Study Notes Copyright © William Lynch 2007
| First Figure - Set Left and Right (Reels) | 160 bars |
| 1 | Lead around: with crossed hand hold in front, couples dance anti-clockwise around to place, the lady turning under both raised arms and into waltz hold on the last 2 bars. | 8 bars |
| 2 | Swing partners. | 8 bars |
| 3 | Top couples:
1st couple house within the set. |
8 bars |
| House around each other. | 8 bars | |
| 4 | Set left, set right: Gents turn one full turn clockwise into the position of the lady on the L as she turns clockwise into the position left by her partner (2 bars). New couples dance two full turns in place, finishing as they started with the gent in the lady's position and the lady in the gent's position (6 bars). Gents and ladies full turn clockwise back to their own positions (2 bars) and dance two turns at home with their own partners (6 bars)(see ENDNOTE). | 16 bars |
| 5 | Top couples repeat 3. with 2nd top couple
leading. Set left, set right. |
32 bars |
| 6 | Side couples now dance 3. with 1st sides
(L of 1st top couple) leading.
Set left, set right. |
32 bars |
| 7 | Side couples repeat 3. with 2nd sides leading.
Set left, set right. |
32 bars |
| 8 | House around. | 8 bars |
| Second Figure - The Clap (Reels) | 224 bars |
| 1 | Lead around.
Swing partners. |
16 bars |
| 2 | House and wheel:
1st top couple house within. All dancers clap on the last beat of the 8th bar. |
8 bars |
| Gents R and L hand wheel while the ladies dance anticlockwise around the set (4 bars), turn inwards, and dance clockwise back to place (4 bars). | 8 bars | |
| All dance at home. | 8 bars | |
| Top couples house around each other. | 8 bars | |
| 3 | Set left, set right. | 16 bars |
| 4 | House and wheel: 2nd top couple leading,
the ladies wheeling R hand and L hand while the gents dance around.
Set left, set right. |
48 bars |
| 5 | House and wheel: 1st side couple leading and gents wheeling R hand and L hand while the ladies dance around.
Set left, set right. |
48 bars |
| 6 | House and wheel: 2nd side couple leading,
the ladies wheeling R hand and L hand while the gents dance around.
Set left, set right. |
48 bars |
| 7 | House around. | 8 bars |
| Third Figure - House All Around (Reels) | 288 bars |
| 1 | Lead around.
Swing partners. |
16 bars |
| 2 | Top couples:
1st gent house all around: 1st gent dances house within the set with his own partner (6 bars), dropping her back to her own position on the last 2 bars. He turns to face the 1st side lady who has danced out to meet him, they dance house within (6 bars) and he drops her back to her own position (2 bars). He repeats this movement with 2nd top and 2nd side ladies. |
32 bars |
| Both couples dance at home.
House around each other. |
16 bars | |
| 3 | Set left, set right. | 16 bars |
| 4 | Side couples now dance 3. with 1st gent
leading. Set left, set right. |
64 bars |
| 5 | Top couples now repeat 3. with 2nd gent
leading. Set left, set right. |
64 bars |
| 6 | Side couples now repeat 3. with 2nd gent
leading. Set left, set right. |
64 bars |
| 7 | House around. | 8 bars |
| Fourth Figure - Ladies Chain (Jigs) | 224 bars |
| 1 | Lead around.
Swing partners. |
16 bars |
| 2 | Ladies chain: Top ladies take R hands in the centre and, as they move on to give L hands to the opposite gents, side ladies perform the same movement. Gents turn low L hand with the ladies and top ladies again take R hands in centre and dance back to their partners while side ladies dance directly back to their partners R to R. | 8 bars |
| 3 | Dance at home. | 8 bars |
| 4 | Top couples: 1st couple house within. |
8 bars |
| House around each other. | 8 bars | |
| 5 | Set left, set right.
Ladies chain led by side ladies. Dance at home. |
32 bars |
| 6 | Top couples: 2nd couple house within. House around each other. |
16 bars |
| 7 | Set left, set right.
Ladies chain led by top ladies. Dance at home. |
32 bars |
| 8 | Side couples: 1st couple house within. House around each other. |
16 bars |
| 9 | Set left, set right.
Ladies chain led by side ladies. Dance at home. |
32 bars |
| 10 | Side couples: 2nd couple house within. House around each other. |
16 bars |
| 11 | Set left, set right.
House around. |
24 bars |
| Fifth Figure - House and Line-up (Hornpipes/March) | 160 bars |
| 1 | Circle: all join hands in a circle and advance and retire twice. | 8 bars |
| 2 | Chain: all chain R and L hand round to place, ladies dancing clockwise and gents anti-clockwise (12 bars) and dance at home (4 bars). | 16 bars |
| 3 | House and Line-up:
1st top couple house within, finishing just inside their own place but facing out of the circle. |
8 bars |
| All other couples, in clockwise order, house around the top couple and line up behind them, gents behind the gent and ladies behind the lady - this time the line up would be: 1st tops in front, followed by 1st sides, 2nd tops, 2nd sides. | 8 bars | |
| March around: gents cast off L and ladies R and march around in a full circle to meet back in lines after 8 paces (4 bars). Gents then put their R arms around their partners' waists and couples march another 8 paces round to place (4 bars)(see ENDNOTE). | 8 bars | |
| House around. | 8 bars | |
| 4 | 1st side couple leads to repeat 3. followed in the line-up by 2nd tops, 2nd sides and 1st tops. | 32 bars |
| 5 | 2nd top couple leads to repeat 3. followed in the line-up by 2nd sides, 1st tops and 1st sides. | 32 bars |
| 6 | 2nd side couple leads to repeat 3. followed in the line-up by 1st tops, 1st sides and 2nd tops. | 32 bars |
| STEPS The Clare style reel step is used for all the reels and the 'down' jig step for the jig. |
| SOURCE This is a Clare set from the Labasheeda area. I got it from Pat Moroney at Priddy, Somerset in 1992. |
| ENDNOTE: Another way, which I have seen, of dancing the Set left, set right is for the ladies to turn clockwise to face out of the set and the gents to dance outside to face them, turning clockwise, before new couples dance at home. They finish in the same position before dancing back to their own partners, but this time the gents face out and the ladies in to start the dance at home. Yet another way was taught by Mick Mulkerrin at his Wexford workshop in November 2001. He had the ladies dancing a full turn in place while the gents dance inside them into the place of the gent on their L, turning clockwise one full turn as they go. The same 2 bar movement is danced back to place. Mick would also have couples dance one turn only when dancing in place. The March around in the Fifth Figure also has a variant in which the waist hold march around (last 4 bars) takes all couples into the place R of where they started from rather than simply back to place. So the set rotates one place each time movement 3 is danced. |