Scottish Traditional Dance & Clothing
- Scottish dance breaks down into three main groups: ceilidh dancing, country dancing, and highland dance. The Gaelic word "ceilidh" (pronounced "kay-lee") refers to an entire event: an evening party with music and revelry as well as group dance. Ceilidh dancing is thus the most casual of the three forms, focusing on sociability and fun above technical precision. Scottish country dancing is more regimented than ceilidh, though it is still a social dance. Its choreography involves elaborate patterns, and the dancers must follow a rigorous code of proper poise and technique. Unlike ceilidh and country dance, highland dancing is essentially a competitive form, consisting primarily of virtuosic solo dances.
- Costumes worn in Scottish dance are a subset of Scottish formal attire. Men wear a kilt and sporran (the large leather or fur-covered pouch that weighs down the front of the kilt) and women wear dresses with a tartan sash, or white blouses with calf- or ankle-length tartan skirts. Dancing shoes are essential. Most Scottish dancers wear black leather flats, often called "ghillies," which are similar to ballet slippers but distinguished by criss-crossing laces down the foot. Certain dances require specialty shoes, such as jig shoes, which have a sturdier structure and higher heel.
- Scottish traditional dance stresses footwork and energetic execution. Though the level of demand placed on the dancer varies between the three types of Scottish dance, a focus on the balls of the feet and spring in the step is common to all three. Beginning dancers are advised to focus mainly on footwork and to practice the seven main dance steps until they become automatic. This necessary (if grueling) practice enables the dancer to move on to the full-body choreography -- the "figures" of the dance -- with relative ease. While the figures of Scottish group dances often resemble those of its relative (English country dance), Scottish dance's focus on footwork ensures a higher level of intensity and a thoroughly effective workout.
- The reel is believed to be the oldest form of Scottish group dance, mentioned in writing as early as the 16th century, and the jig, still a prevalent solo dance, is similarly historic. Presbyterian influences suppressed traditional dance in the Scottish Lowlands until the 18th century, though it survived continuously in the Highlands. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Scottish country dancing rose in status, parallel to English country dance, to become a courtly tradition. Its popularity was threatened in the early 20th century by competition from the waltz and other ballroom dances. The Royal Scottish Country Dance Society was founded to preserve and promote the dance form, and this effort succeeded on a grand scale. Kept alive by communities around the globe, Scottish traditional dance is more widely practiced now than at any time in its history.