Scottish country dance

This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (January 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Part of a series on the
Culture of Scotland
History Timeline Prehistoric Roman times Middle Ages Early Middle Ages Kingdom High Middle Ages Davidian Revolution Wars of Independence Late Middle Ages Renaissance Early modern Reformation Colonisation of the Americas Glorious Revolution 1707 Acts of Union Jacobitism Enlightenment Lowland Clearances Highland Clearances Industrial Revolution Romanticism Modern
People
Languages Scottish Gaelic Broad Scots Scottish English Pictish Norn
Traditions Clothing Hackle Burning of the Clavie Burns supper Common Riding Crofting Saining Scots law Scottish clan Skalk Up Helly Aa Units of measurement
Mythology and Folklore
Cuisine
Festivals St. Andrew's Day Hogmanay Burns supper Tartan Day Lanimer Day Imbolc Bealltainn/May Day Lùnastal Samhainn
Religion
Art
Literature
Music and Performing arts Folk music Scottish highland dance Scottish country dance Scottish sword dances Mod Keening Waulking song Opera Puirt à beul Border Ballad
Media Radio Television Cinema
Sport Golf Curling Football Haggis hurling Hailes Highland games Horse racing Rugby sevens Rugby union Shinty Shot put
Monuments World Heritage Sites
Symbols Flag Coat of arms National anthem Lion Rampant Thistle Tartan Celtic cross Celtic knot Scottish inventions and discoveries
Scotland portal
v t e

Scottish country dance (SCD) is the distinctively Scottish form of country dance, itself a form of social dance involving groups of couples of dancers tracing progressive patterns. A dance consists of a sequence of figures. These dances are set to musical forms (Jigs, Reels and Strathspey Reels) which come from the Gaelic tradition of Highland Scotland, as do the steps used in performing the dances. Traditionally a figure corresponds to an eight-bar phrase of music.

Country dancing, which is arguably a type of folk dancing, first appears in the historical record in 17th-century England. Scottish country dancing as we know it today has its roots in an 18th-century fusion of (English) country dance formations with Highland music and footwork. It has become the national ballroom dance form of Scotland, partly because "Caledonian Country Dances" became popular in upper-class London society in the decades after the Jacobite rising of 1745.^[1] As early as 1724 there was a published collection of Scottish dance tunes by John and William Neal "A collection of the Most celebrated Scotch Tunes".^[2] .^[3]

When it first became popular around the 18th century, it was as a shorter, quicker form of dance^{[citation needed]} that was a light relief from the more courtly dances normally danced.^[1] Derived from early British forms of country dancing, SCD is related to English country dancing, contra dancing, Cèilidh dancing, Old time dancing and Irish set dancing (although most people in Scotland use the terms 'cèilidh dancing' or 'country dancing' interchangeably, with 'country dancing' often being taught in schools and later used at 'cèilidh' events). This is due to the combination of some of these dance forms in early country dance forms^[1] and later cross-over introduced by their overlapping influences via dancers and dance masters.

Scottish country dancing (a social form of dance with two or more couples of dancers) should not be confused with Scottish Highland dance (a solo form of dance). There is a certain amount of cross-over, in that there are Scottish country dances that include Highland elements as well as Highland-style performance dances which use formations otherwise seen in country dances, but these are relatively few when the two dance forms are considered each as a whole.