Eightsomes and then some

I recently read The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett – an excellent and very funny book which mentioned a FiveHundredAndTwelvesome Reel. As this would require 64 couples on each side of the set, I can’t imagine it happening in reel (sorry!) life – where? for starters – but in the book it was to be danced by Pictsies: very small, fierce men in kilts. (One of my favourite things about Pratchett is his brilliant use of language.) It made me wonder what was the largest feasible multiple of an Eightsome Reel, and prompted a happy memory.