WELCOME TO AN ENTERTAINMENT SITE FOR SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCERS!
Enjoy this curated selection of theme-related dances for celebrations and holidays, or find a dance associated with a special calendar day, or EVEN your own birthday!
"Phases of a Dancer - Beginning, Advancing, Accomplished - eEveryone has been all three, sometimes in the same dance!"
Feb 6
Poetry Friday
Beginner's Luck
Other Scottish Country Dances for this Day
Today's Musings, History & Folklore
From the late great Pat Batt, "The Beginner", courtesy of RSCDS London
"I joined a Scottish Dancing Class,
We started last September.
I’m trying hard – I really am,
There’s so much to remember.
I know the experienced dancers,
It’s very easy to spot ’em.
They gaily stand at the top of the set
And I slink down to the bottom.
I keep one eye on the teacher
And one on the rest of the set,
I try to watch my partner as well,
But haven’t succeeded yet.
It’s very important to know the start
Of the dance about to be done.
If you’re not quite sure of the first eight bars
You are bound to be number one.
Everyone’s very helpful
And tells me what to do,
But I get mixed up with my sexes,
When ladies are men, wouldn’t you?
And when it’s reels we are doing
I’m soon a total loss,
There’s reels of four and reels of three,
Reels down and reels across.
There even are diagonal reels!
But when our teacher said
“Don’t do an eight bar reel in six”
My brain reeled in my head!
But I’m going to keep on trying,
The music is lovely to hear,
And maybe I’ll know which corner is which
At the end of the dancing year."
~ The Beginner, Patt Batt, courtesy of RSCDS London
Ah those beginning dancing days ... quite the muddle!
No matter the style — Ballroom, Tango, Contra, or Scottish Country — we move through our dancing days starting with the basics and building our skills over time.
Build your skills with this 32 bar 3 couple reel which highlights lots of turning and slip stepping to keep build you fleet-footedness!
Have you noticed that different characters and personalities in the dance floor always seem to appear? Shy Beginners, Bold Intermediates, and Gracious Experts! It seems to be a law of nature!
The tentative beginner hovers on the edge of the floor, cautiously observing, watching everyone else first, convinced there’s a secret rule or magic skill that they’ve missed!
The over enthusiastic (or overbearing) just advancing dancer has learned just enough to be dangerous and now feels personally responsible for the accuracy of the entire room, sometimes offering corrections mid-turn and critiques with the intensity of a NASA launch director.
And then there’s the generous advanced dancer, who glides through chaos with a smile, quietly steering, adapting, and making everyone else look better without saying a word.
A big thank you to all dancers who continue to show up and make everything possible, especially the patient teachers and dancers who share their gifts! 🤍 💙 💚 🕺 💃 🤪
Ah those beginning dancing days ... quite the muddle!
No matter the style — Ballroom, Tango, Contra, or Scottish Country — we move through our dancing days starting with the basics and building our skills over time.
Build your skills with this 32 bar 3 couple reel which highlights lots of turning and slip stepping to keep build you fleet-footedness!
Have you noticed that different characters and personalities in the dance floor always seem to appear? Shy Beginners, Bold Intermediates, and Gracious Experts! It seems to be a law of nature!
The tentative beginner hovers on the edge of the floor, cautiously observing, watching everyone else first, convinced there’s a secret rule or magic skill that they’ve missed!
The over enthusiastic (or overbearing) just advancing dancer has learned just enough to be dangerous and now feels personally responsible for the accuracy of the entire room, sometimes offering corrections mid-turn and critiques with the intensity of a NASA launch director.
And then there’s the generous advanced dancer, who glides through chaos with a smile, quietly steering, adapting, and making everyone else look better without saying a word.
A big thank you to all dancers who continue to show up and make everything possible, especially the patient teachers and dancers who share their gifts! 🤍 💙 💚 🕺 💃 🤪
Beginner's Luck
Miss Jean C. Milligan was a pivotal figure in the development and preservation of Scottish Country Dancing. She authored the influential manual Won’t You Join the Dance?, first published in 1951, which became the official instructional guide for the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society (RSCDS) for many years. Her work helped standardize terminology, technique, formations, and etiquette, allowing Scottish Country Dancing to flourish consistently across the world.
The title Won’t You Join the Dance? was not only a manual but also a celebration of the joy and spirit of dancing. It was later used as the name for a special floor show created in 1973 to commemorate the RSCDS’s 50th anniversary, choreographed by Edith Lauder Campbell and performed in New Zealand. Miss Milligan herself was delighted to see the dance performed in her honor during her visit to New Zealand the following year.
For those beginning Scottish Country Dancing, Miss Milligan’s approach still shapes the experience today. Beginners typically start by learning basic formations such as circles, rights and lefts, reels, and setting steps. Classes focus on teamwork, phrasing with the music, and courteous interaction between partners and sets. Dances are done in longways sets of three or four couples, with dancers progressing to meet new partners as the dance repeats — one of the features that makes SCD so sociable and welcoming.
Scottish Country Dancing is danced to lively jigs, stately strathspeys, and energetic reels. New dancers often begin with simple 32-bar dances that emphasize clear formations and musical timing before progressing to more intricate figures. The emphasis is not only on steps and precision, but on community, musicality, and enjoyment — very much in the spirit of Milligan’s inviting title.
Her legacy lives on through the continued teaching of Scottish Country Dancing worldwide, with her manual still regarded as a foundational text and her invitation still echoing in every beginner class: Won’t you join the dance?
For an interesting analysis about how Contra Dancers can use their skills to join a Scottish Country Dancing class, click the.
Click the dance cribs or description below to link to a printable version of the dance!
