Reel of Tulloch ~ RSCDS

Reel of Tulloch ~ RSCDS The Reel of Tulloch ~ Wallace

Reel of Tulloch ~ RSCDS is a Scottish Country Dance. It was published by J. F. Wallace in about 1900 in Wallace's Ball-Room Guide. It was interpreted by RSCDS in 1926 and published in RSCDS Book 3. It is R128 2C, a Facing Couples dance. R128.

The Register of Dances at Castle Menzies, 1749 contains a dance of this name (also called The Mighty Pretty Valley, but it was a triple minor and so a very different figure.

Bride, 1770, and later Longman & Broderip also published dances with this name, again triple minors with different figures.

The Fletts say that the dance first appeared in 1819 in Edinburgh, and the first printed description was in The Ball Room Annual, London, 1844, but I can't find this.

The Tullock Hold is defined here. To me it looks like the hold in one of the old Regency Allemande figures.

In Wallace's Ball-Room Guide, Glasgow, ~1900, he writes:

Stand as for Reel of Four, as shown in Diagram see page 68, all use Reel step throughout.

  1. Ladies and Gentlemen put their right arm under their partner's right arm and left behind their own back, join hands in said position, use four steps round, now reverse the arms, putting left under the left and right behind your own back, turning round other way; finish by Ladies facing each other in the centre,
  2. Ladies dance to each other,
  3. Ladies put their right arm under each other's as they did with the Gentlemen, and left behind their own back. Use four steps round; now reverse direction and arms, finish facing each other's partner,
  4. All use second Reel step,
  5. All turn again as in No. 1, Gentlemen finish facing each other,
  6. Gentlemen dance to each other,
  7. Gentlemen turn each other, by locking right arms, left hand raised over own head, using four steps round, reversing direction and arms, finish opposite own partners,
  8. All use third Reel Step,
  9. Again turn as in No. 1, with hands behind the back, finish Ladies facing each other,
  10. Ladies dance to each other, and turn again, finish opposite each other's partner,
  11. All set, using fourth Reel step,
  12. All turn again, Gentlemen finish facing each other,
  13. Gentlemen dance to each other, finish facing own partners,
  14. All set again, using fifth Reel step,
  15. All finish by turning, having regained partners and places.

Note Usually there is a nice showy step used by Ladies as well as Gentlemen when dancing to their own sex in the centre.

Frequently Hullachan is substituted for the last quick part in Reel of Four.

The animation plays at 120 counts per minute. Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color.

An online description of the dance may be found here.

1-8Ladies advance and set in the middle
9-12Ladies turn right once and a half in Turlock Hold
13-16Ladies turn left twice in Turlock Hold, end facing opposite
17-24All set for 8 bars
25-28Opposite turn right once and a half in Turlock Hold
29-32Opposite turn left twice in Turlock Hold, men ending in center facing each other
33-40Men set in the middle
41-44Men turn right once and a half in Turlock Hold
45-48Men turn left twice in Turlock Hold, end facing partner
49-56All set for 8 bars
57-60Partner turn right once and a half in Turlock Hold
61-64Partner turn left twice in Turlock Hold, ladies ending in center facing each other
65-72Ladies set in the middle
73-76Ladies turn right once and a half in Turlock Hold
77-80Ladies turn left twice in Turlock Hold, end facing opposite
81-88All set for 8 bars
89-92Opposite turn right once and a half in Turlock Hold
93-96Opposite turn left twice in Turlock Hold, men ending in center facing each other
97-104Men set in the middle
105-108Men turn right once and a half in Turlock Hold
109-112Men turn left twice in Turlock Hold, end facing partner
113-120All set for 8 bars
121-124Partner turn right once and a half in Turlock Hold
125-128Partner turn left in Turlock Hold, ending in original places

If you find what you believe to be a mistake in this animation, please leave a comment on youtube explaining what you believe to be wrong. If I agree with you I shall do my best to fix it.

If you wish to link to this animation please see my comments on the perils of youtube. You may freely link to this page, of course, and that should have no problems, but use one of my redirects when linking to the youtube video itself:
https://www.upadouble.info/redirect.php?id=ReelOfTulloch-RSCDS

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The dance is out of copyright in the US, but I'm not sure of other jurisdictions. The interpretation is out of copyright in the US, but I'm not sure of other jurisdictions. My visualization of this dance is copyright © 2024 by George W. Williams V and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

This website is copyright © 2021-2025 by George W. Williams V
Creative Commons License My work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Most of the dances have more restrictive licensing, see my notes on copyright, the individual dance pages should mention when some rights are waived.