The dedication reads: For the Leeds Day School
Drewry specifies: »The dance may be danced as a Strathspey only, or it may be repeated in Reel tempo to make a Medley.« or in the wording of
Greenburn Book 3:
»Strathspey - 3 couples - 64 bars OR Medley [Strathspey + Reel] - 64+64 bars«
Further notes by John Drewry from the
Greenburn Book 3:
about the setup:
The dance is triangular in shape and the couples stand at the apices of an equilateral triangle.
For the women, comers are the men standing on their right and contra comers are the other men. For the men, comers are the women standing on their left and contra corners are the other women.
The dance may be danced as a Strathspey only, or it may be repeated in Reel Tempo to make a Medley.
about the name:
There is already a dance called The Round Reel of Eight (Book 27 No.7). This gave me the idea for the title of this dance.
In English Country Dances a “Hey” or “Hay” is the equivalent of a “Reel” in Scottish Country Dances.
ROUNDHAY is a district of Leeds with a famous park.
The
Triangular Reel of Six
is slightly like a triangular Schiehallion Reel, but the phrasing is different.
The phrasing in this dance is:- dance in, pass left shoulders, dance out and curve round into place using four equal steps (similar to the phrasing in a foursome reel).
In a Schiehallion Reel the phrasing for the men is:- two long steps to travel to the next woman’s place and two short steps to cast to the man’s place, whereas for the women it is:- two short steps to cast to the man’s place and then two tong steps to travel to the next woman’s place. I hope I am not being too pedantic in thinking in this way about the reels.