Scottish Dance Beyond 1805: Reaction and Regulation
Today’s Highland dancing is a standardised and international form of dance. Scottish Dance Beyond 1805 tells the story of what changed over the last 200 years and why. It unfolds through a series of colourful characters, through the dances they taught and the music they danced to and through the history of one dance in particular, the Highland Fling.
Focusing on sources that originated in Aberdeenshire, this book explains how and why dance teaching changed during that time by chronicling the shift in the dance teacher’s business practice, from individual dancing masters – who often travelled a long way to teach – to the professional, licensed members of regulatory societies. The development of the Highland Fling, and how it changed from its earliest days to the present, is woven throughout the study. This ethnography also assesses how standardisation has affected today’s Highland dance and its music, by examining the experience of dancers and pipers. Finally, it examines contemporary reactions to regulation and standardisation, through the more recent introduction of percussive step dance and caller-facilitated ceilidh dancing.
The video below gives a very brief introduction to some of the characters in the book.
Reviews
Scottish Dance Beyond 1805 provides the reader with a glimpse into Scottish society and culture over a 200-year period through the lens of Scottish dance. The richness of the book lies in its detail and its intensive research and documentation of the history of dancing in this one region, the North-East of Scotland. It makes an important contribution to Scottish dance studies and to ethnomusicological and ethnochoreological research. It will be of interest to scholars and others in these fields and related areas , but also to Scottish dancers who may wish to understand the history of the dances that they learn, teach and perform.
Catherine E. Foley, University of Limerick - Folk Music Journal
Ballantyne speaks from her own solid experience as a Scottish Highland dancer, dance schoplar, and musician, and presents a well-researched and documented history of how Scottish Highland dancing, country dancing, and ‘called’ ceilidh dancing have evolved since 1805.
Mara Shea - Ethnomusicology Forum
Available in hardback, paperback or as an e-book, online at the publisher (Routledge) or Amazon.
Online Book Launch
On a cold day in February 2023 from Nova Scotia in Canada, I held an online launch event which was hosted by the Elphinstone Institute at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. I discussed some of the pitfalls that an ethnologist can run into when writing up a project. I also demonstrated my version of the dance steps that were published in 1805 by the Aberdeen dance teacher, Francis Peacock. The event finished up with some step dance by Melody Cameron, and music was played by Scottish musician Iain Richardson and Canadian musicians and friends Melody and Derrick Cameron.
Watch it here.
