strathspey@strathspey.org:43951

Thomas G. Mungall, III

Scottish Country Dancing VS Scottish Folk Dancing

Jan. 30, 2006, 3:27 p.m. (Message 43951, in reply to message 43946)

I think the answer may be that in Scotland there are balls where SCD is the
main form of dancing and that SCD remains an active, living form of dance.
In a sense it is analogous to Scottish Highland attire which is living
attire not folk costume. (Where else is this true?)

Actually much depends on how one defines "folk" dancing. One could argue
that the untutored dancing created by teens (especially that of the late
1960s) is really folk dancing. The same arguments could be made for Country
& Western, Cajun, Swing, Waltz, Fox Trot, Latin styles, etc. These were all
created in particular localities and spread and underwent refinements and
stylization. For example, the waltz after the beginning of the 20th Century,
went out of style when the fox trot became popular. The waltz had strong
Germanic associations so after WWI it fell into disfavor. It had to be
resurrected in the UK and was standardized, etc. So, one could say the waltz
is folk dancing. However, we know it is not considered folk dancing. It is
living dance in the same sense as SCD.

If your definition requires a form of dance to be in the "popular culture"
then maybe SCD is "folk" dancing in a limited sense (especially in the USA
where it is associated with the Scottish Heritage movement). Today, the
popular culture is largely governed by the media, especially the American
media. One would suspect that in Scotland this would not be true and SCD may
remain in the popular culture(?).

Yours aye,
Tom Mungall
Baton Rouge, La, USA