- Scottish country dancing combines exercise and fun - photo by Stephen Beer
While many styles of dance offer a fun way to improve physical fitness, Scottish country dance has to be near the top of the list when it comes to combining aerobic exercise with mental challenge. Like American square dancers and contra dancers, Scottish country dancers form geometric patterns, called figures. That's where the mental challenge comes in. But where square dancers and contra dancers use a walking step, Scottish country dancers move through their reels and jigs with an aerobic "skip change of step."
Scottish country dance for aerobic exercise
The Scottish dance step is aerobic because it includes a gentle hop. And the skip change of step has other advantages. Because it's a distinct dance step, it helps dancers hear the beat and move more precisely with the music. When done with the balletic "turnout," the step uses muscles that may not get enough exercise (including those hard-to-isolate inner-thigh muscles). The skip change of step, which is danced on the balls of the feet, also allows dancers to glide from one point to another quickly. The combination of precision and mobility in the step means that the patterns can be more intricate—and more fun.
Slower dances, the strathspeys, use a travelling step that emphasizes control and balance (work those core muscles!). Occasionally dances borrow higher impact steps from Scottish Highland Dancing.
Scottish country dance for mental challenge
Dancing with the music and with other dancers from one geometic pattern to another is nothing less than joyful. One Scottish country dance teacher described the flow of figures as transformational geometry. Perhaps that's why a relatively high percentage of Scottish country dancers are engineers and mathematicians. Dancers without mathematical backgrounds soon find they're using their brains in new ways as they see and feel the patterns that morph into new ones. One slightly dyslexic dancer even discovered that she had learned to distinguish right from left almost as well as anyone else.
Beginning dancers learn basic figures, such as a figure of eight and a square pattern called Rights and Lefts. As they become familiar with the basics, dancers learn Reels of Three, in which three people start at different points on the same figure-of-eight track, and then Reels of Four. The Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary website provides instructions with diagrams for most Scottish country dance figures. With a repertoire of fewer than a dozen figures, dancers can enjoy many Scottish country dances.
From figures to dances
Figures usually require two, four, six, or eight bars of music. Most dances combine these figures to form 32-bar dances, which are repeated eight times in a set of eight people. Many variations exist. Some dances are 40 or 48 bars. A few are 96 bars or longer. Sets may have five, six, or ten people.
Scottish country dances use a fairly limited number of figures, although beginning dancers may wonder just how many figures there are when, after learning Set and Link, they encounter Set and Rotate, Tournee, Espagnole, the Wheely Chain, and others. This finite number of figures allows for what seems to be an almost infinite numbers of dances. Today Scottish country dancers can choose from thousands of dances. Abbreviated instructions for more than 4,000 dances are available on a website for Brief Country Dance Notes.
A Scottish accent on social dance
In addition to providing physical and mental exercise, Scottish country dance is an exceptionally social form of dance. As dancers navigate the figures, they dance with all the other dancers in the set. Sometimes dancers take hands to turn or pass. Although physical contact is limited to taking hands, eye contact and smiles are important throughout. Added to the social interaction within each dance is the Scottish dance tradition of changing partners for each dance. Another tradition encourages experienced dancers to invite inexperienced dancers to dance. Scottish country dance is a team sport.
For individuals who want to dance but can't bring a partner with them, Scottish country dance has the added attraction of not requiring that the numbers of men and women be equal. Because the physical contact is limited to taking hands, dancers of the same gender can feel comfortable dancing as partners, especially since dancers dance with everyone in the set.
Scottish country dancing in the United States and around the world
In the United States, more than 60 Scottish country dance groups offer classes, as well as special balls and day- or weekend-long workshops. The Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, which has been teaching and promoting Scottish country dance since 1923, provides a list of RSCDS branches and affiliates in the United States and around the world, from Switzerland to Japan. A website called Inter-City Scot provides information about classes and events in the United States.
Scottish country dance is not particularly easy; it's not something a newcomer can learn to do in an evening. And that's part of its appeal. It continues to be new and fascinating as dance devisers around the world imagine new ways to put figures together so that one flows seamlessly into another. Dancers with decades of experience discover that they still encounter challenging new combinations of figures. The joy of Scottish country dancing can last for decades.
Alison Imbriaco - null
