Step-Dancing
| The term 'Step Dancing' can either refer to percussive footwork, as you may find it in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, and many other places were Scots settled in North America - which is the old form of Scottish dancing - but more of that later, or the term may be used for a combination of steps, e.g.: Highland Fling, Sword Dance, etc. |
| Looking at the latter form first, Donald R Mackenzie, Professor of Dancing, Stirling, wrote in 1910 that some of the best “Highland step-dancers” of his time were John MacNeil, and William MacLennan (the world famous piper and dancer). “The characteristic dancing styles of these two gentlemen were truly Highland, artistic, and without any affectation.” D.R Mackenzie admired them enough to describe some of their reel steps, Highland Fling and Claymore Sword dance steps in his book “National Dances of Scotland”. This reference to people we would know as Highland Dancers as “Highland Step Dancers” here simply means that they excelled in combinations of highland steps. |
 Percussive
step dancing has seen a renaissance in Scotland over the past
six to ten years. Cape Breton Gaels have been asked to come
over to
show their style of step dancing and fiddling and piping.
Their style of step dancing is often referred to as Cape Breton
Step
Dancing, which is quite correct, but they themselves often
just refer to it as the old scotch step dancing that came across
with
their ancestors from Scotland. This style of stepping fits
Scottish music but is often now thought of as Irish dancing in
Scotland
because its common usage round the country has almost disappeared.
However, when asking around, the memories of percussive footwork
being used for solo dancing, in old Scotch Reels and in Country
Dances and couple dances, still linger, from the north of Shetland
right down to the Borders. The association with Irish dancing
comes from the easy access to Irish percussive step-dance in
modern times,
and because the arms are not used. But old style (sean-nòs)
Irish step dancing, as well as modern competitive Irish step
dancing and even more recently Riverdance style step dancing
are and should be seen as distinctive in their own right, because
although the steps are in many cases similar, especially in
the sean-nòs
style, their dance rhythms respond to Irish music, which has
a different
emphasis from Scottish music. Essentially the roots of both
step dance traditions are similar, as percussive footwork reflects
the inner rhythms of the music. This is parallel to language,
as Scots
Gaelic is different but yet similar to Irish Gaelic, so is
Scottish
to Irish step dancing. |
| This style of percussive step dancing does not require turn out, it is entirely natural. The arms are held loosely by the sides of the body. One has to keep in mind that the solo dance tradition in Scotland, percussive or not, most likely grew out of the Scotch Reel dancing. The Scotch Reel is, generally, a two parted dance where three or four people dance a figure (circle, figure of eight etc.) and then dance steps on the spot to each other. They can then be said to “step it out” or “dance it out”. The two parts were often referred to as “reeling” and “dancing.” The Highland Reel and Reel of Tulloch are two modern forms of the Scotch Reel. If a good dancer was asked to perform on his own he would simply string together steps he knew from the reel, thus creating a step dance. Remains of the circular Scots reel can still be seen at the start of several solo Highland Dances, such as Seann Triubhas, Sailor's Hornpipe, Irish Jig, and the Sword Dance. Even old Highland Flings had circling in them. There are many other solo dances that are part percussive and part Highland that incorporate the circular movement, either only at the start of the dance, or between each step on the spot. Thus they could be seen as a Scotch Reel for a single person. A good example of this last category is the dance “The Flowers of Edinburgh” as it survived in Cape Breton, until the 1950's. There is also a whole group of solo dances from the Western Isles, now referred to as “Hebridean Dances” most of which can be seen as an intermediate form between Highland dances and the wholly percussive dances. The dance “Till A-Rithist” or “Aberdonian Lassie” can be seen as a lovely mix of Highland Fling elements and percussive footwork. The dance was known in Barra and South Uist and is to some extent still danced there by youngsters. |
| The music used for step-dancing is the fiddle, bagpipes and song (puirt-a-beul or mouth music). The melodeon or accordion is not often used for step-dancing but can certainly be used. People do not wear any special costume for step-dancing, just normal everyday wear. The kilt is not really worn for step-dancing. |
| What would be interesting to know is if there are any memories of percussive step-dancing among the wider readership of the world. Is it not strange to think that the dance form should really only survive primarily in Canada, but also in some ways through American Appalachian clog-dancing (Buck dancing / flat footing) and hardly anywhere else. People from the same areas as settled Canada also went to Australia and New Zealand. If anyone can remember having heard of step-dancing being practised down under, please let me know. |
|
This article has appeared in a number of publications since 1999. © Mats Melin, 1999. |
|
More
information on Step dancing can be found @ Access Cape Breton Fiddle and Pipe Music through CelticCafe |
Content
and images copyright Mats Melin - www.matsmelin.com