strathspey@strathspey.org:43946

Chris1Ronald

Re: Scottish Country Dancing VS Scottish Folk Dancing

Jan. 30, 2006, 6:21 a.m. (Message 43946, in reply to message 43917)

The debate about whether RSCDS style dancing is folk dancing has  always 
bothered me a bit.  I grew up doing "country dancing" in  England.   I don't think 
I ever doubted that this was folk  dancing.  A little later in life, living 
far from the UK, I was happy  to discover that I could continue doing this kind 
of dancing by joining a  Scottish country dancing group.  The dancing was 
similar in the sense that  I knew many of the basic figures (hays/reels, 
stars/hands across, circles,  promenade, etc.) and the music (which I also loved) was 
similar too.   
 
So, for me, it seems natural to consider SCD to be part of the  overall 
British folk dance scene.  One difference is this: it was easy  to do "English" 
country dances on grass, but it's really hard to do  SCD on grass! 
 
Chris, New York.