Scottish Dances:

Square Dances - Quadrilles are the earliest form of square dances and came from Paris after the Napoleonic wars from about 1816. Originally upper class dances they soon spread to the working classes.

Circle Dances - Circle Dances are the ancestors of modern ballroom dances.

Country Dances - From 1700 to the middle of the 19th century the country dance was a tune with a dance figure. The dance was called after the tune. Normally two rows of dancers formed a line and the couples progressed down the row.

Reels -setting steps danced on the spot with a travelling figure.

Highland Dances - When Highland Games were instituted with caber tossing, hammer throwing and piping, then the dancing contests too were male events. By 1900 girls had begun to enter the dancing competitions. The real Highland dances are the Highland Fling, the Sword Dance and the Seann Truibhais and they were never intended to be danced by women.

Hornpipes - The hornpipe was a reed instrument often played on boats to provide music for dancing for the sailors and to give them much needed exercise.

More information on the dances and examples of tunes to illustrate them can be found in “Traditional Scottish Fiddling” by Christine Martin and in the “Ceilidh Collection for Fiddlers” series of four books.