Hull's Victory
Duple proper

A1	Actives turn partner by the right halfway and give left hands to neighbors to form a wavy line-of-4, balance forward and back Turn the neighbor by the left, (once around for elegance, or twice around for excitement)
A2	Actives turn by the right halfway and give left hand to same sex neighbor in a wavy line, balance again Turn that neighbor by the left (once or twice)
B1	Actives down the center, "the same way back" (turn alone) and cast off
B2	Same four, right and left through, over and back

This version of Hull's Victory is somewhat different than the one that has been common from the 1950s onward, in which a swing for the first couple is inserted in A2. After contrasting this older setting to the version with the swing, Ralph Page wrote in his magazine, Northern Junket (Vol. 1, #11, March 1950), "We weren't quite so swing crazy in the old days, and the dance done this way gives an entirely different feeling than when done as it is now. The pendulum will swing back to this older version sometime." Ralph may have guessed wrong about this version regaining popularity; with regard to swings the pendulum seems not to be going back and forth but in a continuous clockwise orbit! However, this more symmetrical setting of Hull's Victory does have great charm, and we encourage you to try it with the goal of adding contrast and depth to a dance program.

The more common version today is:

A1	Actives turn partner by the right halfway and give left hands to neighbors to form a wavy line-of-4, balance Turn the neighbor by the left, make it twice!
A2	Actives turn by the right all the way round and form the same wave again, balance Actives swing
B1	Actives down the center, "the other way back" (turn as a couple to get proper) and cast off
B2	As above

In either version the twos, and in particular gent #2, will be greatly appreciated by their neighbors for accommodating the process of getting into the wave-of-4 across in A1. Lady #2 just needs to face the music and offer her left hand. If gent #2 starts the dance by moving up the set into the space vacated by gent #1, he too can manage to appear in the perfect spot, facing down, just in time to give the active lady a left hand.

One potential trouble spot occurs at the start of A2. Today's dancers usually expect a balance when they've moved into a wavy line of four; callers can point out that in this dance there is an additional turn, and the expected balance does not arrive until beat 5 of A2, as in A1.

The balances are at the heart of the dance's storyline. We strongly encourage using a forward and back balance, which is supposed to represent the recoiling of cannon in this dance whose title commemorates a naval victory - when the USS Constitution, or "Old Ironsides" sank the British warship, HMS Guerriere in 20 minutes during the war of 1812. Callers, try cueing the balances by calling, "Fire!" As with many chestnuts, using the traditional tune, at least to begin and end the dance, will add immeasurably to your experience. You will see that the A-music has a phrase on beats 5-8 that just cries out for a balance. Ross's Reel #4 makes an excellent change tune, with the melody also providing a signal for those A-part balances.

Hull's Victory is apparently an American variation of the Scottish Country dance, Scottish Reform. For an interesting discussion written more than half a century ago, check out Ralph Page's description in Northern Junket. Ralph also includes a version of the tune.