Start by facing as shown (> or <) and dance in that direction. Pass (usually) by right shoulders first with the person you are facing. The third dancer will weave in his/her starting direction to the end of the set (A) then all the way to B, then back to his/her starting position. Everyone will dance twice the distance A-B.

ALWAYS be clear which line is being danced - and with whom, as there may be several options - listen to what you are told to do! Often, start by facing your partner and passing right shoulders. Pass the next person left to left, then right to right, etc, all the time moving in the same direction. At the END of the line of dancers who are 'reeling', you turn around and on the way back pass the first person coming towards you with the SAME shoulder as you passed the last person before you turned around. Simple when you get the hang of it, and often danced quite fast. Think of it as passing right/left/right/left/turn/left/right/left etc. Some callers say you turn with a ghost person at each end of the line - this is just another way of explaining that you come back in with the same shoulder or hand that you went out with - having used up one move with the ghost. Reels can be for as few as three people or for many more. More complex reels includes dolphin reels and grimstock heys (explained above), shetland reels (explained below), push-off heys and Morris heys, all of which are easy if you practise them often enough. In contra dance a hey is just a reel - a different term for the same thing. Some callers will say "hey hey hey" - this just means do a reel. Reels that are diagonal often give the most trouble: the rule is the same - make sure you know which straight line is involved.

I always explain that if there is an even number of people in a simple reel (4,6,8 etc) then whatever happens at one end happens at the other (right/turn/right OR left/turn/left at both ends). If there is an odd number of people in the reel (3,5,7 etc) then at one end it will be right/turn/right and at the other it will be left/turn/left.

The first diagram above shows a simple four couple longways set. There are various ways to change this into the formation shown in the second diagram. Two diagonal reels can now be danced at the same time, one along the green line, one along the purple line. Dancers belong to one or other reel until it is completed. Everyone passes right shoulders at the corners of the set and does half a left hand star (for four people within the blue circle). A dance with simultaneous but parallel diagonal reels is shown below. These are independent reels - each group of three people does not interact with the other group, unlike in the example above. This can be made more challenging by making dancers do three quarters of a star each time, rather than half a star: dancers then spend time fleetingly in each reel, green, purple, green etc. and they progress around the set visiting each corner in turn.

Another example of a dance with diagonal reels is Eight of Hearts, a dance for eight people (no partners and sex doesn't matter). Part of the sequence is shown above. If taught properly, the whole dance is easy. If taught badly, it quickly degenerates into chaos because there is so little recovery time. The dance formation is three people facing three people (shown red) with two standing back to back in the middle (shown blue).

The dance is led by the blue people but the two red dancers at X and X have the most difficult role - they have to decide very quickly which diagonal reel they are in! This is easier than it looks - if the caller says 'right reels' this is an instruction to the lead dancers, so the dancers at X simply look in the opposite direction - diagonally to their left! The blue dancers start a pair of three person reels (green lines) by facing to their right and passing right shoulders (blue arrows). Immediately the green reels finish the blue dancers face left and start the purple reels (purple arrows). Dancers at X and X need to keep awake: they dance the green and purple reels with different people. So do the blue dancers - but they are in charge and this makes life much easier! Each set of reels involves only 6 people - the other two stand still.

Men reel along the red lines, man 1 along red line 1, and so on. Ladies reel along the blue lines. Throughout these reels, dancers interacting with each other are NOT reeling along the same lines.

In a square set, interconnected three person reels (figures of eight) can happen simultaneously. It looks complicated on paper! Men are denoted by red circles (with numbers 1 to 4). Ladies are black circles and are standing beside their partners in a simple square set (black square). The key to it is to remember that each person does a three person reel ONLY with his/her partner and his/her corner - and with no regard for who else their partner is interacting with. Each couple will start by facing their partner and passing by right shoulders before turning around - each having reached one end of their reel. Once they have in effect turned around each other (passing right shoulders again) they finish their respective three person reels in different reels (along different lines) before returning to their home positions. Thus man 1 will reel with lady 1 (his partner) and lady 4 (his corner). Similarly, lady 1 will interact with her own partner (initially) and then with man 2. In practice, it's remarkably easy! And even easier if you forget the complicated explanation and just do a right shoulder gypsy with your partner followed by a left shoulder gypsy with your neighbour.

Right or Left Hand Stars:  Usually danced sedately by two couples. Give right hands across holding the opposite person's hand, or left hands for a left hand star. Again giving weight will help. Sometimes all the men or all the women (3 or 4 or 5 or more) in a set will be required to do a part or whole right or left hand star - and sometimes as they sweep around they 'scoop up' their partners (or another person) putting arms around waists. The people being 'scooped up' are usually ladies and they should put nearest arms on the shoulder of the man who has (in some fast dances) almost swept them off their feet. This is (of course) never done intentionally.

Shetland Reel:  identical to a normal simple reel except each 'person' is now two people, one following closely behind the other. Therefore, a '3 person' Shetland Reel would involve 6 people - but they act as though they were only 3, each couple being an entity. Often quite fun in that it involves men following very closely behind their partners (or vice versa) and with 'no holds barred'. 

Sheepskin hey: only ever used in one dance as far as I know, diagram to follow.

Square Through: This is similar to right and left through but without any courtesy turns, and especially without the final turn, but can be danced more quickly. A left square through simply starts with left hands - but is rare. Lack of the final turn leaves you facing in a different direction (90 degree out) than if you were doing full or half right and left through moves.

Star Ladies Chain: Ladies move halfway around a (square) set in a right hand star. The opposite men give them their left hand and turn them around into another right hand star to return to their partners, who turn them in the same way. Sometimes, instead of going half way round in their star, the ladies go 3/4 round - and sometimes as they are rotating in the star (in the middle of the set) the men nip smartly around on the outside to another mans place.

Star Through: With a man facing a lady he holds up his right hand (like a policeman stopping traffic) and she holds up her left so they touch palms. Each moves forward, the man turning right after passing her and the lady left after going under their raised arms, the couple end up holding hands both facing the same direction (compare with California Twirl and Box the Gnat which are both quite different). All three moves achieve a rapid change in position and/or orientation of a dancing couple.

Strip the Willow: Great fun, and often danced very fast at ceilidhs and with violent turns - especially if everyone knows what they are doing......! The end couple turn each other by the right (with an elbow hold keeping thumbs tucked under) once and a half to get to the other side, then turn the next person on the side by the left, go back to their partner for a right turn (in the middle of the set), the next person on the side by the left and so on to the bottom of the set, turning everyone of the opposite sex on the side by the left and partner by the right. At the end the working couple need to turn half (or once and half) to end up on their correct side. Remember the golden rule - right to your partner in the middle, left to everyone else on the side. Sometimes a half strip the willow is danced first - whilst one of the 'active' couple turns each person in the opposite sex line by the left (and partner by the right) as usual, the other simply walks sedately down the middle of the set doing only right arm turns. On the way back the roles are reversed. Strip the Willow can be danced in a square formation - easy if everyone remembers that their 'number one person' is to their right, their 'number two' is opposite them and their 'number three' to their left. Everyone's number four is their own partner - see below!

Strip the willow in a circle (square formation) can be even more fun - two opposite men start by turning 3/4 by the right, left to their 3/4 lady (the one who was diagonally to the man's right), by the right in the middle of the square (two men again), by the left to their respective 1/2 lady (opposite where the men first started) and so on back to their partner. All the right arm turns are in the middle of the set (with a same sex person) and all the left arm ones on the sides (with an opposite sex person). Can be very fast and can be danced six times through - head men leading, side men, head ladies, side ladies all the men together, then finally all the ladies together. It is a good idea to know this sequence off by heart before attempting a teacup chain! The similarity is that each 'active' dancer interacts in turn with each member of the opposite sex going around the set in an anticlockwise direction. Once this pattern becomes ingrained, a teacup chain is quite easy.

Swing: Stand facing your partner so right shoulders are in line, place right feet side by side outside your partners to act as a pivot, then use your left foot to push you around similar to riding a scooter in a clockwise direction giving weight as you do so. Various arm holds are used, the most common is a variation of ballroom hold. Cross hand hold is used for some dances e.g. hornpipes. It is important that both dancers respect their partner's capabilities when swinging and ensure it is safe to release the hold before doing so. Can be very fast and some ladies may get seriously giddy - men should not let go until they know it is safe to do so. With practice, the man's left hand and the ladies right can be free - the only real contact being the man's right arm FIRMLY around the ladies back (preferably some distance above the waist) not pulling her towards him but offering firm support. Imagine you are rotating around a point on the floor - do not move sideways in any direction. At the end of a swing the lady should be on the man's right and facing in the same direction. All swings can be done at a greater rotational speed if the dancers keep close to each other - holding each other far apart means that a lot of rotational energy has to be built up for a given angular velocity.

Teacup Chain: (includes alternating teacup chain and double teacup chain) There are several variations of a teacup chain. All are best taught for side or head couples alone in the first instance. I may add a few more diagrams sometime but the full American Square Dance sequence for a simple teacup chain is shown in an animation on this page.  However the last turn is shown as a courtesy turn. Sometimes (including in one or two Irish set dances) it is a simple left arm turn instead so all the men end up standing where their partners normally stand (and vice versa). The men can then lead the dance but starting from the ladies positions. They then follow EXACTLY the steps that the ladies took when they led the dance. Note that there are two sets of starting moves - each pair of opposite women (or men) do different things. My own method of teaching a simple teacup chain is explained below. It is not possible easily to CALL the dance because each set of dancers will be 'out of phase' with the other set except half way through! So it is best learnt and then just danced!

Teacup chain: it can be helpful to visualise the route taken by an individual dancer. Here a lady starts from the bottom of the diagram, moves across the set (track 1) to do a right arm turn with the man to her right, across to the middle of the set (arrowed) to do a left arm turn with another lady (who will be approaching her from the left of the set), to the man who was originally opposite to her (track 3) for a right arm turn, then cutting across the corner of the set again (track 4) to do a left arm turn with the man originally to her left, then to the centre (arrowed) for a right arm turn (with the other lady) and finally back to her partner (track 6) to finish with a left arm (or courtesy) turn. This can be practised with just two opposite men or ladies leading. In the full dance, all four men (or ladies) are moving at once. Unlike in a strip the willow square, there are two right and two left turns on the sides, and one of each type in the middle. The other two ladies will at the same time be doing something similar but different! (see diagram below)

The other two 'active' dancers will start the teacup chain by moving into the centre of the set. Thereafter, whilst the moves are similar they are in a different order. Again only one dancer's tracks are shown. They visit each man in turn (anticlockwise around the set) but instead of getting to the first one (on their right) directly across the corner of the set, they go outwards from the centre. Thus, the two ladies opposite each other start by moving to the centre (track 1 for the dancer shown and track 4 for the lady opposite) for a right hand arm turn (star) 3/4 round and then (track 2) to a left arm turn with the man on the right. After that it is all very similar, but note that it is only pairs of 'active' dancers who do turns in the middle of the set - not all four together. Viewing the animated sequence makes this clear. If the timing is correct, all four 'active' dancers will be turning their opposite people (on the opposite side of the set to where they started) at the same time (and all with right arm turns), and also finishing (with their partner and left arms turns) at the same time. Turns on either side will not be synchronised.

I have my own way of teaching a teacup chain - and I think it's one of the easist to remember!

Here goes... :

Start by teaching a strip the willow in a square set. This is easy (see above within main text) - two opposite men (say) move to the middle of the square set, do 3/4 a right arm turn and then go to the lady who was originally on their right to do a left arm turn. This whole sequence (a right arm 3/4 turn in the middle and a left on the side) is defined (by me and for the purposes of teaching a teacup chain) as MIDDLE. A complete strip the willow dance sequence for (say) the head men can therefore be taught (and called) as MIDDLE, MIDDLE, MIDDLE, MIDDLE. This involves eight arm turns. If all four men (or ladies) do it together, they just do a 3/4 right hand star in the middle instead of a 3/4 right arm turn - again this is easy.

The difference in a teacup chain is that there are only 6 arm turns to get back home and it can be left or right in the middle or on the side. Just remember you always start using a right arm and each arm is used alternately (right, left, right, left, etc) no matter where you are at the time. Sometimes however, as an introductory move, all dancers do a left arm turn with their own partner to begin the sequence.

There is also a new move to define : I call it CUT. If a dancer is told to CUT this means cut across the corner of the square and do an arm turn (may be right or left) with the man/lady who is on her/his right - the same person the dancer would have gone to when doing a strip the willow dance. The move CUT leaves the dancer at the same place as at the end of a MIDDLE move - but it has taken less time because the 3/4 arm turn in the middle of the set is omitted.

Now explain that one pair of (say) head men doing a teacup chain will dance CUT MIDDLE CUT MIDDLE whilst at the same time the other pair of men (the side men) will dance MIDDLE CUT MIDDLE CUT - each will dance 6 arm turns to get home.

Once the moves CUT and MIDDLE are understood, dancing a teacup chain is as easy as a strip the willow in a square. When taught differently, it sometimes perplexes even experienced dancers!

It can now readily be understood that a teacup chain is synchronised only at the start, half way through and at the end of the sequence. At the start, everyone is with their partner. Half way through every active dancer is doing a right arm turn with the person of the opposite sex who was OPPOSITE to them when they started. The dance is 'in phase' at this point because each set of dancers have travelled the same distance - one pair having danced CUT MIDDLE the other pair MIDDLE CUT. At the end of the sequence each dancer will be doing a final left arm turn with their partner, and at the same time!

Unlike in a strip the willow dance, the four people who are standing still waiting for dancers to come towards them need to keep awake - they may be required to give a left or right arm. In Sue Rosen's method of teaching the dance, everything depends on these 'static' dancers knowing where to send each 'active' dancer.

Notes added June 2012: More complicated versions of a teacup chain are the alternating teacup chain and the double teacup chain - both of which were taught at Chippenham Festival 2012 by Colin Hume. They were such fun dances that I will reproduce them here shortly with some diagrams - unless I can find good ones elsewhere on the internet. My own recollection is that they moved even experienced dancers well outside their comfort zone. Many other 'complicated' dances are simply the same old moves but in a different order - and most experienced dancers find them easy enough.These more complex teacup chains were challenging!

The starting sequence for an alternating teacup chain is the same as for a simple teacup chain - and the formation is again a simple square set. The essence of the dance is that each time an 'active' dancer does an arm turn with a 'stationary' dancer (one waiting at the side or head position) the turn is rotated half more (or less?) so that after each turn on the sides, each active dancer and stationary dancer swap roles. This has the effect of making pairs of men and women alternately 'active' doing arm turns in the centre of the set. It is helpful to appreciate that the only people you work with (have contact with) are your opposite person of the same sex and the two people next to you - both of whom will be of the opposite sex. Arm turns in the centre will always be with the same person of the same sex. And that is really all you need to know!

The double teacup chain is far more challenging - especially for the women who (unfairly?) have far more to think about than the men. As taught at Chippenham in 2012, the men stay rooted to their positions for each figure. Any chorus thrown at the set may have the effect of swapping over head and side men and giving everyone a different partner for the next turn through of the dance, just to make life as interesting as possible. Whatever their position however, the only role of the men in the teacup chain figure is to rotate women who come towards them using either a right or left arm turn - depending on what the woman wants to do. In this respect the job of men is similar to that of the 'posts' in the straightforward Posties Jig dance.

For a double teacup chain, the set comprises 8 couples (16 people) and it is helpful if 8 of them are of either sex. The set is a square with two couples side by side on each side of the square. The job of side men is very simple - they have to receive a woman from the centre of the set, turn her around and pass her onto whoever is the nearest head man for that turn through the dance. The job of head men is to receive a woman from their nearest side man and to turn her round before steering her towards the centre of the set. Some women try and dance directly from a side man back to the centre of the set - it is part of the role of head men to grab them and persuade them that they must first turn at the head position!

The only people who ever occupy the 'middle ground' in the centre of the set are (alternately) the four side women (who turn a star) or the four head women - who again turn a star. However, these stars are either 0.75 (3/4) turn or 1.25 turns - and with the same amount of music (?). These stars have to be danced quite quickly and with the women deciding which side man they should aim for next, and with which arm. Therefore it is very useful for each set of 4 women to know who the others are - there can be a tendancy for either 3 or 5 women to be in a star at the same time! As in many teacup chains this one can be started with an introductory move where each couple do a left arm turn with their partner.

This paragraph might be wrong: - Four of these women (either 4 head women or 4 side women) will then make for the centre of the set and make a right hand star and then head for the side man two places to the right of their starting position. The other 4 will (I think) head directly to a head man with a right arm and he will then put her into the centre for a left hand star - I have probably remembered this quite incorrectly so treat it as provisional........

Diagram to follow when I have time, and have figured it all out! If you can find 16 competent dancers try it - it was a most interesting experience.

There are many other moves, including a whole group called Kentucky Running Set or just Running Set. Irish set and ceili dance is different again, and with different terms sometimes being used to denote similar or identical moves.

Grand Square - and the related moves grand rectangle and grand triangle are explained here on a supplementary page.

Dance Figures

Becket formation A longways set, but instead of partners standing opposite each other they stand side by side with the lady on her partners right facing across the set to another couple. The progression is up one side of the set, across the end, and back down the other side.

Circle A ring of couples facing inwards, each lady on her man's right, as usual. It can be a small circle of two or three couples or a large circle of 50 or more couples all round the outside of a large dance hall.

Longways Set A line of dancers, with partners facing across the set taking hands four from the top forming rings of four, first couples are No.1 and second couples No.2 (1's moving down the set (away from the music) and 2's up, until you reach the end and have nobody to dance with (you are then a neutral couple), though in some dances they have to be awake to join in some bits even though they are neutral. Wait out one turn of the dance and come back in, if you are at the bottom you come back in as 2's and at the top as 1's. Some dances have the first couples swap sides, this is known as an improper set (in American dancing a contra formation), remembering to swap sides again when you get to the end and change numbers.

Longways Sets A certain number of couples in a Longways set, i.e. 3 couples or up to 8 couples in one set.

Sicilian Circle Couple facing couple around the room in a large circular formation. Remember which way you are facing around the large circle - you will usually move only in that direction to progress to subsequent couples coming the other way. There is also a Double Sicilian Circle - this has two couples in each line (4 people facing four people). If these dances go on for long enough each couple will dance with every other couple who start facing in the opposite direction. In Double Sicilian Circle dances, it is common for couples to change tracks after each turn of the dance. For example, the couple facing anticlockwise and starting on tracks 1 and 2 (man on 1, woman on 2) may find themselves on tracks 3 and 4 - and again facing anticlockwise to start the next turn of the dance. They will then swap back again for the third turn of the dance. It can be important to remember which track you are on and to keep the dance set neat and correctly positioned on the dance floor. DURING each turn of the dance, any dancer may be facing either anticlockwise or clockwise - it is only at the start of each turn of the dance that each couple will be facing in their original direction. 

Sicilian Circle - couple facing couple all round the large blue circle around the dance hall. Partners usually hold inside hands to start - women to the man's right as usual.	A Double Sicilian Circle- two couples side by side, facing another two couples. The pattern is repeated all round the blue circle.	It is important to know which of the four blue circles you are in at any time! A man may move (as shown) along track 1, go across to track 2, and then return home.

Square Set Usually four couples in a square formation, each couple forming one side of the square. The couples are numbered anticlockwise, number one nearest the music. Couples facing up and down the room are head couples those facing across the room are side couples. In some dances there can be two side couples on each side, but only one head couple at either end (total six couples). It is still then called a square set despite being rectangular......In Irish dance the head couples are called top couples (and the sides are still sides).