The Reel of Tulloch ~ Wallace

The first reference I can find to a dance called "The Reel of Tulloch" is in the Castle Men?ies register of dances, 1749, but this dance is a triple minor country dance, and not a reel in this sense. Thomas Willson (1808, 1816) published several figures to the tune "The Reel of Tulloch Gorum, but again these were country dances. W. Smyth (1830) also published a country dance with this name.

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 first version I can find is in J.F. Wallace's The Excelsior Manual of Dancing, Glasgow, ~1872, where he calls the dance "The Hullachan" (an Anglicisation of "Ruidhleadh Thulachain", or "Reel of Tulloch").

1.	All set and reel four or figure of eight	16
2.	The two gentlemen set facing each other	8
3.	All go round after each other in a circle, ladies finish in center and set to partners	16
4.	Reel as before	8
5.	Gentlemen, having finished in centre, set to opposite lady	8
6.	Circle as before	8
7.	The two gentlemen set to each other and turn round with right arms locked	8
8.	Again set and turn with left arms locked	8
9.	Reel as before	8
10.	Ladies being in centre, set set and turn each other by the right and left arms locked	15
11.	Circle as before	8
16.	Gentlemen, having finished in centre, set and turn the ladies	16

(I assume the bar count "15" for part 10 is a misprint for 16)

Since the reel starts in a line of four, gents in center, ladies outside, all facing partner, it's not clear to me how that turns into a circle, nor how the ladies, who started on the outside of the line, end in its center.

In his ~1900 publication he gives both titles (Hulachian and Reel of Tulloch), and he gives a clearer description of the dance with no circles nor reels (so obviously the dance changed with time).

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 arms, putting left under the left and right behind your own back, turning round other way; finish by Ladies facing each other in centre	8
2.	Ladies dance to each other	8
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	8
4.	All use second reel step	8
5.	All turn again as in No. 1, Gentlemen finish facing each other	8
6.	Gentlemen dance to each other	8
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 partner.	8
8.	All use third reel step	8
9.	Again turn as in No. 1, with hands behind the back, finish Ladies facing each other	8
10.	Ladies dance to each other, and turn again, finish opposite each other's partner
11.	All set, using fourth reel step	8
12.	All turn again, Gentlemen finish facing each other	8
13.	Gentlemen dance to each other, finish facing own partners	8
14.	All set again, using fifth reel step	8
15.	All finish by turning, having regained partners and places.	8

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

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

Note that the hand hold specified here is not the Tulloch Turn Grip specified by the RSCDS. It is closer to an elbow grip, but not quite the same.

The RSCDS version of the dance starts as facing couples, which is an alternate starting position for the reel of four, but not the one Wallace suggests using. The RSCDS specifies that the right hand turns should go round twice. Wallace just says 4 steps, and doesn't say how far around to go, so I assume only once, but I may be wrong.

After 64 bars (half way through) everyone is diametrically opposed to where they started, the figure for 9-13 is the same 1-6 (the steps are different though). This leaves the two gents in the center facing each other with their backs to their opposites, yet the next instruction is that they set to their partners. But the other gentlemen is between them and their partners, so I don't see how they can do that. It seems more likely to me that 14 & 15 should be reversed (into the order found earlier). The RSCDS also has the second half of the dance be the same as the first, and they don't have multiple setting styles.

I don't think Wallace defines the five different Reel steps in his book, at any rate, I can't find them. However, in his Scottish National Dances, Edinburgh, 1900, Atikinson describes four reel steps (and four strathspey steps for men, and four more for ladies). While the Fletts published 19 different setting steps for reels. So those may be used to provide variety.