THE SOUTH GALWAY HALFSET

THE SOUTH GALWAY HALFSET

INTRODUCTION - Pairs of couples take the floor and form a circle, couples of each pair facing each other with waltz hold. Each pair of couples constitutes a half set and couples dance only with the other couple of their pair.

First Figure - Pass Through (Reels)

56 bars

1	House around the circle.	8 bars
2	Pass through: Couples of each pair face each other and pass through, ladies in the centre passing L to L (2 bars) and partners change places, again L to L (2 bars). Couples pass through again and partners pass L to L into their own positions (4 bars).	8 bars
3	Swing with waltz hold.	8 bars
4	House around the circle. Pass through. Swing.	24 bars

Second Figure - Advance, Retire, and Pass Through (Reels)

72 bars

1	House around the circle.	8 bars
2	Advance, retire and pass through: with the same hold, couples of each pair face each other and advance and retire (4 bars). They advance again and pass through each other with ladies in the centre and partners change places, L to L (4 bars). The same movement is repeated back to place (8 bars).	16 bars
3	Swing with waltz hold.	8 bars
4	House around the circle. Advance, retire, and pass through. Swing.	32 bars

Third Figure - House Across (Reels)

88 bars

1	House around the circle.	8 bars
2	Advance, retire and house across: keeping waltz hold, couples of each pair face each other and advance and retire (4 bars). They then house across into each other’s place (4 bars). The same movement is repeated back to place (8 bars).	16 bars
3	House around the circle.	8 bars
4	Swing.	8 bars
5	House around the circle. Advance, retire, and house across. House around the circle. Swing.	40 bars

Fourth Figure - House Around (Jigs/Reels)

88 bars

1	House around the circle.	8 bars
2	House around each other: Couples of each pair face each other and house around each other.	8 bars
3	Advance and retire twice.	8 bars
4	House around the circle. Swing. House around the circle.	24 bars
5	House around each other. Advance and retire twice. House around the circle. Swing.	32 bars

Fifth Figure - Ladies Cross Over (Reels)

104 bars

1	House around the circle.	8 bars
2	Advance, retire, and ladies cross over: with waltz hold, couples of each pair face each other and advance and retire (4 bars) and ladies cross, R to R, into each other's place (4 bars) while the gents turn clockwise once in place.	8 bars
	House around the circle with new partners.	8 bars
	Advance and retire and ladies cross back: the same movement is repeated, the ladies dancing back to their own partners.	8 bars
3	House around the circle. Swing. House around the circle.	24 bars
4	Advance and retire and ladies cross over. House around the circle with new partners. Advance and retire and ladies cross back.	24 bars
5	House around the circle.	8 bars
6	Swing four: couples of each pair form a basket and swing.	8 bars

STEPS
The set is danced quite flat, with some lift to the step - though not as much as in the Clare style - and little or no battering. The jig is danced with the ‘rising’ jig step. One of the couples in The Landmark made a point of dancing their swing in an anti-clockwise direction. Note that dancers will sometimes call for reels to be played for the Fourth Figure instead of jigs.

MUSIC:
I have it from Mary Brogan that the best tracks available to date for this set are recorded on “Shaskeen Live”.

SOURCES
Dancers in Luke's Bar, March 1995 and Kathleen Waters and her husband and other local dancers in The Landmark, March 1996, both in Gort, Co. Galway, courtesy of Mary and Tony Brogan. Here, in its own home place, the set has never been danced as it is normally danced at ceilis but has always been danced as a half set with the pairs of couples arranged either in a circle around the floor as I have described it above (known as ‘dancing all around’), or in two lines across the floor with couples facing each other in pairs. If one couple joined two others already on the floor they would ask, “Are you dancing all round?” If the answer was “Yes” then they would wait for others to join and form a circle, but if “No, you carry on” then that was the signal that they should go find another couple to face them in line.

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