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hornpipe. Thought I would mention it since it does cause some
confusion on this side of the pond from time to time.

Strathspeys are even harder to explain, though if you got the bit about
dotted time, you might understand this explanation too. As I
understand it, strathspeys feature what we might call "reverse dotted
time" where a measure might have

        Bah bump, bah bump    or     Bah bump, bump bah

as a rhythmic feature in many of its measures. This is called the
"Scottish snap" since strathspeys are a Scottish invention. They
often have regular dotted time, quarter notes, and triplets as well.

In general, then, hornpipes and strathspeys are both slower than reels
and have more varied rhythmic figures. Marches are also slower than
reels, but have that sense of even rhythm that is good for cadence.

Strathspeys can be quite fast, if beat in 4. It's not uncommon to have
a strathspey (in 4) going at mm=128 while a reel (in 2) is a mm=116.
Marches can be played as quick two-steps, such as Duke of Fife's
Welcome to Deeside, or as slower pipe marches and retreat marches.
There should be a swing and lilt to a march, though, which often
involves dotting the rhythm somewhat, not unlike a hornpipe or
strathspey. Alasdair Fraser has written a march, the Aberdeen
Alternative Festival March, which started out as a strathspey. He
decided that the form of the tune called for it to be considered a
march. Another interesting category in marches is the 6/3 marches,
such as the Atholl Highlanders, and the retreat marches, which are in
three beats to the measure, such as the Bloody Fields of Flanders,
which is the tune for The Freedom Come-All-Ye.

THINGS IN THREE
---------------
Jigs are in three, usually counted as six, or nine, or twelve. To my
ear, distinguishing between the 6 and 12 often seems somewhat
subjective, but that's probably due to a limitation in my powers of
discernment.

Double jigs, single jigs, and slides all have a sense of two or
four-ness about them -- the underlying beat is in twos. I'm not sure
what the  difference between double and single jigs is -- though I
believe that  double jigs are counted in six, and slides are in twelve.

If you're counting a double jig in six, it'd be

        ONE two three Four five six     
        ONE two three Two  two  three
        ^             |
[Sorry to beat this over the head, but the "ONE" gets the major stress
(^),  and the "Four" or "Two" gets the secondary stress (|). You might
try  beating this out yourself with the right hand doing the beats with
stresses and the left doing the others (or v.v. if you're left-handed)]
Likewise for slides, it's

        ONE two three Four five six Seven eight nine  Ten  eleven twelve  
        ONE two three Two two three Three two   three Four two    three
        ^             |             |                 |

Slip jigs, however, have the very different feel of three-ness:

        ONE two three Four five six  Seven eight nine
        ONE two three Two  two three Three two three
        ^             |              |

The Butterfly Jig is a good example of a slip jig. Waltzes are also in
three (or six), but much slower.

As I understand it, single jigs tend to have a predominant rhythm of
long-short for each beat, such as The Stool of Repentance opening
measure. Off She Goes might be a better example. Double jigs have the
three notes to the beat rhythm. Most RSCDS jigs are single or double
jigs. Some ceilidh dancing, such as Strip the Willow, can be done to
slip jigs. Slip jigs are much less common in Scottish music that, I
think, in Irish music.

Waltzes are a completely different animal, and should not be confused
with jigs in any way.

BASIC TUNE STRUCTURE
--------------------
I have yet to discover the nuances of the way people write tunes out;
for example, most reels can be written as a series of quarter and
eighth notes, or as eighth and sixteenths. I'm sorry if this is
getting too technical, but the point is that I don't think there are
hard and fast rules governing how to write this stuff out.

Depending on how you write them out then, tunes usually have four or
eight bars in each part, then that part is repeated once immediately
after playing it the first time. Most tunes have two parts; call the
first part A, the second B, and so forth. So most tunes are sixteen or
thirty-two bars. Taking the case of the thirty-two bar tune, it would
be two A parts of  eight bars each, then two B's of eight bars each.

        A (8 bars) A (8 bars)
        B (8 bars) B (8 bars)

In RSCDS, most reels and jigs call for 32 bar tunes, so the tune is
either played AABB or ABAB once through before going to the next tune.
Strathspeys are usually 16 measures in length, so they are usually
played twice, so that the same 32 bars are reached before going to the
next tune in the set. Some dances call for 40 or 48 bar tunes, which
causes odd repeat patterns. As a practicing musician, I don't
particularly like 40 and 48 bar tunes because I'm used to playing 32
bar tunes and I actually have to try to remember the odd repeat
pattern. Can cause screw-ups at dances, though I usually make it
through.

Also, MOST of the time, people play this whole shebang twice through
before heading off to the next tune in a medley. Sometimes they play
it more than twice, but rarely do they play it only once through.

RSCDSs, because of the insistance on 32 bar tunes, tends to have but
one playing of a reel or jig, most of which are 32 bar tunes if played
AABB, before going to the next tune. However, I never let a tune go
only one time in concert, unless it's a long, usually 4 part, pipe tune
where the 3rd and 4th parts are strongly related to the 1st and 2nd
parts.

There are many exceptions to all of this, of course. One of my
favourite tunes, The Galtee Hunt, has eight bars in the A part, and
twelve in the B part.

Let me know if this makes any sense to you, or if I'm talking way below
or above your understanding. I've tried to explain this before on the
net, but as I said, text is hardly the best way to get this across. It's
interesting to me to try to verbalise stuff that has become almost
second nature to me. Though, I hasten to add, I frequently have to
count to figure out what a tune is.

One other caveat: Sometimes the title of the tune is the Such-and-such
Reel or whatever, and it's not played in that rhythm at all. I don't
know why this happens, and it's rare, but it does happen. Sometimes
people just change the way it's played for fun. There's a hornpipe
called The Banks Hornpipe that Michael Coleman plays as a hornpipe, but
I've heard it played here in the States for contradances as a reel.
Just human perversity, I guess!

A strathspey is actually a type of reel which developed in the  valley
(strath) of the river Spey area in Northeast Scotland. There are
several ways to play strathspeys. For the more formal Royal Scottish
Country Dance Society dances, the strathspey is played essentially in
two, but with a strong afterbeat on the second beat to lead into the
next measure. Since the music is written in 4/4, the basic rhythm for
RSCDS dancing would be ONE two THREE Four, with emphasis at least every
other measure on the Four. For Highland dancing, the playing is done
in a vigouorous four, and somewhat faster than the RSCDS tempo of
approximately 60 for the half-note. Highland would be somewhat faster
than 120 for the quarter-note. Cape Breton strathspeys are sometimes
slower and sometimes faster, but are usually in four beats to the bar.
A common pattern is to have a slow strathspey lead into a faster
strathspey, which gets faster until the players and dancers break into
reels, which are actually slower than the strathspey (in four) is at
that point.

Strathspeys can often be identified by the Scottish Snap rhythm,
usually notated as a 16th - dotten 8th, but played more like a
32nd -  double dotted 8th, which occurs at various times in the piece.
While strathspeys are in 4/4, not 12/8, I understand that Scottish
pipe band drummers often treat them as if they were in 12/8 because of
the tendency to make dotted (dotten 8th - 16th) rhythms sound as if
they were some form of triplets. However, they are notated either as
regular dotted rhythms or as equal notes. Strathspeys often do have
triplets notated in them, and they are notated as triplets. They also
often have runs of 4 16th notes, and the two features are often found
in  the same strathspeys. The feel of a strathspey is quite different
from  that of a slide (an form of jig in 12/8) or of jigs, and the
music should  be thought of as 4/4 or 2/2 which may have triple or
quadriple rhythms,  not as a firm triplet rhythm as in a jig.

For more information on Scottish Dance, contact the only organisation
devoted to the Traditions of Scottish Dance and Dance music, who can
be reached at:

Liam Paterson
Co-ordinator
The Scottish Traditions of Dance Trust
54 Blackfriars Street
Edinburgh
EH1 1NE.
tel/fax: 0131 558 8737


[10.2] What is a Ceilidh

A Ceilidh (pronounced "Kay-lay", emphasis on 1st syllable) is many
things. It derives from the Gaelic word meaning a visit and originally
meant just that (and still does in Gaelic). It can also mean a house
party, a concert or more usually an evening of informal Scottish
traditional dancing to informal music. Ceilidhs in the Lowlands tend
to be dances, in the Highlands they tend to be concerts. Dances in the
Highlands and traditional ceilidhs in the Lowlands are often called
"ceilidh dances". Ceilidh dancing is fundamentally different from
Scottish Country Dancing (See answer [10.4]) in that it is much less
formal and the primary purpose is the enjoyment of doing the dance.
Scottish Country Dancing is much more oriented towards being a
demonstration or exhibition. Ceilidhs are extremely popular indeed
with young people and often attract from a few dozen people to
several hundred. There are world championships for ceilidh bands
now (the first winners were Fire in the Glen, now called Tannas).
There are also workshops for ceilidh bands at The Adult Learning
Project, Dalry Road, Edinburgh. http://www.alpscotsmusic.org/


Venues
======
Best places for Ceilidhs are:

Edinburgh
---------
See http://www.MikesCommunity.com/

Assembly Rooms and The Hub are the best venues.

Also try: Marco's leisure centre, Cafe Royal, Southside
Community Centre, St Bride's centre, St Oswald's Hall (Montpelier),
Methodist Halls, The Thomas Morton Hall, MacEwan Hall, St Pete's
Church Hall in Lutton Place and Caledonian Brewery.

The West End Hotel has leaflets on the noticeboard showing when
ceilidhs are on, or look in the Folk music section of The List
(the Glasgow and Edinburgh what's on guide; out fortnightly
available at most newsagents). http://www.timeout.com/ (look
for Glasgow/Edinburgh sections). Info on Ceilidhs in the folk
music section

Glasgow
-------
The Riverside Club. OK place for a ceilidh but prone to being busy and too much
like a nightclub. There are even bouncers (unheard of at all the good ceilidhs)

A good book for anyone wanting to learn how to do ceilidh dances and
play ceilidh tunes is Let's have a ceilidh by Robbie Shepherd
(well known Radio Scotland presenter of Take the Floor)
Price 4.95, 100 pages.
Published by Canongate Press, 14 Frederick St, Edinburgh, EH2 2HB
ISBN 0 86241 412 1  http://www.canongate.net/

Includes 20 of the most popular dances, plus a selection of music to
go with the dances. There are explanations for the various steps with
diagrams, as well as some notes on the history of dancing.


Book information
================
Get more information on the books listed here
via our books page in association with Amazon.
http://www.siliconglen.com/Scotland/books/amazon.html#[10.2]


[10.3] Article on Scottish Step Dancing

See also
http://www.tullochgorm.com/scottish.html
by Maggie Moore

and also
http://www.siliconglen.com/celtfaq/3_2.html
Prepared by: Sheldon MacInnes, Program Director,
Extension & Community Affairs, University College of Cape Breton.

See the end of [10.5] for details of a mailing list covering step
dance and highland dance

Article by Dr Margaret Bennett

"Step-dancing: Why we must learn from past mistakes"

MARGARET BENNETT of the School of Scottish Studies on the history - and
possible future - of a unique form of dance.

When I read your article "Step-dancing makes its return ..." earlier this
year [in the West Highland Free Press (WHFP)] it was not my intention to
"join in the dance" as I saw it as a useful piece of publicity for Harvey
Beaton's step-dancing class that was to be held at Sabhal Mor Ostaig, [the
Gaelic Adult Education and Community College on the Isle of Skye].

Publicity or not, it was a pity the article began with so many historical
distortions - all that nonsense about Queen Victoria's "infatuation with
the Highlands" which had a "lasting effect upon the style of music and
dance". Perhaps it is an attempt at retroactive "Royal bashing" for it has
no bearing whatsoever on reality.

Based on my own research, I would say that Queen Victoria took a sincere
and supportive interest in Scotland's culture and languages and would urge
others to read her journals before making such sweeping statements. There
are also accounts from oral tradition, such as one which was re-told to me
by my colleague, Dr John MacInnes, of Queen Victoria advising the Duke of
Atholl to employ a Gaelic-speaking nursemaid so that the language would not
be lost. If only twentieth century mothers had applied her clear-thinking
principle, Gaelic would be in a much healthier state.

In view of the fact that by far the greatest influence on Scottish
traditional dance did not appear until well after Queen Victoria's death,
it might be as well to remind readers of the facts. Ironically, (though too
often the case with people who "mean well") the woman who undoubtedly had
the greatest influence on dance had every intention of *preserving* it.

She was Miss Jean Milligan, lecturer in Physical Education at Jordanhill
College of Education in Glasgow, and as such, was in the ideal position to
train teachers in every aspect of the dances she clearly loved. She did
not, however, love the wild, undisciplined ways of the "untrained" village
hall or kitchen-floor dancers, who, at that time would dance in whatever
footwear they happened to be wearing, or, as was often the case in summer,
in bare feet. She was certainly willing to study dance, and if, for
example, she watched several versions of a particular reel, she would
decide on a standard *correct style*, then, with missionary zeal, set about
"correcting" rural dances. Beginning with footwear (dance-pumps, please)
she tackled "position", having decided it should be based on classical
ballet.

In 1923 she co-founded The Scottish Country Dance Society, and published
books that set out the "proper" way to dance. From then on, there cannot be
a teacher who trained at Jordanhill who does not remember the classes - in
my own day, mid 60s, we had three years of them - you bought the books,
turned up with the proper shoes, learnt the "positions" and dances, and how
to teach them. Then, thoroughly trained, five hundred of us girls graduated
each year convinced that we were on the right track. (I did, however,
wonder at the instructions to the piano player which always began: "Thank
you Miss Peterkin, (shouted) *and!*" Just calculate the number of
school-teachers, to say nothing of the privately trained village-hall
teachers, who have influenced Scottish dance since 1923 - it was the ideal
system for "correcting" an entire nation.

I have no doubt that some readers will be irritated at what they might
perceive as criticism of the RSCDS and its co-founder. That is not at all
my intention. I believe that any form of dance is perfectly valid; what is
*not* valid is to eliminate traditional forms along the way.

There is much to be said in favour of the RSCDS, as the organisation has
given pleasure to millions of dancers and spectators over the years, and,
in its own way, acts as an ambassador for Scotland. I would, however,
suggest that anyone serious enough to research aspects of Scottish dance
should read Miss Milligan's own account of what her aims were and how she
set about attaining them. The reader will, at the same time, gain an
interesting insight into her (lack of) understanding of Scottish culture.

To cite one example which will show how inaccurately she perceived dance in
the broader scope of Scottish Customs: in 1912, before she cleverly
discovered how to train school-teachers to promote her ideas, Miss Milligan
founded the Beltane Society in Glasgow in order (she wrote) "to cultivate
among the younger generation a knowledge of Scottish folk songs, ballads,
dances and ... to maintain all the national customs and quaint ceremonies
...". Our forebears celebrated Beltane, *Latha Bealltain*, for centuries,
and, as many of your readers already know, it had nothing to do with
Jean Milligan's revolutionary ideas. Fortunately, membership of her Beltane
Society was voluntary (unlike the Jordanhill dance classes) and did not
last, otherwise we might be faced with the task of re-educating our own
people in yet another perfectly valid part of our past.

*IT IS NOT* surprising, then, that the older dances which were so popular
in the Scottish Highlands were preserved in the New World amongst emigrants
who left Scotland before the massive re-education campaign started.

There were solo dances and group dances, all of which involved a variety of
steps and formations, and depending on where the dances were performed,
there were (and are) countless variations. They were not, however, confined
to Cape Breton, as they could be found wherever Highlanders settled: New
Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, Ontario, Quebec, and so on.

While it is heartening to watch a revival in step-dancing and to see it
taught once again in Scotland, when I hear of revivalists referring to this
solo dancing as "Cape Breton step-dancing" and then dictating that all
dancers *must* wear hard-soled shoes of a certain type, I wonder if they
are not in danger of repeating some of the same mistakes that Miss Milligan
is accused of making? In their zeal to "do it right" new enthusiasts may be
creating a new set of rules that may be just as definitive as those set out
by the RSCDS.

As far as the terms of reference are concerned, if we adopt the same logic
which is applied to the naming of step-dancing and then, for example, apply
it to the Gaelic language, we would be able to state authoritatively that
people in Skye, or any other Gaelic-speaking area, speak "Lewis Gaelic",
for, after all, that is where Gaelic is spoken most widely. Imagine the
outcry!

In the space of a few short years, the term "Cape Breton step-dancing" has
even taken hold in Canada, and can be heard in provinces where it was
completely unknown twenty years ago. This summer I encountered it on the
west coast of Newfoundland, where Scottish step-dancing has survived every
bit as well as in Cape Breton, albeit with a much smaller area. I was told
"well, I guess that's what they're calling it now - you see it on the
television." Only two years ago I video-recorded the same step-dancer who
never once used the term "Cape Breton step-dancing" although he has often
danced in Cape Breton at the invitation of Cape Bretonners who liked his
style.

On the subject of hard-soled shoes, the same dancer commented that they are
"pretty good at a ceilidh," especially on a wooden floor, above the sound
of the fiddle, "but years ago, more often or not I'd be dancing bare-feet
out in the field and singing for myself." In the past, there were no rules,
and it was just as common for a woodsman in his steel-toed boots in the
lumber camp bunkhouse as it was for the priest to dance in his black
leather shoes at the church social.

Another Newfoundland Gael, whose people emigrated from Canna and Moidart in
the 1820s and 40s, described where they got their dances (transcribed from
tape):

"We had people here that taught step-dancing, the Scotch dancing ... there
was one woman here, she was a MacDonald, she could dance sixty steps,
different steps, and it was all the right dancing, you know, step-dancing.
Oh I tell you they were pretty lively! They knew the tunes, a lot of them
from Scotland ... they followed the tunes from Scotland right down."

There is obviously a crying need for a dedicated individual to document
carefully the range of material available. Since I am a folklorist (not a
dance ethnographer) who happens to have made a number of video and audio
tapes on the subject (and yes, they are at the School of Scottish Studies),
I have no plans for writing a book about the history of dance. I have,
however, made much of my own collection available to interested individuals.

In my 11 years at the School of Scottish Studies I have only encountered
three people whose interest was such that they were prepared to spend the
time studying all the material available. One was a former Highland dance
champion who was writing a post-graduate dissertation on Scottish dance,
and during her studies she discovered that her own mother, brought up in
the Stirling area, and by then in her seventies, had a repertoire of
step-dances which she had never demonstrated until she saw a film of
step-dancing in Canada. Till then, the older lady had thought her daughter
who "had been trained to dance properly" might ridicule her.

The second person was one of our own students who studied village hall
dances; and the third person was James MacDonald-Reid, who quite correctly
stated in his recent letter to the WHFP that step-dancing did not, in fact,
die out in Scotland this century. Since he was courteous enough to ask me
if he could refer to my tapes (and without hesitation I agreed) it is only
fair that I should take some responsibility for his reference. As is our
policy, he did not mention any names, for we had not asked the permission
of informants.

Apart from the tapes already mentioned, Mr Reid listened to a discussion by
a step-dancer in the Spey Valley who can still dance step-dances that had
been taught to her by her parents who were from Laggan and Barra
respectively. Like the Stirling woman, she did not simply display a glimmer
of recognition at the sight of "Cape Breton step-dancing", but she could
(and can) get out on the floor and dance the steps.

It is easy to understand why individuals such as these have kept silent
about their ability, for ever since they went to school they have been
shown how to dance "correctly". And, having mastered the RSCDS dances, both
women channelled their childhood energy and love of dance into Highland
Dance, which also has all the acceptability and status lacking in the steps
they had learned at home.

It is to this particular recording that James MacDonald-Reid referred, as
he not only watched her dancing on video (in this case made professionally
by the independent film company Caledonia, Sterne and Wylde) but also
visited the dancer. Together they discussed aspects of dance, and though I
was only able to observe one session of this discourse, anyone watching the
two of them - one born and brought up in the Highlands, and the other
brought up in Ontario in a Scottish family - would be in no doubt as to the
continuity of tradition. Aside from those mentioned, there are reports of
others, granted only few, who still dance the old steps, but to pronounce
something dead while it yet breathes is inaccurate, to say the least.

*CLEARLY* there is much to be done to promote step-dancing and revive it.
If however, those who profess to have its best interest at heart ignore the
facts, then we are in trouble.

It saddens me to watch the very same bodies who declare a serious interest
make so many of the same mistakes that we watched in the past. It is all
very well to bring in an expert for a week or two a year, but what of the
rest of the time?

Those who decide on the appointment of dance teachers must consider
carefully what the demands are, as they plan the promotion of traditional
dance. The ideal person should possess a profound depth of knowledge, a
natural ability to dance, and good, clear teaching techniques. Anyone who
has seen Jamie MacDonald-Reid dance, heard him discuss the subject (and
*not* when he is unfairly cornered by interviewers determined to set him on
edge), or anyone who has seen him teach dance to a class of children or
adults could not doubt his abilities, nor imagine that he is responsible
for some of the damage that Mike Kennedy attributes to "professional
dancers and dance teachers" (WHFP)

Interestingly, though not surprisingly, Mr Reid is also the only person
whom I have ever encountered who could, after watching the video of the
Newfoundland step-dancing, perform the steps himself, as if they were
second nature to him. (The usual reaction of new observers is to ask "how
in the world does that step go," repeat, and try to figure it out.) I
wonder when some organisation, perhaps a local authority, a feis or a
festival, might risk asking James MacDonald-Reid to run a dance class?

Those who have taken the time to watch him are already convinced. It would
be a great pity if some of the so-called enthusiasts spent the rest of
their lives "trying to figure it out" instead of enlisting the talent of
someone who has taken the subject seriously all of his life. If there is
anyone who is more passionately committed to traditional dance in Scotland
then I would very much like to hear from him or her. Better still, I'd love
to watch the dance.

(c) from West Highland Free Press, 14/10/94

*emphasis* - the asterisks are to emphasise various words that might
otherwise be in bold or italic fonts.



[10.4] What is Scottish Country Dancing?

Contributed by Anselm Lingnau

Scottish Country Dancing is a modern form of the 'country dancing' popular
in England and Scotland in the 18th century. It involves groups of six to
ten people (most of the time) of mixed sex (most of the time) -- a 'set'
-- dancing to the driving strains of reels, jigs and strathspeys played
on the fiddle, accordion, flute, piano, drums, etc. (no bagpipes, mostly!).
The dance often combines solo figures for the 'first couple' in the set
with movements for all the dancers, although there is considerable
variation -- there are over 7000 different dances catalogued, of which
maybe 1000 or so are of lasting and non-local importance. Many of these
dances derive from traditional sources such as old manuscripts and printed
dance collections, but a lot have been devised in the fairly recent past,
say the last fifty years or so. This fusion of the traditional and the
modern as well as its ongoing evolution are part of the attraction of
Scottish Country Dancing.

Think of SCD as a cross between square or contra dance (although there is
no caller) and ballet; there are about a dozen basic figures which will get
you through quite a number of dances, although many dances have their own
quirks and specialities which make them unique and fun to dance. There is
also more emphasis on 'steps' than in, say, Ceilidh dancing, but the basic
technique can be learned at a week-end workshop or through a couple of
months' worth of practice evenings once a week. Even though there are so
many dances, you don't have to learn any of them by heart if you don't
want to -- the programmes for balls and social evenings are usually
published well before the event, so everybody can check their crib sheets.
Also, at the event itself dances are often recapitulated or even sometimes
walked through slowly before the music starts (although local custom may
vary).

SCD is a very social form of dancing, not only because you get to dance
with seven or so people at once instead of just with one partner (smiles
and eye contact are almost mandatory, and if you want there is a lot of
opportunity for relaxed 'flirting') but also because there are workshops,
balls and social dances being held in places all over the world. It is
nice to be able to travel and join a SCD group for a night nearly
everywhere you go.

When country dancing came to Scotland in the 18th century, it was at first
popular among the townspeople in places like Edinburgh, but spread
throughout Scotland (at varying pace) and thrived there even when, during
the 19th and early 20th century, more modern dances like the Waltz,
One-step etc. became fashionable in other places. Country dancing in
Scotland was also influenced by other Scottish dances such as Highland
Reels and so acquired a particular 'Scottish' flavour.

In 1923, the Scottish Country Dance Society (SCDS, later 'Royal' Scottish
Country Dance Society or RSCDS) was founded in order to preserve
traditional Scottish country dancing. Its patrons went out to watch
people dance and collect the dances for publication. In the process,
they also tried to reconstruct and publish dances from old manuscripts
that were no longer actually danced, and standardised technical points
like steps and footwork (which the common folk rarely bothered a lot
about). It is debatable whether this standardisation was actually a good
thing as far as preserving the tradition of Scottish country dancing was
concerned, but it has certainly done a lot for making SCD into something
that can be enjoyed internationally. In fact, Scottish Country Dancing is
probably more alive today than it ever was in the past, and this is
to a large extent due to the efforts of the RSCDS.

Today the RSCDS numbers about 25.000 members and has 'branches' in
various countries all over the world. Lots of SCD groups are affiliated
with the RSCDS even though they aren't actually branches of the Society,
and even more people enjoy SCD without being members of the RSCDS
(or any group) at all.

The RSCDS is at

  12 Coates Crescent       telephone: 0131 225 3854
  Edinburgh EH3 7AF              fax: 0131 225 7783
  Scotland

As far as we know they don't have e-mail.

There is an Internet mailing list (not affiliated with or endorsed by
the RSCDS) for discussing Scottish Country dancing and music, which goes by
the name of 'Strathspey'; send a message containing a 'Subject: help'
to mailto:strathspey-request@tm.informatik.uni-frankfurt.de

There is also a Web server containing an archive of the mailing list
as well as lots of other interesting items connected with SCD at

http://www.strathspey.org/

(Yes, that's in Germany. So much for the international character of SCD!)

The books I would recommend on the topic are _Traditional Dancing in
Scotland_ by Joan and Thomas M. Flett (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul,
1985) -- this is a seminal work detailing much of the recent (pre-RSCDS)
history of Scottish dancing according to living memory, and it forms the
research basis of a lot of what is said by Emmerson -- and _Scotland's
Dances_ by Hugh Thurston (reprint edition; Kitchener, Ontario: Teacher's
Association (Canada), 1984), which is a small and easy-to-read book
giving an introduction to the various genres of Scottish dancing,
including Highland dances, solo dances, Reels and country dances. This
book was originally published some time ago and so reflects the research
done until, I think, the late 50s, but it has a lot to say about things
like recreating dances from ancient manuscripts which aren't in any
other book.

The following review is by Jim Healy (of Perth)
mailto:The_Healys@compuserve.com and originally appeared in
'The Highland Gateway', the Perth & Perthshire  RSCDS Branch newsletter.

The Collins Pocket Reference *Scottish Country Dancing, Compiled in
association with The Royal Scottish Country Dance Society,*
edited by Peter Knight, published by HarperCollins.
The ISBN is 0 00 470987 X. I picked up my copy in Scotland this
summer for 5.99.

This little book has been compiled in association with the RSCDS.
It gives a brief history of dancing and some instructions on the

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