REELS

Reels are the most common of the irish dances. They can be danced in both hard and soft shoes. The can also be danced as both solo and group dances. Reels come in two categories, simple or easy reels are peices of music such as "Dancing with Mrs white", from Great Big Sea. These reels are often accordion based and therefore it is easier to keep track of the time. By contrast a complex reel is usually fiddle based and may have other instruments such as the Bodhran, flute, piano or bass in it.These instument s create a "complex" sound pattern and sometimes make it hard to keep track of the count.This is what makes this type of reel harder to dance.An excellent example of a complex reel is "The Call to Dance", from Leahy. The reel that you will be shown here is a basic irish reel. You will be shown each of the three steps separately. The second part of this link will be the order in which you must preform the steps.There are three steps to a basic irish reel. some of these steps are done in a certain way or are done a certain number of times, so that if you see a step called eights for example, it means that you should do eight 1,2,3's in a circle to your right. so having told this to you let's go ahead and learn the basic three steps needed to dance an irish reel. 1,2,3'S Start this step slowly and with your feet low to the ground, then increase your leg height and speed as you get better at this step. Hop quickly on to your right foot.Now hop quicklyon to your left foot. finish the step by bringing your your right foot down in behind your left foot. If you have done this step properly, you should have been able to count the first part as one, two ,three. once you get better at this step the rythm should still sound like one,two,three, but it should be done faster, try it as hop over, tap down , tap down. SEVENS Hop your right foot up across your left leg so that your knees are briefly locked together. From here extend your right leg outahead of you with your toe pointed. your leg should now be out ahead of you in a northeasterly direction with your toe pointed. From this position, travel across the floor keeping your right foot ahead of your left foot at all times. After each step with your right foot, bring your left foot in behind so that your right and left feet are linde up in behind each other. Now the rest of the pattern is as follows: 1)in, 2)out, 3) in, 4) out, 5) in, 6)out, 7) in. You will always do a pair of 1,2,3's after each set of sevens. HOP-HEEL-DOWNS Hop your right foot up so that your knees are briefly locked together. Quickly bring the heel of your right foot down on the floor.Remember, heel only!! From here, quickly tap your left foot  down in behind.Preform this step two times with each foot.

DANCE PATTERN The dance pattern for a basic reel is as follows:                  EIGHT 1,2,3'S IN A CIRCLE STARTING ON YOUR RIGHT FOOT.                                           Travel towards the right counting the steps as "Hop,2,3,4,5,6,7 Count the next step as 1,2,3 with your left foot ending up in front and then again but this time with  your right foot ending up in front. Do a quick hop over to swing your left foot in front and travel towards your left counting the steps as hop,2,3,4,5,6,7. Again repeat the 1,2,3's but this time it's 1,2,3 with  your right in front and 1,2,3 again but with your left foot ending up in front. Do two hop heel downs on your right foot (which should be  back in front at this point) then go 1,2,3 so that your left foot is in front and do a second 1,2,3 so that your right foot is back in front. Again travel right for seven counting the steps as you did before. Repeat the two 1,2,3's  so first one is your left in front ans your second one should be your right foot back in front. Do a quick hop over to swing your left foot in front and a as we did before,  travel towards your right for seven counts counting the steps as you have done. Do one more set of 1,2,3's  and you should finish up with  your left foot in front!!