Hebridean
Dancing
|
A
brief summary of their background, present form and future |
The
term 'Hebridean Dancing' is a fairly modern one and one which probably
first saw the light at the English Folk Dance and Song Society's (E.F.D.S.S.)
Festival at the Royal Albert Hall, London in 1934, when Fearchar MacNeill,
from Barra was asked to perform some dances known in South Uist and
Barra. It is often believed that the Glasgow dance-teacher Jack McConachie
gave these dances this label to differentiate them from the more widely
known Highland Dances, and perhaps also to pinpoint their place of
origin.
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| The
solo dances now embraced under the heading 'Hebridean Dances' are Tulloch
Gorm, Highland Laddie, Over the Water to Charlie, (Scotch) Blue Bonnets,
Flowers of Edinburgh, First of August, Scotch Measure, and Aberdonian
Lassie. The dance Jacky Tar survives only as the dance which
D.G. MacLennan published in his book Highland and Traditional Scottish
Dances, 1950. The following dances only survives with a few steps
or by name only - The Lads wi' the Kilt, Over the Water and Over the
Hill, Carraig Fhearghais, Over the Hills and Far Away, and Patronella. |
| We
do not know where these dances originated but we do know that dances
bearing these names were all taught by the dancing-master Ewen MacLachlan
(Dannsaidh - Eòghann Mac Lachlainn), who taught dancing primarily
in South Uist and in Barra in the mid-1800s. Whether he created any of
the dances himself or whether he merely passed on the dances he knew,
has not been established. |
| Our
knowledge regarding Ewen MacLachlan is riddled with local tradition and
myth but few facts are readily accessible. The entry in the Register
of Deaths from the General Register Office in Edinburgh tells us that Ewen
McLachlin, Dancing Master, Single, died in Dalibrog in South Uist
on the 12th July, 1879, and that he was about 80 years old, which means
he was born around 1799. The census records of 1841 give us his first
appearance in South Uist where he is said to be a catechist (a teacher
within the Church but not ordained); and in 1851 his place of birth is
said to be in Greenock. Other census records echo his place of birth
and his occupation as a dancing teacher. |
| In
1953, 55, and 56, Professor T.M. Flett and Dr. Frank Rhodes, visited
Barra, South Uist and Benbecula as well as the Morar and Moidart area
in search of these dances and their background. We are greatly indebted
to them for their effort and what they found. However, with the oral
tradition collected by them and what writers like D.G. MacLennan wrote
we find a rather confusing picture of Ewen MacLachlan. |
| The
oral tradition claims Ewen to have been born somewhere in the Morar and
Moidart areas on mainland Scotland. One of the Gaelic names given to
him was Mac Iseabail Reitealain (son of Isabella of Retland), which suggests
both his mothers name and a place of birth (Retland near Morar), but
also that he was illegitimate, as only illegitimate children have matronymics
within the Gaelic Community. The census stated he was a catechist, and
oral tradition has plenty to say about this — he is reputed to have studied
for the priesthood in many places in France, Spain and Italy. For example,
in France he was to have studied at Douai Scots College, but fact tells
us that the College closed in 1793, never to be reopened, which is prior
to Ewen's presumed date of birth. Similarly he has not been found in
any registers of any other Catholic Colleges or Seminars, either in Scotland
or abroad. Also, if he was illegitimate, he may possibly not have been
considered for the priesthood. |
| Oral
tradition has also established that he had some deformity of the arms.
He was referred to in the islands as fear na làimhe bige (the
short handed (armed) man), or Eòghann na làimhe bige (Ewen of
the short hand). It is probable that he was born with hands almost at
shoulder height, thus a sufferer from phocomelia, rather than as one
story claims, Ewen while studying for the priesthood in Paris, suffered
some disease whereby his arms got stunted or even shrank, (medically
not possible) and this was the cause of him giving up his priestly studies
and why he became a catechist. He is also claimed to have been a noted
story teller. Stories about him are rife, but whether he was short and
bent, or had a humpback, or was tall and agile is not important to this
short study. |
| Our
knowledge of Ewen's dances has only been passed on through his pupils,
in a few cases, but mainly from those to whom they in turn had passed
on their knowledge. He taught a good number of people from about 1840
onwards, and his 'patch' covered the south of Benbecula down to Eriskay
and Barra. We cannot actually assess exactly what the dances looked like
when Ewen taught them, as most teachers slightly alters the dances they
teach, and they all have different styles. However, what is common between
his direct pupils and others is the relaxed and rather spontaneous manner
in which the dances are performed. Positions as we know them today, did
perhaps not even exist, but rather approximate positions of the feet
were used, as was carefully recorded by the Fletts and Rhodes. This is
only natural, as dances undergo changes through the oral tradition. The
first person that we know who recorded some of these dances was D.G.
MacLennan, who saw some of them danced at the Askernish Games in South
Uist in 1925. After the Games he spoke to 76 year old Archie MacPherson
who was one of Ewen's pupils, and got some dances from him. However,
it must be noted that when D.G. MacLennan, in 1950, published these dances
in his book, they had undergone considerable changes, and even though
not stated in his book, he did admit to the Fletts that the dances were
of his own creation based on what he had seen. So, the Highland Laddie,
Blue Bonnets over the Border, Tullochgorum, Over the Water to Charlie,
Miss Forbes and Jacky Tar, that have been passed down to us
and some of which appear in the present syllabuses of the Examining bodies
of Highland Dance, should be regarded as D.G. MacLennan's dances, but
the seed came from the Hebrides. |
| Later,
in 1949, Jack McConachie collected a few dances from a pupil of Archie
MacPherson - John MacLeod (South Uist, then of Glasgow), but yet again,
when published in the 1950s (McConachie's Letter Service Series and
in a booklet from in 1972 - Hebridean Solo Dances), they were
rendered in Highland Dancing fashion with the steps including leaps and
high cuts, which originally seem not to have appeared at all. |
| The
Fletts and Rhodes notation gives, as already mentioned, a different style
altogether, where the steps are relaxed, with the positions and footwork
not greatly influenced by modern day Highland Dancing. |
| In
certain dances, such as the First of August, Aberdonian Lassie, Flowers
of Edinburgh, Over the Water to Charlie and Highland Laddie,
we find movements such as Trebles, accented heel-toe-beats, Hop-Point-Close-Beat,
Rocking, Double and Treble Shuffles (all very similar to movements found
in the step-dancing found in Cape Breton, for example), and so forth,
together with movements familiar to the usual Highland dances (Fling
turns, round-the-leg actions, shakes...). Perhaps these dances could
be seen as an intermediate dance form between pure step-dancing and what
we know as Highland Dancing. It is also plausible that Ewen MacLachlan
amalgamated the step-dancing he found in the islands with the style of
dancing he possibly knew from the mainland. Likewise he could have brought
with him the dances in their entirety from the mainland, as there are
strong parallels in contents between, for example, the First of August
and five of the solo High Dances included in the contemporary Hill manuscript
of 1841 from Alford in Aberdeenshire. [The five Solo High Dances being
the College Hornpipe, Flowers of Edinburgh, Trumpet Hornpipe, King
of Sweden, and the Earl of Errol.] Many dancing-masters did
make up arrangements of dances of their own so in that respect it is
not unlikely that Ewen did as well. Perhaps it is from here that the
belief that the dances are of foreign origin arose. Some believe they
originated in France, but would not Ewen, coming form the mainland, be
regarded as a foreigner (to the islands), and if he brought new ideas
to the existing dance tradition with him, this could equally have been
regarded as foreign. The Gaelic word for French - Frangach, sometimes
means foreign, as in the word for turkey - cearcan Frangach - “foreign
hens.” Could this be a clue to the belief in a French origin? We can,
however, only speculate on these thoughts. |
| Another
link between Ewen MacLachlan, some of his pupils, and the step-dancing
in Nova Scotia, is the feat known as Smàladh na Coinnle -
smooring the fire. This was a trick, in dancing, whereby a candle or
oil lamp
is snuffed with skilled foot work without spilling any oil or breaking
the candle. |
|
The
Dances
As
indicated previously we cannot with certainty establish where these
dances originated, but they, in their present form, conform in
many ways to how many solo dances known throughout Scotland are
built up. All the dances have a Break ending each 8-bar phrase
(in reels, jigs and hornpipes, and 4-bar phrase in strathspey tempo),
differing in length between 2 or 4 bars long (1-bar in strathspey
tempo). A few dances have a Half Break on Bars 3-4 of each 8-bar
phrase (First of August, Scotch Blue Bonnets). Characteristics
are the inclusion of many accentuated heel and toe beats, trebling
in some dances, double and treble shuffles. The Flowers of Edinburgh,
was probably originally a trebling dance similar to First of August,
but has now taken the form of a sister dance to Highland Laddie,
including Pivot Turns, High Cuts, Hop-Hop-Downs, Hop-Point-Close-Beats
(related movement to Hop-Brush-Beat-Beat), the last movement being
the hallmark of Over the Water to Charlie. Some of the arm actions
used differ to what is standard in Highland Dancing of today.
|
| Local
tradition links most of the dances, in one way or another, to the
1745 Jacobite Rebellion and Bonnie Prince Charlie, but no facts have
been found either supporting or rejecting the credibility of these
stories. |
|
Present
Day
In
the mid-1980s there was a great fear that these dances would be
lost for ever among the local people in Barra and South Uist, where,
then, several people still remained who knew these dances since
their youth and had been taught them by pupils of pupils of Ewen
MacLachlan.
|
| The
dances were introduced to Feis Bharraigh and Fearchar MacNeill and
Katie-Ann Mackinnon began teaching the dances to the children in
Barra. Also in South Uist the dancing was encouraged. |
| Over
the last years the dances are being taught locally in Barra and South
Uist, and have also featured at a number of Feisean around the country.
There are now two distinctive styles remembered, one which is of
Barra and the which is of South Uist. |
|
Some
of the dances are also presently named in Gaelic as well: Tulloch
Gorm - Tulach Gorm; Over the Water to Charlie - Thairis an Aiseig
gu Tearlach; Highland Laddie - Mac Iain Ghasda; Blue Bonnets* -
Bonaidean Gorma; Aberdonian Lassie - Till A Rithisd; and Flowers
of Edinburgh - Lusan Dhun Èidean.
[*Even
among Gaelic speakers, this dance was, however, mostly referred
to as “Scotch Blue Bonnets.”]
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|
The
Future
Many
of the young people learning the Hebridean dances today are also
Highland Dance trained, which means that they involuntarily bring
to the dances a style which was not originally there. The most
important is footwear, with the Highland Dancing pumps in favour
when dancing, which alters the character, of dances, such as the
First of August, which were and are step-dances where toe-heel
beats are essential to the character and sound, but which are presently
facing a “softening up,” due to soft soled shoes. The maintenance
of the character of the Hebridean dances rely on how they are passed
on, and how much emphasis is placed on the differences and similarities
to Highland Dancing.
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| Further
research should be encouraged to ensure that all those with orally
passed on knowledge of these dances are interviewed, thus keeping
as much of the old style and information intact for future generations. |
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Further
reading and references:
- Private
collection of notes and manuscripts from 1953, 55, and 56, by
Dr. F. Rhodes and the late Prof. T.M. Flett.
- D.G.
MacLennan, Highland and Traditional Scottish Dances, Edinburgh,
1950.
- J.
McConachie, Letter Service Series, early 1950s; Hebridean
Solo Dances, Caber Feidh Publ. 1972.
- M.
Melin, private research collection on Hebridean dancing 1989-2001.
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| © Mats
Melin (1994 & 2001) |
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