Ceilidh Dancing Causeway Dulcimer Festival

The earliest types of dances in Scotland were apparently ring dances and there are several references in early 15th century literature to dancing in rings. There are also some references to carols, which in this context means dance and song combined. Dancing at feasts is also mentioned as early as 1375.
The next forms of dancing that appear in literature are "courtly" dances. These are dances which were performed in many of the courts of Europe, including pavans, galliards, rounds, and bransles, among others. There are references to these in the 16th century and France is the source of both dances which is understandable, given the long-standing
relationship between Scotland and France.
Two dances which are more usually considered Scottish, appear in the 16th century. There is a reference to the Highland Fling which is a solo dance, a version of which is performed at Highland Games today. The other dance which appears is the reel. The word "reel" has two meanings in dancing. One meaning is a figure-of-eight figure. The other meaning is a dance which has the reel figure as a prominent part. The threesome reel probably dates back to the end of the 16th century, and dancing competitions are mentioned as early as the late 16th century.
The mid 16th century saw the rise of the precursors to Scottish country dancing. There are lists of dance titles, unfortunately without instructions or descriptions of the dances dating from around 1550. In the sixteenth century there was a distinction between courtly and non-courtly dances.
Another courtly dance is the trece which is a measure or dance in file and then there was the masked dance.
The 1700's however saw the full formation, and instructions, for Scottish country dancing. Scottish country dancing flourished throughout the drawing rooms and ballrooms of the 1700's and the first part of the 1800's. By the middle of the 19th century,
country dancing was losing popularity.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Scottish Country Dance Society (SCDS) was formed. This group "standardized" the dances, probably at some loss to regional variations and historical accuracy, in much the same way as Comhaltas competitions have done with traditional music’s regional variations.
The society received the Royal designation sometime later. At first, the society was dedicated to publishing older dances, but since the 1950's they have published new dances as well.
In the 1950's, some field work was done to record dances, dance forms, and dance steps from before dancing was "standardized" by the SCDS.
Reels are a natural starting point for considering Scottish dance because they are at the core of what is considered "traditional" Scottish dancing. Modernly, the term "reel" refers to both a figure and a dance. The figure "reel" is a figure-of-eight or hay for three or four people.
The other common Scottish dance is the strathspey and the earliest mention of the strathspey was in 1653.
Reels are also mentioned in a Gaelic song, "I would accompany you where there was dancing, many a reel going to the little graceful-sounding pipes; to the great pipes with the deep drone; and the sweet well-tuned Clarsach [Harp]."
Dancing to bagpipes was known in the period and other instruments used for dancing,
included pipes made out of horns, pipes made out of a reed and a bladder, trumpets, corn pipes, recorders, fiddles, and whistles.