The Virginia Reel
This seems actually to be a family of similar dances - probably word-of-mouth having lead to variations. One variety is:Formation: Longwise sets of 4 couples, men on the right and ladies on the left as viewed from the band. Couples number from nearest the band.
Music: "Hoedown" reels, e.g. "Turkey in the Straw".
| Bars: | Description |
|---|---|
| 1-8 | All advance and retire, then turn partners RH. |
| 9-16 | All advance and retire, then turn partners LH. |
| 17-24 | All advance and retire, then turn partners BH. |
| 25-32 | All advance and retire, then dance back to back with partners (do-si-do). |
| 33-40 | 1st couple join both hands and side slip down the middle and back. |
| 41-48 | 1st couple, followed by 2nd, 3rd and 4th couples cast off to the bottom; 1st couple make an arch and the other three couples dance up to new positions. |
Finish 2,3,4,1, ready to start again.
Many thanks to Ian Brockbank of the excellent Scottishdance.net Ceilidh resource upon whose dance instructions these are based. Licenced under a
Creative Commons License.