Scottish Country Dance of the Day

HAPPY BURNS NIGHT, JANUARY 25th, MARKING THE BIRTHDAY OF ROBERT BURNS (1759-1796)

CONTINUE your Virtual Burns Night in SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCE FORM as you move through an online traditional evening with vintage images and Scottish Country Dances for every aspect!

We've had the WELCOME dances, the HAGGIS dances, the SONGS & POEMS dances, the TRADITIONAL SUPPER & TOAST DANCES ... let's move on to the DANCING AND CEILIDH part of the evening with BURNS TRIBUTE DANCES, referencing the man himself! Be sure to followup with the FAREWELL DANCES as you wind your evening down.

There's a special set of dances specifically naming the poet, who amongst his other interests (or perhaps because of them), was fond of dancing!

According to Burns himself, around 1779 as a young man he began attending country dancing lessons in Tarbolton. He writes:

"In my seventeenth year, to give my manners a brush, I went to a country dancing school. My father had an unaccountable antipathy against these meetings; and my going was, what to this hour I repent, in absolute defiance of his commands."

Burns’s dance teacher William Gregg played the fiddle while Robert learned the steps.

If you're lucky enough to have your own fiddle player, you can dance to the following namesake dances:

Burns Night,
Salute to Robert Burns,
Rabbie's Rant,
The Star o' Rabbie Burns,
The Exciseman and many more!

"But hornpipes, jigs, strathspeys, and reels,
Put life and mettle in their heels."

~ Tam O'Shanter, 1790 Shown: Burns in James Sibbald's Circulating Library, Parliament Square, 1856