This was nominated to the program by Beryl Pedvin, one of our regular callers since the 1990s. The Bucksaw Reel is an American contra dance, and was written in the late 1950s by Herbie Gaudreau, one of the pioneers of contra dancing in New England. It was originally called the Beckett Reel, after the location of a regular dance camp in Massachusetts. It was ground-breaking at the time, being one of the first contras where everyone dances all the time. The dance is now generally known as the Bucksaw Reel after the sawtooth figure (the Diagonal Half Rights and Lefts), though the formation of couples side by side in a longways set continues to be known as the Beckett formation.
Formation: Longways set for as many as will, couple facing couple across the set, lady on man's right (similar to La Galopade).
Music: 32-bar American Reel/Contra.
| BARS | DESCRIPTION |
| 4 | Allemande Left with corner. (See Notes.) |
| 4 | Swing partner in ballroom hold. |
| 8 | Standard ladies' chain across and back; when ending the chain, turn as a couple a bit more than usual, to end facing slightly left. |
| 4 | The "sawtooth" All (except couple on left end of each line - see Notes) dance Diagonal Half Right and Left Through with the couple on your left of the couple you chained with. (See Notes.) |
| 4 | All dance Standard Half Right and Left Through with the
couple now opposite. (You will now have progressed one place.) |
| 4 | LH star with couple opposite.... |
| 4 | ....and back with RH star, ending with Left hand out ready to
start again. (Since everyone moves round the set, up one side and down the other, the opening Allemande is always with the same person.) |
| 32 | Repeat as required. |
Notes:
1: "Allemande" means different things in different places and in
different dance heritages. In this case it means - with hands held palm to palm at eye
level, make a full turn around each other and back to place.
2: Corner - the person next you who is not your partner. For end people
this is the person opposite.
3: Right and Left Through: take Right hand with opposite and pass
across, take Left hand with partner and courtesy turn to change places (similar to the
second half of the Australian "half ladies' chain" movement).
4: The couples at the left end of the lines will not find another couple
on the opposite left diagonal. When this happens, do not move during the Diagonal Half
Right and Left Through, but join back in for the Standard Half Right and Left Through that
follows.