Traditional Step-Dancing in Scotland

The popular view of Scottish solo step-dances has always been the Sword Dance and the Highland Fling seen at Highland Games. In the early 1950s, the authors of this work began to question whether there was a greater history and variety to step-dancing in Scotland. Between 1950 and 1967 they travelled all over Scotland in their quest, and this book provides a record of their literary research and collecting. It aims to show: that Highland Games dances are only a small part of a rich heritage; how the once numerous dances were taught by popular dancing masters; and the link to step-dancing in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, a subject covered by the text in an appendix. The book also contains instructions for the step-dances collected from mainland Scotland, the Hebrides and Cape Breton, including clog-dances and dirk dances.