Reel of Tulloch
The Reel of Tulloch ( Gaelic Righle Thulaichean , Ruidhleadh Thulachain "Tullochs Reel ") is the name of a Scottish dance and the associated melody. Which also today common name Hulichan , Hullachan or Hoolichan are the English phonetic rendering of the Gaelic genitive of the name Tulloch (Gäl. Tullow , Gen. Thulaichean , such as / huləçan /)
The Reel of Tulloch is still one of the dances of the Scottish Highland Dancing . It is often danced with the Strathspey or the Highland Reel . The structure of the dance is a typical reel. It consists of phrases of eight bars each, to which the dancers alternately dance steps on the spot ( setting steps ) and common figures ( traveling ). Instead of the figure eight as in the Highland Reel, fast turns are danced by two dancers each.
Dance description
The Reel of Tulloch is a dance for two couples or four single dancers. If it is danced to a Strathspey or Highland Reel, then the dancers stand in a line at the beginning, the women on the outside, the men back to back in the middle. If it is danced alone, the two couples face each other at the beginning, the women to the right of their partner.
Bars 1–8: The women dance a setting step. The women move in bars 1 and 2 in the middle and then stand in front of each other, the men move back a little at the same time, so that all four dancers stand on one line, the women in the middle, the men on the outside.
9–16: The women turn, 4 bars clockwise, 4 bars opposite, and end in front of the other lady's partner.
17–24: All dance a setting step.
25–32: Everyone turns as above, ending with the men in the middle.
33–40: The gentlemen dance a setting step.
41–48: The men turn as above, ending in front of their own partner.
49–56: Everyone dance a setting step.
57–64: Everyone turns as above, ending with the women in the middle.
65–128: repetition of the first 64 bars. At the end the women stand to the right of their partner.
The Reel of Tulloch is danced in this form today (with minor differences) in Highland Dancing and Scottish Country Dance .
Tulloch Turn
During the twists, the dancers hold the elbow of the same arm so that their forearms are against each other. This elbow grip is used exclusively in highland dancing.
In Scottish Country Dance, another twist is customary for the ladies, which is called the Tulloch turn after this dance . When turning clockwise, the two dancers stand with their right shoulders next to each other, so they look in the opposite direction, the left hand lies on its own back and grabs the other lady's right hand there. If two men or a man and a woman are turning, the elbow grip is usually used here as well.
melody
The melody, which the pipers also called Righ nam Port ("King of Melodies"), was a popular pipe reel as early as the 17th century . The composer is unknown; According to tradition, the piece was composed in Tulloch in Aberdeenshire . However, John Dubh Gear, a MacGregor from Glenlyon, is also named as a composer. James Scott Skinner writes: "There is a tradition that this wild effusion was composed and danced by John Macgregor, Castle Grant, about 1640."
The oldest preserved source is the Drummond Castle Manuscript by David Young from 1734, in which the melody can already be found with 160 bar variations. The piece was first printed by Robert Bremner in 1761. To this day, the melody is part of the standard repertoire of the Great Highland Bagpipe .
History of dance
There are numerous anecdotes about how this dance came about. The dance is said to have been invented by churchgoers to keep warm when they waited for the pastor in icy weather in front of the locked church. Tulloch near Ballater in Aberdeenshire is often mentioned as a place . According to others, the dance was improvised by a MacGregor after defeating a Robertson in the battle for the hand of the Laird of Tulloch's daughter .
The first written evidence of the Reel of Tulloch as a dance is a note in the Caledonian Mercury dated March 27, 1819, according to which four officers of the Edinburgh Society of Highlanders opened the society's ball with it. In 1829, 1832, 1838 and 1844 the Reel of Tulloch was also danced at the Piping and Dancing Competitions in Edinburgh. In dance books the dance did not appear before 1844, first under the name "the Duchess of Sutherland's New Highland Reel" in The Ballroom Annual (London 1844) as a round-the-room dance.
The 1749 Menzies manuscript contains a dance called "The Mighty Pretty Valley or Reel of Tulloch"; the dance described there is a country dance for three couples, which has no resemblance to the actual Reel of Tulloch.
literature
- Highland dancing. The textbook of the Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing . 6th edition. Lindsay, Glasgow 1993, ISBN 1-898169-01-2 (English).
- Peter Knight RSCDS (Ed.): Scottish Country Dancing . HarperCollins Publishers, Glasgow 2000, ISBN 978-0-00-472500-0 (English).
Web links
Videos on YouTube ( Flash required ):
- Reel of Tulloch ( visited October 7, 2014 )
- "Half Hulichan" ( visited December 19, 2010 )
- Highland Dancing Strathspey & Highland Reel (from 1:14) & Reel of Tulloch (from 1:53) ( visited on December 19, 2010 )
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Edward Dwelly: Illustrated Gaelic-English Dictionary . Edinburgh 1993, ISBN 1-874744-04-1 (English, first publ. 1901-11).
- ↑ James Logan : The Scottish Gael. Celtic Manners as preserved among the Highlanders . Smith, Elder & Co., London 1831 (English, (online) , (PDF, 77 MB) ).
- ↑ James Scott Skinner: Harp & Claymore Collection , 1904
- ^ A b George S. Emmerson: A Social History of Scottish Dance. Ane Celestial Recreation . McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal 1972, ISBN 0-7735-0087-1 , pp. 177 f . (English).
- ↑ http://www.strathspey.org/history/menzies.html ( Memento from April 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive )