Witches Reel (Original version)
Author: Tony SlingerFormation: Set dance, 4 couples, longways proper
Difficulty: 1
Style: English
| A1: | Join hands in lines and balance right and left twice Men raise arms to make arches and lines cross over changing place with partners. |
| A2: | Repeat A.1 to place with women making the arches. |
| B1: | Women Thread the Needle. |
| B2: | Men Thread the Needle. |
| C1: | Top couple gallop down the middle to the bottom of the set, the other couples moving up. Second couple the same. Third couple the same. (Note fourth couple do not gallop) |
| C2: | All swing partners. |
Tony Slinger says:
I used to call regularly with a band with the wonderful name of Dr Bowser’s Brown Bowel Oil Band and when they released their second LP (shows how long ago it was!) it ws decided that I should include a booklet of dances to slide into the album cover -not so eaasy with CDs though! A lot of the material was based on 18th century English dance tunes or adaption thereof. However, we included some of my own dances one of which was Witches Reel. I originally come from Clitheroe in Lancashire and further back my family came from Pendleton on Pendle Hll - famed for its witch trials inthe 1700s. Hence the name of the dance which was put together by myself and my ex-wife in this form.
See Witch's_Reel which was collected in Sheffield and is now the usual version.
I used to call regularly with a band with the wonderful name of Dr Bowser’s Brown Bowel Oil Band and when they released their second LP (shows how long ago it was!) it ws decided that I should include a booklet of dances to slide into the album cover -not so eaasy with CDs though! A lot of the material was based on 18th century English dance tunes or adaption thereof. However, we included some of my own dances one of which was Witches Reel. I originally come from Clitheroe in Lancashire and further back my family came from Pendleton on Pendle Hll - famed for its witch trials inthe 1700s. Hence the name of the dance which was put together by myself and my ex-wife in this form.
See Witch's_Reel which was collected in Sheffield and is now the usual version.Music: 4 x 48 bar reels/jigs
Thumbnail: Balance and cross over, thread the needle, gallop down, swing.