Mats Melin 2020Stockholm born Dancer, Choreographer and Researcher, Mats Melin has worked professionally with traditional dance in Scotland since 1995 and in Ireland since 2005.

Mats is Emeritus Lecturer in Dance, and former Course Director for the MA in Irish Dance Studies at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick, Ireland (2005-2021).

He holds a first class honours MA degree in Ethnochoreology (2005); and a PhD (2012) with the University of Limerick for his research on Cape Breton Step Dancing. His thesis is named Exploring the Percussive Routes and Transmission Processes in Cape Breton Step Dancing.

Mats has been engaged in freelance dance teaching, researching and performance work nationally and internationally. He was Traditional Dancer in Residence for four Scottish Local Authorities (Shetland (1995-96), Sutherland (1996-98), Angus (1998-2002) and Perth and Kinross (2002-2003).

He co-started the dynamic Scottish performance group ‘Dannsa’ in 1999 and he has been commissioned to choreograph for the Northlands Festival, the St Magnus Festival and the North Atlantic Fiddle Convention.

Mats is a recent board member of the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland (until 2020). He was a former member of the Scottish Arts Council’s Dance Committee; and a former office bearer for Dance Research Forum Ireland.

His book – One with the Music: Cape Breton step dance tradition and transmission – was published in 2015 by Cape Breton University Press.

Mats set up Lorg-Press in 2017 with an aim to publish more of his Scottish and Cape Breton dance research.

The books – A Story to Every Dance: The role of lore in enhancing the Scottish solo dance tradition was published in November 2018. In 2019 he published Hebridean Step Dancing outlining the legacy of solo dances from the teaching of nineteenth-century dancing master Ewen MacLachlan.

Dance Legacies of Scotland: The True Glen Orchy Kick in collaboration with Jennifer Schoonover was published by Routledge in December 2020.

In 2022 a book, so far only in pdf format, on the life and repertoire of Dance John Reid of Newtyle was finally published after a number of unforeseen delays. It can be found on my Lorg-Press site.

2023 – several projects are a various stages of development. Almost finished is a publication on the solo dance – The Highland Fling. Furthermore Jennifer Schoonover and I are working on interpretations of the solo dances in the Frederick Hill manuscript notebook or rather on interpretations of the style of dancing taught by nineteenth-century Aberdeenshire dancing masters.

More detailed information is provided in Mats’ CV on academia.edu

Emma Maria Melin (née Cormack) 1966/5/19 to 2023/2/2. Rest in peace my love.

My beautiful soulmate, best friend, wife, mother of our three children – Solveig, Ingrid and Magnus – and inspiration of everything in my life, Emma, lost her battle with the aggressive cancer she has been fighting for three months early in the morning of February 2, 2023, in Kirkwall, Orkney. Emma was a beautiful dancer (just to single out one of her many fabulous qualities). We met in Stockholm in 1992 when she came to my Scottish Country and Highland dance classes. We married on New Years eve 1994 where we danced several Orkney and Highland Wedding Reels. We co-taught and performed Scottish and Cape Breton step dancing a lot over the years, from the beginning of our life together in Scotland in 1995 and later on in Ireland. Forever graceful on the floor, and very close to the floor in her step dancing, Emma had a background in historical dancing, Minuets, Quadrilles and many others. She loved Ceilidh dancing and partook in Irish social dancing when time allowed. She inspired me often, and I recall starting to choreograph the Dannsa piece ‘The Spinning Reel’ – as Emma was learning to spin wool, the sound of the spinning wheel motions got my creative brain going. We loved to dance together and particularly dancing Emma’s favourite waltz – the Pride of Erin Waltz – which we knew many variants of. I can now see her dancing and singing on the other side of river, free of pain and illness, until we meet again… Deeply missed but never forgotten!

Mo ghrá go daingean tú