Here is a link to an interactive version of the film with dance tutorial of the Shetland Reel. [ Ссылка ]
In an earlier post, the Greenland Days and the Haaf Fishing, I mentioned the dance called the Shetland Reel. On my trip to Greenland I had played for dancers there, and I thought, when I get home I should take a look at our own indigenous dance, the Shetland Reel.
The backstep is well known in Shetland and often danced by folk, but not so many dance the full Shetland Reel. It is a great fun to be part of, both playing for it and dancing it - a tremendous energy and rhythm with the sound of the feet during the reeling, driven by the fiddle tunes, the stamping of feet, wild heuchs and skrechs from the floor as dancers backstep or shuffle.
I teamed up with local film maker Liz Musser, and we went on a tour around Shetland to see who was still dancing the reel and what variations there were in the different islands and districts.
In some districts they start with the reel, and in others the backstep. In Whalsay they have the lovely scruffle step, and the shuffle is danced in Out Skerries, fantastic to see this all in step, with calls for dooble time! In Unst and Burra there is a woman’s step and also front step. In Yell they have a special wedding version of the dance. Some districts hold hands across as they do the backstep. There is also a four couple and two couple version that came from Skeld, and out in Walls a step called ‘killing clocks’. In the past Burra had a daring barrel dance, and Whalsay the drunken skipper was danced by the men until they all fell doon at the end.
Watching the short film back it would be great to be back in the heart of a session like you see here in Voe, with a Shetland Reel in full flow. I fully intend when this time of isolation is past to get a dance floor filled with six to eight sets down the hall, all in step, just like the lady in Unst described. Feel the energy of the Shetland Reel again.
The film and interactive demo was nominated for a Celtic Media Award, in the Innovation Category, and also won an award at the Shetland Screenplay for best use of Shetland Dialect.
You can find more of Liz Musser's work on [ Ссылка ]
Liz is available to hire for film work, such as Director, Video Editor, Producer, Filmmaker and Cinematographer. Type of projects - Tutorial, Editing, Documentary, Short film, VR video
