Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary

Reel By The Lake

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

Reel By The Lake (4x32R) 32 bar reel for four couples in a longwise set, Murrough Landon, 2023

1-4 1st and 4th couples set advancing to partner, then, giving both hands, turn once round (using skip change if preferred) and face the ends.
5-8 1st and 4th couples cast one place inwards as 2nd and 3rd couples step to the ends. Then 1st and 4th couples half turn giving right hands.
9-12 1st and 4th couples flow into right hands across once round.
13-14 1st and 4th couples then dance just half left hands across and end facing 2nd and 3rd couples on the sides.
15-16 2nd and 4th also 1st and 3rd couples, giving right hands, turn three quarters ending in lines of four across facing the person they just turned.
17-24 2nd with 4th also 1st with 3rd couples dance right shoulder reels of four across the set. On bars 23-24 2nd woman and 4th man also 1st woman and 3rd man omit the last left shoulder pass and just dance across the set passing right shoulder while their partners complete the reels as usual. All end on their own sides in the order 2,4,1,3.
25-32 All circle 8 hands round to the left and back. The final order is 2,4,1,3.

(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA July 2023)


Dance Instruction Videos

Reel By The Lake - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction Video

Dance Information

The title is a reference to "A Bletchley Alphabet" which lists some characters working at Bletchley Park, the British codebreaking centre in the second world war. The entry for F describes cryptographer and dance deviser Hugh Foss who can regularly be seen "dancing a reel by the lake". When not dancing Foss was in charge of decoding Japanese naval ciphers.
The dance starts with an echo of J. B. Milne, contains a reel and then a circle to represent the lake.

Recommended music: Suggested tune David Jones Locker by Chris Dewhurst and/or Quindaro (Traditional); suitable recording Nautical Hornpipes (Chris and Julie Dewhurst: Crossing Borders).

(Dance information by the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA July 2023)


Published in Reel By The Lake, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Murrough Landon, CC BY-SA.

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