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!
Apr 12
Sunday Funnies
Birlin' Sporrans
Other Scottish Country Dances for this Day
Today's Musings, History & Folklore
Remind you of anyone you know? 😉
"There’s a dancer named Ian, so precise and so clean,
With light and easy turns, the finest ever seen.
Each figure neat and true, every setting just so—
But there’s one small distraction wherever he may go…
It’s not a faulty step, nor a slip in the line,
But a lively leather sporran keeping bold time—
Like a cheeky wee bodhrán that joined in the band,
Adding extra rhythm no one quite had planned!
With every set and step, each hop and each turn,
And those pas de basque steps?—oh, the thwapping returns!
It echoes through the tune with a bright, jaunty snap,
An unexpected rhythm—thwap-a-thwap-thwap!
The dancers keep dancing, though their smiles start to grow,
Counting bars in their heads so THEIR timing won’t go!" 😄
~ The Noisy Sporran
If your sporran has a mind of its own, you may enjoy this quick and lively dance, just warn your partners! This 40 bar jig for 3 couples in a four couple set will have kilts, skirts, and sporrans whirlin' and birlin'! Devisor Rosalind Morris took inspiration from a wedding couple, the groom of which who referenced his 'birlin sporran'! This lively dance includes setting, chasing, diagonal rights and lefts, and a slip step and pivot back to place for another repeat! This dance even has its own tune composed by Nicol MacLaren!
While many ladies are fond of their handbag collection, an equal number of sporran owners have a collection worthy of envy!
Whether it be called the pouch, pocketbook, handbag, bag, wallet, clutch-bag, receptacle, portemonnaie (French), pocket, coin-purse, reticule, manbag or sporran, it is a truth universally acknowledged that one should always have something in which to carry various necessaries: the odd bit of coin, a good luck charm, breath mint, fishing tackle, dance cribs, or even the odd explosive device! Suprised? Read on ...
Sporrans fit the bill perfectly. In Sir Walter Scott's novel Rob Roy, he equipped the namesake outlaw's sporran with a trick explosive device, a gun, which would fire if not opened properly.
"'I advise no man to attempt opening this sporran till he has my secret,' said Rob Roy; and then twisting one button in one direction, and another in another, pulling one stud upward, and pressing another downward, the mouth of the purse, which was bound with massive silver plate, opened and gave admittance to his hand."
Goodness gracious! You just never know, do you?
Gentleman if you have a good idea how to keep that sporran from taking center stage and/or exploding, do let us know! A softer backing? A bit of velcro? Enquiring minds and all that ... 🕺 💃 🤪 🤪 🤪 👛 👛 👛
Birlin' Sporrans
Rather than celebrating the ubiquitous handbag, those fashionable accessories necessary for carrying one's necessaries, today we focus on the historical equivalent for the kilted man, the sporran.
Scottish Gaelic for "purse" and a traditional part of male Scottish Highland dress, the sporran is a pouch that performs the same function as pockets on the pocketless kilt. It is essentially a version of the common European medieval belt-pouch, which became obsolete as clothing increasingly included built-in pockets, but continued in the Scottish Highlands because of the lack of these accessories in traditional dress.
There are day sporrans, dress sporrans, regimental sporrans, and whimsical sporrans.
According to those who know better, when driving a car, dancing, playing drums (?), or engaging in any activity where a heavy pouch might encumber the wearer, the sporran can be turned around the waist to let it hang on the hip in a more casual position.
Or, if dancing, why not just let it birl.
See below the dance cribs and to see the dance performed by the Tay Dancers in 2015.
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You yourself may be sporran owner (or admirer). Everyone, however, may not be as tasteful as yourself.
Perhaps you spent some time choosing just the right sporran that satisfied your own ideas of manliness, historicity, overall complementary and pleasing harmony with the rest of your gear, and appropriate cultural or subliminal social messaging.
Perhaps not.
At any rate, there is an art to choosing one's accessories, especially one so specifically and centrally positioned.
And so, just to prove that talented taxidermy is no substitute for lack of taste, click the "Tyrannosaurus Rex Sporran" to visit the humorous Gallery of Cruel and Unusual Sporrans, which run the gamut from "eclectic" to "why?"
Trust me, with sporrans like these, no one is wondering what is worn "under" the kilt.
This light-hearted gallery can be found on the Curious and Unusual Tartans companion website. Click the comic to visit.
Click the dance cribs or description below to link to a printable version of the dance!
