Early Sources of RSCDS dances

None of the dances published by the RSCDS before book 13 were devised by the RSCDS, instead they were considered "traditional" dances. Many dances published in subsequent books fall into that category as well. I have tried to track down the sources of these dances and display here the earliest published versions of the dance's figure which I've been able to find.

Note: this is often different from the earliest dance with that name. The dance's name was often the name of the tune to which it was danced, and many tunes had multiple figures attached to them, so care must be taken.

Note also: there may very well be earlier sources than "the earliest published version ... which I've been able to find". Many early sources have been lost to the ravages of time, and others have simply escaped my notice. And in other cases the publication dates are uncertain, and which is earliest may be indeterminate.

In some cases the RSCDS mentions a source. Often I have found earlier examples of the dance. Sometimes I have been unable to find the RSCDS source and will present the earliest source I have found.

When I know the deviser, I mark the name in italics. In most cases for these old dances I only know the publisher.

When a dance source is marked with "†" it means I have been unable to verify the source of the dance, when it is marked with "‡" it means I have been unable to find any Scottish dance manual containing this dance (prior to 1924).

Hovering the mouse over a dance's devisor/publisher will (often) produce a popup containing the text of the original.

By default the list below shows only traditional dances interpreted by the (R)SCDS. I believe that Book 34 (1986) was the last book to contain any traditional dances. Before Book 13 all (R)SCDS dances were traditional, but Book 13 contains The Reel of the 51st Division, the first published modern dance. No further modern dances were published until Book 22 (1963), and after that some books contained modern and some traditional dances until Books 31&34, which contains both.

At the end I have several tables of statistics.

Order by: RSCDS Book Original Publication Date
Include: All Dances Only Traditional Dances Only Modern (post 1924) Dances [Not Complete]
(R)SCDS Book Range:
Containing figure:

(R)SCDS dances devised by John Young (Playford family)

RSCDS Book 28, 1977

Bonnie Lass ~ RSCDS	John Young (Playford family), [Unknown City], 1710 The Dancing Master, Vol. the Second John Young calls the dance The Bonny Lass and writes: Note: The first Strain is to be play'd twice, and the last but once. The first Couple cross over, then Sett and cast off below the third Couple, and then cast above the third Couple, then Sett and cross up to the top. This to the first Strain play'd twice The two Men change places with the two Women, then Hands across all four half round, then first Man lead his Partner thro' the 3d Cu. and thro' the 2d Cu. and turn his Partner in the 2d Cu. place. This to the last Strain play'd once. The original music is in cut time and consists of an 8 bar strain and a 16 bar strain, intended to be played AAB.
Pretty Polly ~ RSCDS	John Young (Playford family), [Unknown City], 1710 The Dancing Master, Vol. the Second John Young calls the dance Pretty Poll and writes: Note: The first Strain is to be play'd twice, and the second once, and so far as the Repeat again. The first Couple cast off and turn Hands This to the first Strain play'd once The second Couple do the same This to the first Strain play'd twice Then the first Couple clap Hands and cast off below the second Couple, then all four change Places, and Right and Left half round and cast off This to the second Strain play'd once Then clap Hands and turn single This from the Repeat. The original music is in 3/2 time and consists of a 5 bar strain and an 8 bar strain, intended to be played AABA.
A Trip O'er the Tweed	John Young (Playford family), [Unknown City], 1710 The Dancing Master, Vol. the Second John Young writes: Note: Each Strain is to be play'd twice over. The first Couple cast off and fall in between the second and third Woman and Man, and lead backward and forward Then first Woman cast off and fall in between the third Man and third Woman, the Man cast up and fall in between the second Man and second Women at the same Time; then lead backward and forward The first Man and first Woman meet and fall back, the Man cast off round the second Woman, and the second Woman cast up round the third Man, then Righ and Lift quite round Back to Back with your own, then Back with the second Couple, then the Man lead his Partner up round the second Woman into their proper Places, Sett and cast off The Tweed is a river on the border between Scotland and England, flowing into the North Sea. The original is a 24 bar dance with 3 counts per bar; it has been adapted to a 48 bar jig.

RSCDS Book 30, 1981

The Highland Lass ~ RSCDS

John Young (Playford family), [Unknown City], 1718
The Dancing Master, Vol. the Second, 3rd ed.

Statistics

Number of dances published by city (or region)

[Unknown]

Number of dances published by semi century

1700-1749

Number of dances by early publisher/devisor

John Young (Playford family)

References

John Young (Playford family)	The Dancing Master, Vol. the Second, 1710
"	The Dancing Master, Vol. the Second, 3rd ed., 1718

Scans of old dance manuals are scattered about the internet. The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, International Music Score Library Project, Scott Pfitzinger's Playford site, Richard Powers' website, Library of Congress, and The Library of Dance all provide primary sources. A number of other sites provide indeces of these sources: The Regency Dance site, The Library of Dance again, and my own site have all proven useful for finding old sources. Finally there is Robert Keller's index which does not provide sources directly but lists thousands of dances, the publications containing them, dates and a brief coded description of the figures. This last has proven invaluable for tracking down dances for which I had no complete sources.

And, of course, both the Scottish Country Dance Database and the Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary provide online descriptions of all the RSCDS books and often hint at early sources.

This website is copyright © 2021-2025 by George W. Williams V
My work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Most of the dances have more restrictive licensing, see my notes on copyright, the individual dance pages should mention when some rights are waived.