Gaelic Cape Breton Step-Dancing: An Historical and Ethnographic Perspective

Gaelic Cape Breton Step-Dancing: An Historical and Ethnographic Perspective

by John G. Gibson
Gaelic Cape Breton Step-Dancing: An Historical and Ethnographic Perspective

Gaelic Cape Breton Step-Dancing: An Historical and Ethnographic Perspective

by John G. Gibson

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Overview

The step-dancing of the Scotch Gaels in Nova Scotia is the last living example of a form of dance that waned following the great emigrations to Canada that ended in 1845. The Scotch Gael has been reported as loving dance, but step-dancing in Scotland had all but disappeared by 1945. One must look to Gaelic Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and Antigonish County, to find this tradition. Gaelic Cape Breton Step-Dancing, the first study of its kind, gives this art form and the people and culture associated with it the prominence they have long deserved. Gaelic Scotland’s cultural record is by and large pre-literate, and references to dance have had to be sought in Gaelic songs, many of which were transcribed on paper by those who knew their culture might be lost with the decline of their language. The improved Scottish culture depended proudly on the teaching of dancing and the literate learning and transmission of music in accompaniment. Relying on fieldwork in Nova Scotia, and on mentions of dance in Gaelic song and verse in Scotland and Nova Scotia, John Gibson traces the historical roots of step-dancing, particularly the older forms of dancing originating in the Gaelic–speaking Scottish Highlands. He also places the current tradition as a development and part of the much larger British and European percussive dance tradition. With insight collected through written sources, tales, songs, manuscripts, book references, interviews, and conversations, Gaelic Cape Breton Step-Dancing brings an important aspect of Gaelic history to the forefront of cultural debate.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780773550599
Publisher: McGill-Queens University Press
Publication date: 07/04/2017
Series: McGill-Queen's Studies in Ethnic History , #2
Pages: 496
Product dimensions: 6.50(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

John G. Gibson is the author of Traditional Gaelic Bagpiping, 1745–1945 and Old and New World Highland Bagpiping. He lives in Judique, Nova Scotia.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations xi

Maps, Illustrations, and Genealogical Charts xiii

Acknowledgments xxxi

Introduction 3

1 The Religious Background in Scotland, 1746-1846 14

2 Step-Dancing in Catholic Gaelic Cape Breton and Northeastern Nova Scotia from 1790 28

3 The Mary "Tulloch" Macdonald Phenomenon Examined 64

4 Dancing in the Catholic Margarees, Glendale, and Boisdale 74

5 The Gluasad Gàidhealach / Gaelic Movement in Cape Breton, 1919-46 96

6 Step-Dancing in Presbyterian Cape Breton from 1790 112

7 The Evidence for Step Dancing in Scotland, 1775-1848 128

8 Dancing in Moderate Presbyterian Gaelic Parishes in Scotland 145

9 Dancing in Inland Gaelic Strathspey and Northwestern Perthshire 177

10 Changes in Dancing in Gaelic Scotland: The Dancing Record from Gaelic Songs, 1850-85 203

11 The Four Doctors, An t-Òranaiche/The Songster, and Others, 1879-1914 207

12 Scottish Attitudes to Dance: Twentieth-Century Letters from Gaelic Scotland 230

13 Dancing Schools and Dancing-Masters in Gaelic Scotland, 1775-1845 255

14 Last Words: A Scottish Country Dancing Enigma 260

Appendices

A The Royal Bounty: The Presbyterian Reverend Duncan MacCallum (1784-1863) 271

B From the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, 17 May 1725: Commission to Some Ministers and Ruling Elders for Reformation of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, and for Management of the King's Bounty for That End 275

C From among the Crofters Questioned in 1883 by Members of the Napier Commission 278

Notes 279

Bibliography 397

Index 447

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