Scottish country dancing, as distinct from Old Tyme dancing, is very loosely governed throughout the world by the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society (RSCDS). As the word "governed" implies, Scottish dancing (though a type of folk dancing) is still continuing to evolve, and the majority of dances currently in favour have been written more recently than in most folk traditions. As a pursuit Scottish country dancing is no longer confined to Scotland, but active communities can be found throughout the world - in the rest of Britain, continental Europe, Canada and the US as well as Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, with occasional groups in places as diverse as Russia, South Africa, Argentina, Hong Kong and so on.
Scottish country dances are categorised as reels, jigs, hornpipes or strathspeys; generally consist of two partner couples (one man and one lady - frequently informally danced with two ladies instead, one of whom dances as the "man"), incorporating two or more couples in sets (usually restricted to six couples unless for demonstration purposes). The usual set shape is "longwise" - between three and five couples side by side with all the men in a line facing a similar line of ladies (each man being opposite their partner) with the top couple of the set being the left most man and his partner. Other set shapes include:
- Triangular : three couples on the sides of an equilateral triangle with the top couple being on the base of the triangle
- Square (basic) : four couples on the sides of a square with the top couple being that closest to the band
- Square (extended) : five (or six) couples with four couples positioned as with a basic square and one (or two couples) in the middle facing (and turn away from) the top couple
- Nighean Donn (The Brunette): You do not dance with the same partner you started with all the way through the dance (in fact you change every time through)
- Bonnie Anne : Only danced one time through and 96 bars long
- MacDonald of Sleat : Danced through only once, also including a pause two bars from the end for a "traditional" ending you get to kiss your partner!
- Foursome Reel (and variations) : Danced once through, couples face each other across a double width set
- Glayva : a two couple longwise dance
- The Wee Cooper o' Fife : uses 10 bar phrases
- Eightsome Reel : has a beginning which is repeated to finish the dance after having repeated a middle section eight times (very unusual)
- Jubilee Quadrille : danced to a quadrille - a type of french country tune?
- Palindrome : danced once through, starts with a new figure (a circle round and back in reverse - a circle back and round I guess :) and introduced "twiddles" in strathspey "reels of four"
- The Bees of Maggieknockater : relatively regularly danced with dancers impersonating bees - normally Scottish country dancing is vaguely formal if not very formal
With the constant writing of new dances new variations are appearing all the time and some of the old informal variations are adopted into new dances (examples being the afrementioned twiddles and also, I believe, "Flight of the Falcon" reels - named after the first widely known dance they were written into). The constant evolution has also given Scottish country dancing a lot of "life" and people feel much less guilt or hesitation about altering a dance for the purposes of demonstrations, and also borrowing ideas for their own dances.
The current SCD repertoire consists of dances from old sources, going back to Playford's manuals from the late 17th and early 18th centuries, as well as modern material. When country dancing was en vogue during the 18th century, large numbers of dances were written, most of which fell into disuse during the 19th century when more "modern" dances such as the quadrille, waltz, etc. became popular. Only a few dances remained part of the active repertoire in Scotland until the RSCDS was founded in 1923. The RSCDS began to collect and publish these dances as well as reconstruct (or reinterpret) dances from old sources that were no longer being danced. Soon after the inception of the RSCDS people started inventing new dances in the spirit of the older ones, but also introducing new figures not part of the "traditional" canon. Today there are over 11.000 dances catalogued, of which less than 1.000 can be considered "traditional". Basically anybody can come up with a new dance, but many dances are of local importance only; the RSCDS does publish collections of new dances every so often but does not try to control the invention of new material. Neither does it dictate how dances are danced and who may teach them, but they do hold significant influence since they teach the majority of Scottish country dance teachers, and their canon of dances make up a very large proportion of the "global" repertoire that one can expect to meet wherever Scottish country dancing takes place.
See also: English Country Dance
Take the Floor -- a radio programme devoted to Scottish country dance musicExternal link