance and Reconstruction Notes

1. The instructions are unclear as to which ladies the gentlemen begin the setting to: the ones they have just reeled with or the ones a quarter-way around.  I am following Wilson's description of the common Reel of Five as well as his New Reel of Five in having the setting begin with the lady each gentleman passed first in the reel and is left facing at the end of it.  This also has the virtue of being easier both to dance and to remember.

 

2. Likewise, the direction in which the gentlemen turn as they set to each lady is not specified.  Once again, for lack of any better authority, I am following Wilson in having them move clockwise.  This also has the virtue of being easier if, as I recommend, one is using a simple pas de basque step to the right and left; each pas de basque to the right is done with extra travel to more one-quarter clockwise to the next lady.

 

3. And, of course, no one specified how or precisely when the ladies crossing between the reeling dancers should pass.  It needs to be when the two reeling ladies are "close together" the center, but after they pass each other, since the four reeling dancers really cannot delay if they are to get back to places.  That is, approximately, after the second and sixth measures of the reel, during the second opposite-gender pass.  I suggest the two ladies hang back for two measures as noted in the steps above, then cross rapidly and about-face with a turn to the right (not a sixteenth-century style S-curve!).  Repeat back to places.

 

4. Finally, as should be no surprise by now, no one specified which shoulder to pass when beginning the reel.  I favor starting by passing right shoulders with the opposite-gender person one is facing and the same-gender dancers then passing left shoulders in the center, repeating this four times to complete the standard reel for four.  There was no bias against left-shoulder starts in period, but in this case the dancers will have just done the pas de basque to the left and will be at a better angle for a right shoulder pass.