The South Galway Set (Co. Galway):
Pattern for all figures:
All: House, Figure, Swing
All: Repeat, i.e. all dance house, figure and swing again (*3)
Both the Tulla Ceili Band and the Sliabh Aughty Ceili Band typically start off a night's dancing with this set, so it's a good one to know.
All figures start with a house, finish with a swing and are repeated. All four couples are dancing all the time, except for the
4th figure (the jig), where sides, then tops, get a very short break.
The Figure:
1st figure (reel): pass through
All: tops turn left, sides turn right, pass through, gents on the outside, ladies through the gap, gent across in front of the lady into place and repeat back to home [8]
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2nd figure (reel): advance/retire, pass through
All: tops turn left, sides turn right, advance/retire (*1), then pass through as in the 1st figure, repeat back back to home [16]
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3rd figure (reel): dance across
All: advance/retire (*2), dance across, advance/retire, dance home [16]
All: house [8]
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4th figure (jig): tops/sides
Tops: house inside [8]
All: in waltz hold, face into the centre of the set and advance/retire twice [8]
All: house [8]
On the repeat, Sides do the house inside
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5th figure (reel): ladies switch partners
All: tops turn left, sides turn right: advance/retire (*1), ladies change places passsing right shoulder to right, while the gents either dance on the spot, or dance one clockwise turn in place(8), then house with the new partner (8) [16]
All: repeat, i.e. advance/retire, ladies back home and house with your own partner[16]
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Notes:
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*1: in the 2nd and 5th figures, the hold for the advance/retire is side-by-side, with the gent's arm around the lady's waist and the lady's arm on the gent's shoulder
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*2: in the 3rd figure, the advance/retire is done in waltz-hold, similar to the 1st figure of The Caledonian, but with all four couples dancing
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*3: on the repeat of the 5th figure, the final swing of the set is usually done as a swing in 8
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