—A Story to Every Dance— The role of lore in enhancing the Scottish solo dance tradition Mats Melin Copyright © 2018 Mats Melin All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Responsibility for the research and permission obtained for this publication rests with the author. Melin, Mats, author A Story to Every Dance: The role of lore in enhancing the Scottish solo dance tradition / Mats Melin. Cover illustration by Mats Melin: Composite of various photos by Mats Melin and photos and cuttings held in the Melin archive. Image of William Sutherland dancing the Seann Triubhas at Dannevirke, New Zealand, 1926, used with kind permission, copyright Ewen McCann. Image of sword dancer by Shiobhan Smith 2015, used with kind permission. Blue silhouette deer head by Ingrid Melin. Issued in print and electronic formats. ISBN 978-91-984626-0-9 (paperback) ISBN 978-91-984626-1-6 (pdf) DOI 10.31880/10344/7264 Contact: www.lorg-press.com Email: [email protected] Digital downloads need Adobe Acrobat Reader to display all images in this book properly when viewed on Mac/PC and on iPads/tablets. _______________________________________________________________________ Lorg research hub & Lorg-press In 2017, I established Lorg as my research hub, and Lorg-press as a means of spreading my research beyond academic journals and other outputs, using the word Lorg which is Scottish Gaelic for ‘footprint’ and ‘to seek.’ I was compelled by the idea that archived dance descriptions need to be published so the current generation of dancers can access them and enjoy the act of dancing them and bringing them back to life. Thus, I use the motto ‘Bringing the past into the present.’ Using a mix of the written word and links to suitable video clips available online, Lorg aims to achieve this. These descriptions represent the legacies of dancers, teachers, and researchers who have gone before us. It would be a pity if these precious heirlooms were no longer actively used or accessed. Documents Do Not Dance is the title of Swedish dance ethnologist and colleague Mats Nilsson’s book (2016). In it, he compares the act of ‘dancing’ to ‘dances,’ examines archival methods, and wrestles with the concepts of tradition and intangible cultural heritage and those concepts being alive and used. These issues are also intertwined in the core intentions of Lorg. When a performance of dance is archived through notation or in a film or video recording, the act of ‘dancing’ is frozen, no longer alive. Documentation cannot dance. In some cases, the home dancing tradition from which the material was archived is a living and healthy one, and while the material in the archive stays static, the real-life dancing by people interacting with each other keeps evolving and changing. When archived material is accessed and interpreted at some future point in time, a new, other, rendition of the dance can be established. As Mats Nilsson asks, which version is correct? A simple answer could be both. Both versions or aspects of the dance can be seen as being correct. At each point in time, a new, ‘correct,’ interpretation of a dance by a performer can be made. This notion is perhaps at odds with some peoples’ view that there is a mystical, ‘original and correct,’ way of performing a given dance that is somehow frozen across the ages. I agree with Mats Nilsson, I do not think that is the case, or even possible. The ephemeral act of ‘dancing’ is unique at each moment it occurs and will be so every time a dance is performed. Tradition, in my view, and again agreeing with Nilsson (2016) and Glassie (2003), is a way of looking forward, rather than to the past. Glassie said: ‘tradition is the creation _______________________________________________________________________ i _______________________________________________________________________ of the future out of the past. If tradition is a people’s creation out of their own past, its character is not stasis but continuity.’1 Lorg is about continuity. The aim is to share archived materials or notations of dancing, so they can live again, and in the process, allow readers to offer their own interpretations of the materials. Bring the footsteps of the past into the present by seeking new ways of interpreting them! Keep the act of ‘dancing’ alive! Mats Melin _______________________________________________________________________ ii _______________________________________________________________________ Contents Lorg research hub & Lorg-press .................................................................................................................i Contents .....................................................................................................................................................iii Illustrations .................................................................................................................................................iv Abbreviations used within the text .....................................................................................................v References and spelling ........................................................................................................................v Foreword .................................................................................................................................................... vi Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. vii 1 Background on the role of dance stories ..............................................................................................1 Naming of solo dances .........................................................................................................................1 Steps in or out of order? .......................................................................................................................2 Meaning-making ..................................................................................................................................2 Labelling of solo dance families ..........................................................................................................5 Ideological placing of dances in storied narratives ...........................................................................7 2 The Highland Fling .............................................................................................................................. 14 3 TheSeann Triubhas .............................................................................................................................. 23 4 The Sword Dance—Gille Chaluim ..................................................................................................... 35 5 Stories relating to the Jacobite rising of 1745–1746 ......................................................................... 49 Flora MacDonald’s Fancy ................................................................................................................. 49 Over the Water to Charlie ................................................................................................................. 51 Tulloch Gorm ..................................................................................................................................... 54 6 Short stories for ten dances ................................................................................................................. 56 Aberdonian Lassie ............................................................................................................................. 56 Blue Bonnets ...................................................................................................................................... 57 Dusty Miller ....................................................................................................................................... 58 Earl of Erroll ....................................................................................................................................... 59 The Flowers of Edinburgh................................................................................................................. 59 Highland Laddie ................................................................................................................................ 61 Scotch Measure, or Scotchmakers ................................................................................................... 63 Scottish Lilt ......................................................................................................................................... 63 The Village Maid ................................................................................................................................ 65 Wilt thou go to the Barracks, Johnny? (Go to Berwick, Johnnie) ................................................ 65 7 The Character dance in the Scottish traditions of dance ................................................................. 68 The Irish Jig ........................................................................................................................................ 70 The Sailors’ Hornpipe .......................................................................................................................