Formation: couples in a circle around the room, ladies on the outside, men on the inside, joined in ballroom hold with partners.
Music: Schottische.
| Bars: | Description |
|---|---|
| 1-2 | Men with left foot, ladies with right, point toe in 2nd, bring foot up in front of shin (3rd aerial), point in 2nd and bring foot up behind calf (3rd rear aerial). Bounce on supporting foot on each of these four beats. |
| 3-4 | Step onto that foot, close other foot behind, step onto the original working foot again, and close original supporting foot behind calf. |
| 5-8 | Repeat 1-4 with other leg. |
| 9-10 | Repeat 3-4 (ie step, close, step, hop). |
| 11-12 | Repeat 7-8 (ie 9-10 in other direction). |
| 13-16 | Polka as in Canadian barn dance - step, hop, step, hop - rotating clockwise and following line of dance anticlockwise around the room. |
Repeat ad lib.
There follow chapter, verse, chorus and encore on the "Schottische" (for whom it may concern !) from Charles Gore:
- The Highland Schottische was introduced in 1855 and was known by the name of "the Balmoral Schottische"
(Robbie Shepherd, who knows all there is to know - and quite a lot besides - about Scottish Dancing) - Scott Skinner published a "Balmoral Schottische" in his Elgin Collection (1884); on the same page of this collection is a tune of his called "Glenlivet" which describes as Strathspey or Highland Schottische.
- [From a Dictionary of Music]; "Schottische (English !), Schottisch (German "Scottish", a misnomer since there is no evidence of Scottish origin); the German Polka, a round dance of the mid-19th cent. Some books confuse it with the Ecossaise, which is a country dance and thus very different. Both are in simple duple time.
- [From Caoimhin Mac Aoidh, "Between the Jigs and the Reels"]: The Berlin Polkey was a popular dance in Donegal maybe in the late 19th c. and up to 1930 or so. The Highland is special to Donegal; though universally so called "it appears to have originated from the Schottische, a dance of German origin". "The Highland as commonly performed throughout Donegal today is a couple dance (ie. a girl and a boy)", dancing first side by side, then face to face. The term "Highland Schottische" appears to have arisen to differentiate it from a "German Scottische". "A Barn Dance in Donegal has the unusual title of the "german". [Are you still with me ?]
- There is no precise equivalent in Gaelic.
- Highland Scottisches seem to have been danced (traditionally) to tunes like "Orange and Blue", "Lad wi' the Plaidie", "Cathkin Braes" and "John MacAlpine" (aka: Oft in thStilly Night). They all look like strathspeys to me!
Many thanks to Ian Brockbank of the excellent Scottishdance.net Ceilidh resource upon whose dance instructions these are based. Licenced under a
Creative Commons License.