WELCOME TO AN ENTERTAINMENT SITE FOR SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCERS!
Enjoy this curated selection of theme-related dances for celebrations and holidays, or find a dance associated with a special calendar day, or EVEN your own birthday!
Jan 30
Fun & Games Friday
Reels of Three for Free
Other Scottish Country Dances for this Day
Today's Musings, History & Folklore
"Reels of Three, dance with glee!"
Well teachers and dancers, what is the most important thing for your students (or for yourself) to remember for reels? Which way to face for the reel? How wide to curve or angle when reeling? Where's the halfway point? Where your eyes should be? Covering? Not to bump all your reel-mates like ninepins, or should that be, threepins?
At any rate, there's always some wag in the class with a quip, a joke, or good heavens, a pun! This teaching reel should allow your reelers to "reelly" level up! 🤪
This dance was devised to work on the spatial geometry of the reel of three. It was written as a 48 bar reel for 3 couples, but it can also be danced as a strathspey!
And for goodness sake, if you're dancing or hiking in North America, don't reel into any poison ivy, poison, sumac, or poison oak! 🤪 🕺 💃 🚨 🍃 🍃 🍃
Reels of Three for Free
As we know, a reel is a weaving dance figure where dancers pass one another right shoulder, then left, creating interlocking figure-eight paths. There is usually no hand contact. The emphasis is on continuous movement and flow rather than turning.
This figure is one of the oldest traveling patterns in European social dance.
SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCE 🏴
In Scottish Country Dance, the reel is central and highly codified.
Common forms include:
* Reels of Three
* Reels of Four
* Double Reels
* Specialty Reels
The word “reel” likely comes from the idea of winding or reeling thread, which matches the visual pattern of dancers weaving. Scotland kept this term consistently, and it also became linked to reel tunes in Scottish music.
In Scotland, “reel” refers both to the dance type, the musical rhythm, and to the weaving figure itself.
ENGLISH COUNTRY DANCE 🌼
In English Country Dance, the same weaving figure is called a “hey” (sometimes spelled “hay”).
The word comes from old English calling phrases like “hey-de-hey,” meaning “go around.” The name emphasizes motion rather than shape.
Examples include:
• Hey for Three
• Hey for Four
• Half Hey or Full Hey
The movement is essentially the same as a Scottish reel, but the naming reflects English calling traditions rather than Scottish structural terminology.
FRENCH COURT AND BAROQUE DANCE 🇫🇷
In French contredanses of the 17th and 18th centuries, reel-like figures appear as weaving passages but are not given one fixed name.
They may be described as:
• interlacings
• passages
• chaînes
French dance culture helped spread these figures across Europe, influencing both English and Scottish dance traditions.
SQUARE DANCE (AMERICAN) 🇺🇸
In American square dance, the figure survives as the “Reel of Four.”
Four dancers weave past each other, passing right shoulder then left, usually without hands. It often appears from lines or waves and is taught as a flowing figure.
Important distinction:
A reel is not the same as a grand chain. Chains involve hand turns; reels do not.
An English “Hey for Four” and a square dance “Reel of Four” are functionally the same figure.
CONTRA DANCE 💃
Contra dance, which grew out of English country dance, keeps the English name “hey.”
Heys in contra are often danced along or across the set and emphasize smooth, continuous flow. Modern contra dancers treat the hey much like Scottish dancers treat the reel.
ONE FIGURE, MANY NAMES 🌍
Scottish Country Dance: Reel
English Country Dance: Hey (or Hay)
Contra Dance: Hey
Square Dance: Reel of Four
French Baroque Dance: Interlacing passages (various terms)
Reel on over to see an English Country Hey demonstrated by clicking the Scottish Country Dance image of positions in a 3 couple reel!
Click the dance cribs or description below to link to a printable version of the dance!
