John McNeil's Reel
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
John McNeil's Reel A forty-eight bar Reel for three couples in a longwise set. Devised by John W Mitchell. Published in Whetherly Book 5.1- 8 First man passes second man by the right to commence a figure of eight round second and third men: first lady crosses to follow her partner behind third man, then crosses back to her own side between second and third ladies and casts up to her original place.
9-16 First lady passes second lady by the left shoulder to dance a figure of eight round second and third ladies: first man crosses to follow first lady behind third lady, then crosses back to own side between second and third men and casts up to his original place.
17-24 First, second and third couples dance a promenade, first couple finish on the sidelines, second and third couples remain in the middle of the set facing up.
25-30 Second couple, followed by third couple, promenade up between first couple, cast off behind first man, cross over and cast up behind first lady then lead down between first couple.
31-32 Second couple cross over giving left hand and cast up into second place, whilst third couple cross between them into third place on own side.
33-36 First couple cross over giving right hand and cast off into second place, second couple step up on bars 35 & 36.
37-40 First couple dance a half figure of eight round second couple to finish in second place on own side.
41-48 First and second couples dance rights and lefts.
Repeat from second place.
Recommended tune: John McNeil's Reel
Note; Bars 17-32 must be danced as a continuous flowing movement if it is to succeed.
(Dance crib reproduced from The Whetherly Book of Scottish Country Dances, revised and republished by Alison Mitchell)
Keith Rose's Crib Diagram
Published in The Whetherly Book Of Scottish Country Dances Number 5, by John W Mitchell, revised and republished by Alison Mitchell. Instructions reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence (CC BY-ND 4.0).
Back to the top of this Scottish Country Dancing Instructions 'John McNeil's Reel' page