Gaelic Cape Breton Step-Dancing
An Historical and Ethnographic Perspective
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
The step-dancing of the Scotch Gaels in Nova Scotia is the last living example of a form of dance that waned following the great emigrations to Canada that ended in 1845. The Scotch Gael has been reported as loving dance, but step-dancing in Scotland had all but disappeared by 1945. One must look to Gaelic Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and Antigonish County, to find this tradition. Gaelic Cape Breton Step-Dancing, the first study of its kind, gives this art form and the people and culture associated with it the prominence they have long deserved.
Gaelic Scotland’s cultural record is by and large pre-literate, and references to dance have had to be sought in Gaelic songs, many of which were transcribed on paper by those who knew their culture might be lost with the decline of their language. The improved Scottish culture depended proudly on the teaching of dancing and the literate learning and transmission of music in accompaniment. Relying on fieldwork in Nova Scotia, and on mentions of dance in Gaelic song and verse in Scotland and Nova Scotia, John Gibson traces the historical roots of step-dancing, particularly the older forms of dancing originating in the Gaelic-speaking Scottish Highlands. He also places the current tradition as a development and part of the much larger British and European percussive dance tradition.
With insight collected through written sources, tales, songs, manuscripts, book references, interviews, and conversations, Gaelic Cape Breton Step-Dancing brings an important aspect of Gaelic history to the forefront of cultural debate.
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Copyright
- Contents
- Abbreviations
- Maps, Illustrations, and Genealogical Charts
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1. The Religious Background in Scotland, 1746–1846
- 2. Step-Dancing in Catholic Gaelic Cape Breton and Northeastern Nova Scotia from 1790
- 3. The Mary “Tulloch” Macdonald Phenomenon Examined
- 4. Dancing in the Catholic Margarees, Glendale, and Boisdale
- 5. The Gluasad Gàidhealach/Gaelic Movement in Cape Breton, 1919–46
- 6. Step-Dancing in Presbyterian Cape Breton from 1790
- 7. The Evidence for Step-Dancing in Scotland, 1775–1848
- 8. Dancing in Moderate Presbyterian Gaelic Parishes in Scotland
- 9. Dancing in Inland Gaelic Strathspey and Northwestern Perthshire
- 10. Changes in Dancing in Gaelic Scotland: The Dancing Record from Gaelic Songs, 1850–85
- 11. The Four Doctors, An t-Òranaiche/The Songster, and Others, 1879–1914
- 12. Scottish Attitudes to Dance: Twentieth-Century Letters from Gaelic Scotland
- 13. Dancing Schools and Dancing-Masters in Gaelic Scotland, 1775–1845
- 14. Last Words: A Scottish Country Dancing Enigma
- APPENDICES
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index