Dancing in Ireland
An early reference to dancing in Ireland was made in 1600 by Fynes Moryson, an agent representing Queen Elizabeth 1, where he refers to “countrey dances”. Since Moryson would have been familiar with country dancing in England, it is likely that the “countrey dances” to which he referred in Ireland would have been of a similar nature. In his reference Moryson also mentions sword and withy dances. (H. Brennan, The Story of Irish Dance, P16.) Interestingly, two 17th Century Irish poets writing in Gaelic, Daithí O’Bruadair from County Cork and Aogan O’Rathaille from Sliabh Luachra, both referred to sword and withe dances. (Dr. John P. Cullinane, Part 2, Further Aspects of the History of Irish Dancing 1990: Page 19)
[A withe is a stick, sometimes willow – sword and stick dances have been noted in many world cultures through the ages.]
Another Englishman, Thomas Dineley, travelled through Ireland from Dublin to Limerick in 1680/81; in the journal of his travels he noted the Irish as dancing “the long dance”.
(H. Brennan, The Story of Irish Dance, 1999: Page 18)
Even earlier references have been made to “the hay”, a dance which is thought to have travelled from France to England and later to Ireland in the 1500s. The “hay or hey” (thought to derive from the French “haie”) is described in English dancing as “the centuries-old hey” a soft-shoe walking and weaving figure.
(R. Hall, I never played to many posh dances, Musical Traditions supplement no. 2, 1990, Page 77.)
“One of the most pleasing movements in reel or country dancing, and which answers all the principles varying at once, is what they call the HAY. The figure of it altogether represents a number of serpentine lines, interlacing or intervolving each other.”
(A Treatise on The Theory and Practice of Dancing, by James P. Cassidy, Professor of Dancing, Dublin: 1810)
One of the earliest printed publications on English dancing is John Playford’s The English Dancing-Master, which was published on 19th March 1651. This was an enormous success as seventeen editions continued to be issued between 1651 and 1728; the initial edition containing dances numbering 104 which increased to 918 by the last edition. The first edition contained, longways, circle, squares and single line dances. Longways, later becoming known as country dances, consisted of two lines of dancers facing each other. Many of these dances could accommodate any number of couples, who could join in at any time. By the last edition of Playford’s the popularity of the longways was such that the number of longways dances had increased from 80 to 904.
Playford’s dances also highlight another important development, in respect of their social nature. The nature of these dances eliminated “social rank”, and it is thought that the increased popularity of the longways in the late 1600s indicated that this was a form of dance for both high and low society.
Reg Hall in his book on the life of the Sussex musician, Scan Tester, defines the country dance in the form that it has survived into the twentieth century;
“A country dance can be described simply as a line of men facing a line of women. Usually there are four eight-bar figures, the fourth being a progression, where the top couple finishes at the bottom of the set, and thus every other couple moves down one place and the remaining couples move up one place.”
(R. Hall, I never played to many posh dances, Musical Traditions supplement no. 2, 1990, page 90.)
By the late 1600s these dances were not only popular in England, but they swept the continent. The French called the “country-dance” the “contre-danse”, which was later brought back to the English as the “contra-dance”. The French also adapted the long lines into square formations, which eventually distilled down to a dance for four couples. At first these became known as French contra-dances, but later took the name of “cotillons” (later anglicized as “cotillions”), referring to the French word for petticoat.
(S. Foster Damon, The History of Square Dancing, Massachusetts, 1957, page 7)
By the early 1700s popular dances in Ireland are thought to consist of country dances, jigs, minuets and hornpipes, although these were probably not in the form as danced today. An early reference to these dances is;
“…..the well-known Cork dancer (and teacher of House Sets), Joe O’Donovan, has found reference to an agreement between Charles Staunton dancing master and William Bailey dated October 1718 to teach the children of the latter “jig minnets, hornpipes and country dances”. Bailey, who lived in Ballincollig, West Cork, (now a Cork city suburb) was to pay the dance master two guineas when the children danced perfectly and not before.”
(Dr. John P. Cullinane, Part 2, Further Aspects of the History of Irish Dancing 1990, page 27)
The term jig, thought to have originated from the Italian “giga”, first appeared in the Irish form in Neal’s Celebrated Irish Tunes, which was published in 1724. The hornpipe, thought to be English in origin, first appeared in several of Playford’s dances in the mid 1600s and probably evolved into its present form in the mid-to-late1700s.
Arthur Young, an English geographer who travelled around Ireland in the late 1770s, made the following observations, which were published in his work A Tour in Ireland;
“All the poor people, both men and women, learn to dance, and are exceedingly fond of the amusement. A ragged lad, without shoes or stockings, has been seen in a mud barn, leading up a girl in the same trim for a minuet: the love of dancing and musick are almost universal amongst them.” (September 1776 - Page 366)
"Dancing - is very general among the poor people, almost universal in every cabin. Dancing-masters of their own rank travel through the country from cabbin to cabbin, with a piper or blind fiddler; and the pay is sixpence a quarter. It is an absolute system of education. Weddings are always celebrated with much dancing; and a Sunday rarely passes without a dance; there are very few among them who will not, after a hard day's work, gladly walk seven miles to have a dance.".
(October 1777 - Page 446)
"Besides the Irish jig, which they dance with a most luxuriant expression, minuets and country dances are taught, and I even hear some talk of cotillions coming in.”
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The 1790s saw the arrival of two dance forms that would eventually transform traditional dance in Ireland for the next two centuries and beyond – the reel and the quadrille.
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The reel, by the twentieth century the most popular dance rhythm with both dancers and musicians alike, was introduced into Ireland from Scotland. The term reel is thought to derive from the Anglo-Saxon word “rulla”, which means to whirl. There are no records regarding when, even roughly, reels began to be played in Ireland. Recognised authorities on the subject however suggest that reels, whilst having been danced and played in Scotland since the 1600s, didn’t arrive until the late 1700s. Breandán Breathnach states there is a very strong case that reels have a Scots ancestry and they appear to have evolved in the middle of the 18th Century. (Folk Music and dances of Ireland, Breandán Breathnach, 1971, Page 62). Liz Doherty states that reels were played in Scotland in 1590 with the modern form being brought from there in the late 1700s. (The Companion to Irish Traditional Music, edited by Fintan Vallely, 1999, Page 308)
From the dancing perspective a perusal of newspapers in the 18th and early 19th Centuries shows that in the mid to late 1700s the Dancing Masters in Ulster were teaching dances popular in London and Paris. These dances included, amongst many others, Figure Dances, Minuets, Hornpipes, Cotillions and latterly the Quadrilles. By 1794 however the emphasis changed to fashionable dances from London and Edinburgh. The “Scots Stile” was in vogue; the fashionable dances were the reel and strathspey. This is illustrated in the webpage - Introduction of Dances.
In the period 1770s to 1790s the focus of popular dancing in British and Irish High Society had been on the French Court, where references were often made regarding “elegant French Dancing”. What brought about the dramatic change in popular dancing when in 1794 the emphasis turned to the Scots style? This is discussed on page 38.
Reel
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The most dramatic change to dancing in Ireland up to the nineteenth century was the introduction of the Quadrilles. The Quadrilles originated in France, where they as “square” dances, evolved from cotillions. Academics generally suggest that quadrilles were introduced into Ireland by soldiers returning from the Napoleonic Wars around 1816 (The Story of Irish Dance, Helen Brennan, 1999; Page 23 and Toss the Feathers, Pat Murphy, 1996; Page 40). There is evidence, however, that shows a different timeline on events. “A Collection of the most elegant Italian and French Dances, Quadrilles and Cotillions” were being taught by Mr Kelly, the Dancing Master to the College of Armagh in 1792, as illustrated below.
The dramatic effect of the quadrilles was recorded by Lewis Melville his publication in the Beaux of the Regency;
“It was the introduction of a new dance that shock, not only Almack’s, but all England to its foundations. In 1815 Lady Jersey and Count Aldegonde, Lady Harriet Butler and Mr Montgomery, Lady Susan Ryde and Mr Montagu, and Miss Montgomery and Mr Charles Standish (or, some authorities say, Mr Haytey) danced the first set of quadrilles, which presented by such sponsors, at once became fashionable.”
(The Beaux of the Regency, Vol. 1, Lewis Melville, 1908, page 246.)
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Certainly by the early 1800s reels and quadrilles had taken root in Ireland as recorded in the Ordinance Survey memoirs of County Antrim (recorded 1838 - 9).
Parish of Carnmoney
…Dancing is their favourite amusement. Scarce a month passes without there being a dance in some of the farmers’ houses, either in this parish or in those immediately adjoining it. Reels, country dances and sometimes quadrilles are the usual figures. The violin is the usual instrument, but the Highland pipes are also sometimes introduced. They dance pretty well and rather lightly. The refreshment consists of punch and biscuits. The dances got up among the factory people are not by any means conducted with the same propriety as those at the farmers’ houses.
The emergence of the Quadrilles had a massive effect on the dancing repertoire of the common folk of Ireland because it gradually evolved into what is commonly known today as set dancing. The tunes played for the Quadrilles would originally have been simple tunes in 2/4 or 6/8 time. Over a period of time jigs, reels and hornpipes were introduced, which increased the tempo of dancing. In many areas the step-dancing jig and reel steps were introduced to the quadrilles, replacing the original promenade or marching step.
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Around the same period that the Quadrilles were achieving unparalleled popularity, the dancing masters again turned to the continent and imported round dancing. This was entirely different to any dancing that had gone before as partners embraced one another, the gent holding the lady around the waist as they danced as partners around the ballroom. This gave dancers a degree of independence that had not previously been enjoyed in “polite” society.
Round dancing isn’t usually discussed in terms of dancing in Ireland but these dances were in general circulation amongst the general populace from the early to mid 19th Century and they still exist in certain areas today – in fact there has been recent resurgence of interest in two-hand dances among the set dancing fraternity in recent years, with the introduction of two-hand workshops.
Quadrilles
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In contrast to the dances noted earlier, which involve a number of people (country dances could involve a large number of men facing an equal number of women; quadrilles involve four couples) two-hand dancing involves simply one man and one woman. Since the two-hand dances progress in an anticlockwise around the dance floor they are generally called “round dances”.
The Origin and Development of Two-hand Dances (Round Dances)
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The waltz in its current form shot to popularity around 1812 in the ballrooms of Paris and spread rapidly throughout Europe. However it is thought to have originated much earlier, probably from a figure of the Contredanse.
The Waltz, in what may be called its “allemande” form, that is with entwining arm-movements but without the close hold, was undoubtedly known in England a number of years before 1812, and as such was probably used as a figure of a Cotillon or Contredanse. The word “waltz” simply means to turn, and the modern dance is derived from a turning dance of the peasants.
(Social Dances of the XIX Century, P.J.S. Richardson, 1960: Pages 41 & 42)
Lewis Melville also recorded the sensation as a new dance craze emerged in English society;
The quadrilles evoked much interest, but this was nothing compared with the sensation that had been caused two years earlier by the introduction from abroad of the waltz.
Some such dance, it appears, had been known in England nearly a score of years before, for in The Times of February 19, 1796, we read: “The balls at Southampton are exceedingly lively and well-attended. The young ladies are particularly favourable to a German dance, called the Volse: for squeezing, hugging etc, it is excellent, and more than one Lady has actually fainted in the middle of it.”
(The Beaux of the Regency, Vol. 1, Lewis Melville, 1908, page 246.)
Waltz
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Opinions are divided with regards to the origin of the polka. Most authorities think the term “polka” derived from “pulka” meaning half-step. One of the more popular possibilities was that the dance was collected by Josef Neruda when he saw a peasant girl dancing to her own vocal accompaniment in Bohemia around 1830. He, or his followers, subsequently introduced the polka to high society in Prague in 1835.
(Social Dances of the XIX Century, P.J.S. Richardson, 1960: Page 81)
Another theory, that of Dr Arthur Michel, is that it was a Bohemian folk dance where he suggests the name derived from “the Polish Girl”. Friedrich Albert Zorn states that he travelled;
At that time the author travelled from Odessa to Vienna and Paris, for no other reason than to visit the most celebrated teachers of the Polka. And what did he find? Only the dance which, as a child, he had learned from his father under the name of the “Scotch Waltz,” and which he had shown to his pupils in Dresden in 1835, in Christiana in 1836 and in Paris in 1837.
(Grammar of the Art of Dancing, Theoretical and Practical, 1887, Friedrich Albert Zorn: Page 233)
And another, in The World History of the Dance, 1937, Curt Sachs states;
The polka step itself was nothing new. Its simple pattern was a combination of the old fleuret and pas de bourrée together with the so-called schottische step, with which the people of the times were familiar from the écossaise. This is why the polka, when it made its appearance in the German cities after 1830, was called the Schottische.
(Social Dances of the XIX Century, P.J.S. Richardson, 1960: Page 82)
Regardless of its history the polka was introduced into Paris in 1843 where it achieved unparalleled popularity spreading throughout western dance culture.
Polka
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The mazurka originally evolved from a Polish folk dance from the province of Masovia, and was apparently popular and subsequently spread into high society by the Polish army. In arrived in England around 1845 and was danced in sets of four or eight couples. The polka mazurka is thought to have been based on the polka and set to mazurka music and rhythm. Generally titled “the mazurka” the polka mazurka is still danced as a round dance in Counties Donegal and Down. (Social Dances of the XIX Century, P.J.S. Richardson, 1960: Pages 96-97)
Mazurka and Polka Mazurka
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The schottische was another round dance finding popularity in the British Isles around the mid nineteenth century; it first appeared in England around 1848.[1] As with many of the round dances there are a number of opinions put forward by academics, one that it was essentially German in character and music, and a favourite amongst German peasants,[2] another that it had been danced in Bavaria under the name ‘RheinlÓ“nder’ since 1844, where it was known as the ‘Bavarian Polka’.[3]
[1] P.J.S. Richardson, Social Dances of the XIX Century, 1960, p. 106.
[2] Routledge’s, Manual of Etiquette, The Ballroom Guide, 1860, p. 96.
[3] Friedrich Albert Zorn, The Grammar of the Art of Dancing, Theoretical and Practical, 1887, p. 247.
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It is a great favourite with the German peasantry; and although its name, the Schottische, would seem to imply that it came from Scotland, there is no doubt that it is essentially German alike in character and in music.
(Routledge’s, Manual of Etiquette, The Ballroom Guide, 1860: Page 96)
In the year 1850 there appeared in all parts of Europe the “Schottische”, a round dance which had, as early as 1844, been executed in Bavaria under the name “RheinlÓ“nder”, and in the Rhenish countries it was known as the “Bavarian Polka”. The music, which is in 2-4 measure, is rendered very slowly, with the effect of 4-4 time.
(The Grammar of the Art of Dancing, Albert Zorn, 1887: Page 247)
The Schottische was invented by the dancing master Markowski nearly a hundred years after the appearance of the Écossaise. This couple dance was given the rhythm of the Strathspey and may have been from the first danced to Scottish airs, but its name and association with Scotland clearly exercised a great appeal. It does not seem to have had any vogue in Paris and it is not mentioned by Cellarius in his book La Danse des Salons, 1847. But it found favour in North Britain, where the rhythm (now styled Schottische) was long familiar, and not only in Scotland. When the invented Scottische couple dance reached the Border it found a ready soil in which to root, for there the reels and hornpipes had that “snap” which is now regarded as the distinctive feature of Scottish traditional dance music. The Keel Row is a Tyneside song, and that is in Schottische time. A “broken” hornpipe played with snap can be made indistinguishable from a Schottische.
It was no doubt the appreciation of the exciting effect of the Scottish snap which prompted the Polish dancing master to his invention.
(Douglas Kennedy, the Director of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, as quoted in Social Dances of the XIX Century, P.J.S. Richardson, 1960: Page 103)
[The Écossaise was a popular dance during this period (the 1st decade of the 19th Century). It seems to have been a lively and spirited measure in 2/4 time, partaking partly of the nature of a Reel and partly of a Country Dance... In spite of its name, this Écossaise was definitely of French origin, though Scottish music was used…….. It is of course, possible that this original Écossaise was imported into France by Jacobite refugees after 1745 (Battle of Culloden). (Social Dances of the XIX Century, P.J.S. Richardson, 1960: Page 53)]
Schottische
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“La Varsoviana” or “The Varsovienna” was a round dance that achieved limited popularity in Ballroom society in the mid 19th Century; however it is still danced regularly in County Down. It was devised by a Spanish dancing teacher called Désiré and was first danced in Paris around 1853.
(Social Dances of the XIX Century, P.J.S. Richardson, 1960: Page 97)
Varsovianna
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Authorities agree that the barndance was originally called “the Military Schottische”, is related to “the Pas de Quatre”, and that it was introduced into England from America around 1886. The People’s Ballroom Guide and Manual of Dancing, 1905: Page 37, edited by James Scott Skinner states;
The dance hails from America, its invention being credited to Mr M B Gilbert, of Boston; and it was brought over the Atlantic and introduced into this country in 1886 by Mr K M Sellars, Professor of Dancing in Glasgow and Ayr.
Mr P J S Richardson in his Social Dances of the XIX Century, 1960: Page 118 generally concurs with added information;
About 1888 a new dance which had been known in America for some years arrived in this country and was taken up by all grades of Society. This was the Military Schottische or Barn Dance. Like the Schottische which had been danced in this country in the mid-century, this consisted of two parts each of two bars. In the first the couple, side by side, advanced along the line of dance. In the second they did a complete waltz turn. I have never discovered who was the inventor.
The Military Schottische, to give the dance its correct title, was first done to a tune “Dancing in the Barn”, hence it was more generally known in this country as the Barn Dance.