Up a double, Siding, Arming
Country Dances, Ancient and Modern

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:
Include:
(R)SCDS Book Range:
Containing figure:

(R)SCDS Book 6, 1930

Sixteensome Reel
Anonymous, date unknown†

Clearly based on The Eightsome Reel just as in quadrilles where The Lancers for 16 was based on The Lancers.

Intro
 
1-4Circle sixteen left...
5-8...and back to the right
9-16Inside ladies, with partners in their left hands, right hands across, partners take left hands with outside ladies, who take their partners in their left hands (forming an enormous star promenade), ending in a double circle
17-20Set twice to partner
21-24Partner two hand turn
25-40Face partner, two concentric grand chains back to places
Figure-Lady
 
1-4$1 and $5 ladies to the center where they set twice as others circle left fourteen
5-8$1 and $5 lady tulloch turn right as others circle right fourteen
9-12Active Ladies set to partners and two hand turn them
13-16Active Ladies set to opposites man and two hand turn them
17-24Active Ladies pass partners left to start a reel of three with him and her opposite
25-32Active Ladies to the center where they set and turn as others circle left fourteen and back
33-36Active Ladies set to their corners and two hand turn them
37-40Active Ladies set to the remaining men and two hand turn them
41-48Active Ladies passes corner left to start a reel of three with them and the opposite men
Figure-Lady
Figure-Lady
Figure-Lady
Figure-Man
 
1-4$1 and $5 men to the center where they set twice as others circle left fourteen
5-8$1 and $5 men tulloch turn right as others circle right fourteen
9-12Active men set to partners and two hand turn them
13-16Active men set to opposites man and two hand turn them
17-24Active men pass partners left to start a reel of three with her and his opposite
25-32Active men to the center where they set and turn as others circle left fourteen and back
33-36Active men set to their corners and two hand turn them
37-40Active men set to the remaining men and two hand turn them
41-48Active men passes corner left to start a reel of three with them and the opposite men
Figure-Man
Figure-Man
Figure-Man
Intro

Statistics

Number of dances published by city (or region)

[Unknown]1

Number of dances published by semi century

Unknown1

Number of dances by early publisher/devisor

Anonymous1

References

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 © 2021-2026 by George W. Williams V
Creative Commons License 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.