The Axum Reel

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

THE AXUM REEL (S32) 4C set RSCDS Book 18
Special set: 1M with 2M on R stand BtoB with 4M+3M respectively; all Ladies face Partners The Ladies are "outers" and the Men "inners"

1- 8 All set
9-16 All dance ½ reel of 4 passing LSh, Men to partners' ("outer") positions, 1L and 3L turning left to 2M and 4M positions, 2L+4L straight ahead to 3M and 1M positions Repeat 3 times from new positions all ending diagonally opposite starting positions
17-24 All set to partners
25-32 Repeat bars 9-16 to original positions

(MINICRIB. Dance crib compiled by Charles Upton, Deeside Caledonian Society, and his successors)

Keith Rose's Crib Diagram

The Axum Reel - Full Size And Key To Symbols

Dance Instruction Videos

The Axum Reel - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction Video

Dance Information

The Axum Reel belongs to the same family of native Scottish reels as the threesome, foursome, fivesome, sixsome, and crossed foursome. Like the others in this group, it follows the repeated pattern of a travelling movement for one eight-bar phrase followed by a setting step for the next. This places the Axum Reel firmly within the traditional 'moving and setting' structure that distinguishes these Scottish reels from imported longwise country dances.

Although fewer early references to the Axum Reel survive than for the threesome or foursome, it is consistently included by researchers as a member of this traditional group. Its structure, figures, and formation align with the characteristic style of the older Scottish reels, which developed independently of the European country-dance tradition. The Axum Reel therefore forms part of the same native line of development that can be traced back to the earliest references to reeling in Scottish sources, beginning with the term 'reland' recorded in Gavin Douglas's Eneados in the early sixteenth century.

The first recorded mention of reel-style dancing in Scotland is found in Gavin Douglas's Scots rendering of Virgil's Aeneid, known as the Eneados. Completed in 1513, the extant manuscripts contain the Middle Scots word "reland", interpreted as a verb meaning "to reel" in the context of dance.

The relevant lines appear in the section describing a festive gathering. In Middle Scots the passage reads:

"Dansys and rowndis traysing mony gatis,
Athir throu other reland, on thair gys."

A literal rendering into modern English is:

"Dances and rounds tracing many ways,
Each through another reeling, in their fashion."

This citation is the earliest securely confirmed use of a reel-related expression in Scottish sources, marking the first recorded instance of the term that would later become associated with the tradition of Scottish reel dancing.

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Text from this original Eneados article on Wikipedia.

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