

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.
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:
| Dumbarton Drums ~ RSCDS | Thomas Wilson, London, 1816‡ A Companion to the Ball Room Wilson writes (on page 40): SINGLE FIGURE (Tune played straight thro') Wilson usually gives multiple figures for a tune, the (R)SCDS appears to have conflated the first figure and the last. They seem to have taken the first 8 bars from the first figure (the hey), and added the last 16 bars of the final figure, except these have been reinterpreted to take up 24 bars. The music consists of two 8 bar strains. Wilson defines most of his figures in his An Analysis of Country Dancing.
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| Tulloch Gorm | William Campbell, London, ~1796†‡ Campbell's 11th Book of New and Favorite Country Dances & Strathspey Reels The RSCDS attributes this to William Campbell, and he did publish a dance named Tulloch Gorum, but I can't check whether the figure matches. In 1796 Skillern published Tulloch Goram and later Skillern (again), and Bland and Wilson all published dances named Tulloch Gorum whose figures do not match. Smyth and the Lowes (~1830) published a dance called Tullochgorum but again the figure does not match that of the RSCDS. Allan (~1895) also published a Tullochgorum but his figure does not match that of the RSCDS. |
| Miss Mary Douglas ~ RSCDS | Thomas Wilson, London, 1816‡ A Companion to the Ball Room In his A Companion to the Ball Room, 1816, Thomas Wilson published Lady Mary Douglas:, wherein he writes: SINGLE FIGURE Tune played straight thro and Da Capo The music consists of 2 eight bar strains. The RSCDS has chosen the DOUBLE FIGURE which means the music should be played ABBABB (I think). "" indicates a strain. Wilson defines his figures in his An Analysis of Country Dancing.
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| Green Grow the Rashes ~ RSCDS | Walsh, London, ~1740 The Compleat Country Dancing-Master Book 1, 4th Ed. The RSCDS attributes this dance to Johnson (who published it in ~1748), but Walsh published it first. Hey on the Men's side Then foot it to Partners then to sides turn single after Each then the 1st Man turn 3d. Cu. half round and cast up into the 2d Place The Wo. do the same back again change sides and foot it cast up change sides and foot it cast off The music consists of two 4 bar strains. |
| Willie with his Tartan Trews ~ RSCDS | Johnson, London, 1750 A Choice Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, Vol. 5th Johnson published this in his 5th volume of Country Dances (1750), and Rutherford published essentially the same figure in 1759. Both Johnson and Rutherford spell this dance as "Willie with his tartan Trues". The RSCDS credits this dance to Rutherford Rutherford writes: Hey Contrary sides Hey on your Own sides Cross over two Couple Lead up to Top, foot it And Cast off Foot it Corners & turn Foot it the Other Corners & turn Lead out Each side & turn your Partner |
| My Mother's Coming In | Thomas Wilson, London, ~1814†‡ No. 26 of Button & Whitaker's Selection of Dances, Reels and Waltzes |
| Rakish Highlandman ~ RSCDS | Thomas Wilson, London, 1816‡ A Companion to the Ball Room Wilson, on page 96, writes: SINGLE FIGURE Tune played straight thro This is an interpretation of the DOUBLE FIGURE. The music is two 8 bar strains (jigs) both repeated. Wilson defines most of his figures in his An Analysis of Country Dancing. |
| Farewell to Crumlin | Wilson Brown, Alloa, 1982 RSCDS Book 32 |
| Bedrule | Betty Grant, Toronto, 1984 RSCDS Book 33 | |
| MacLeod's Fancy | John Drewry, Aberdeen, 1985 RSCDS Book 33 |
| Culla Bay | Ann Dix, [Unknown City], 2000 RSCDS Book 41 |
| Bea's Delight | May MacFarlane, [Unknown City], 2003 RSCDS Book 43 |
| The Dream Catcher | Eileen Orr, [Unknown City], 2001 RSCDS Book 45 |
| The Rutland Reel | Robert Senior, [Unknown City], 2010 RSCDS Book 48 |
| MacDonald of Keppoch | Chris Ronald, [Unknown City], 2015 RSCDS Book 49 |
| Australian Ladies | Peter Fish, [Unknown City], 2014 RSCDS Book 50 |
| The Meeting of the Waters | Iain Boyd, [Unknown City], 1969 RSCDS Book 53 |
| The Darlington Dancer | John Brenchley, [Unknown City], 2020 RSCDS Book 54 | |
| Kathy's Fascinator ~ Alternate | Lydia Hedge, [Unknown City], 2020 RSCDS Book 54 | |
| Kathy's Fascinator | Lydia Hedge, [Unknown City], 2020 RSCDS Book 54 |
| Miss Corbett's Strathspey | Anonymous, date unknown† |
| [Unknown] | 11 |
| London | 7 |
| Aberdeen | 1 |
| Alloa | 1 |
| Toronto | 1 |
| Unknown | 1 |
| 1700-1749 | 1 |
| 1750-1799 | 2 |
| 1800-1849 | 4 |
| 1950-1999 | 4 |
| 2000-2049 | 9 |
| William Campbell | Campbell's 11th Book of New and Favorite Country Dances & Strathspey Reels, London, about 1796. May be found in the Havard University Library |
| Johnson | A Choice Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, Vol. 5th, London, 1750. Robert Keller's site says this may be found in the Library of Congress. |
| Walsh | The Compleat Country Dancing-Master Book 1, 4th Ed., London, about 1740. Robert Keller's site says this may be found in the Birmingham University Library |
| Thomas Wilson | No. 26 of Button & Whitaker's Selection of Dances, Reels and Waltzes, London, about 1814. I don't know where to find it. |
| " | A Companion to the Ball Room, London, 1816. Robert Keller's site says this may be found in the British Library |
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 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.