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

Country Dancing in Scotland

Table of Contents

Language

All the Scottish sources of country dancing I have found are written in some form of Anglic, and most in English.

Ancient History

Country dancing probably started in England in the early 1600s or the 1500s. The first printed book of Country Dances was John Playford's The Engliſh Dancing Maſter, published in London in 1651.

Country dancing evolved over the next century or so. The old format of "Up a double/Siding/Arming" was lost after 1670, and a number of figures vanished with it: "Backs and Faces", "Siding", "Arming" and "Kiss". Playford's original set of dances contained many starting formations, but these also faded into oblivion leaving only duple and triple minor longways dances.

As time passed new figures appeared "lead down the middle and back", "turn corner, turn partner, turn corner, turn partner", "right and left 6", "set to corners", "set and turn corners", "lead out sides", "allemande", and an old figure aquired the new name "poussette". Then the figure "Turn Single" faded away by 1780 or so.

In the early 1800s there was a burst of new figures (including "double triangles"), and new dancing formations (or old formations revived) including improper dances again, three face three, four face four, sicilian (circassian) circles, etc.

Country dancing had spread to France by 1685, and thence to the rest of Continental Europe.

When did it arrive in Scotland?

The Fletts say that country dancing arrived in Scotland around 1700.

The Holmain Manuscript from Dumfriesshire, Scotland was written somewhere between 1710 and 1750 and contains a collection of Country Dances.

The Register of Dances at Castle Menȝies is dated to 1749. The titles of the dances, such as, "You'r Wellcome Charly Stuart" show clear support for the revolutionary Jacobite cause, yet the dance style is clearly the same as that in England.

In the 1700s and 1800s many books were printed in London of "Caledonia Country Dances" but these were English dances set to Scottish music, rather that dances of a particularly Scottish style. Thomas Wilson (London, 1816) catagorized his dances as "English", "Irish", or "Scotch" (or "Old Scoth"), but this again reflects the tune. The Lowes (Edinburgh, ~1831) used similar categories, but as they class "Petronella" as an English dance, I'm not sure what they mean.

In the early 1800s country dancing was similar in England and Scotland. The Lowes (Edinburgh, ~1831) even went so far as to plagerize an entire chapter out of Chivers (London, 1821).

But country dancing was dying out in England, being replaced by the quadrille and the waltz, while in Scotland people continued to publish books.

In the latter half of the 1800s there was some evolution in dance figures. The petronella turn, when it was first introduced, was simply a chasée into place with no turning involved (According to the Lowe brothers). But by 1853, the same publishers described it as: First couple turn round to the right. I think this is just spinning as you move, as that is the variant that showed up in the US at about this time.

In 1923, the Scottish Country Dance Society was formed and their first book of Scottish Country Dances was printed in 1924. They became the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society in 1951.

The Scottish Country Dance Society

The RSCDS history page says that Mrs Ysobel Stewart felt that rather than learning Sharp's reconstructions of Playford's country dances, Scottish children should learn Scottish Country Dances. Of the 12 dances in the first book, 4 were first published in London so calling them Scottish seems a stretch. They were certainly danced in Scotland, but they were also danced in England, and, indeed, all over the world.

Up to 1961 or so all the (R)SCDS Books contained the statement:

The dances published by The Royal Scottish Country Dance Society are traditional both in steps and formation. Their present form has been arrived at from available manuscripts, old books, and from the experience of dancers during the last 150 years.

The names of the dances were certainly the names of old dances — but for over 150 of them, I can find no record they were ever danced in Scotland, so they hardly seem traditionally Scottish. The list of figures in each dance were often the same as the traditional figure list, but many of the figures were completely redefined by the society so they were actually quite untraditional. The starting formations of the dances (three couple dances in a four couple set) were rather different from the triple minors which preceded them.

While the first book contained dances which were danced in Scotland, and probably were danced in Mrs. Stewart's youth, many dances found in later books had no record of being danced there, they were published in London, with no sign of being popular in the north. Some of these dances had Scottish names, such as Monymusk, others had Scottish music such as Auld Lang Syne, and others were just random English dances like Machine without Horses.

I think that Mrs. Stewart and Miss Milligan's efforts to distinguish Scottish dancing from its English anticedents caused them to create a new and non-traditional style.

At any rate the first book of the Scottish Country Dance Society represented a great saltation from what had gone before. They used the names and figures of old dances, but they changed what the figures meant.

Any Country Dancer who is familiar with Playford or Regency styles will be struck by several questions when introduced to Scottish:

The 4 Couple Set

In duple and triple minor dances, the lines of dancers were as long as the room could hold (in Sense and Sensibility Robert Ferrars explains how to fit a line of 18 couple of dancers into a cottage). But this took forever to dance, since every couple needed its chance to be 1s, so in Scotland (and the US too at this period) there was a tendency to dance in shorter lines.

The Fletts say:

In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the sets for Country Dances usually consisted of ten or twelve couples, and in one or two places in the Borders and Angus such 'long' sets were still in use at the beginning of the period covered by living memory. In most places, however, relatively short sets have been used for as far back as living memory extends; thus in Angus and Perthshire the number of couples in a set was usually five, in the West Highlands it was anything from four to seven, and elsewhere in Scotland it was almost invariably four. Exceptionly in East Lothian the number of couples in a set was sometimes as low as three, but this was only for a 'heavy' dance — one which was especially vigorous — where the basic sequence only involved two couples.

Unfortunately the Fletts do not say what "then living memory" suggested as the method used for dancing in a four couple set "elsewhere in Scotland". Did this apply to triple minors (three couple dances in a four couple set) as well as duple? Did duple minors in a four couple set only dance 8 times through (as the (R)SCDS has it), or did they do a ninth iteration as had been done for the previous 250 years?

In 1897 in Dundee, D. Anderson's Ball-Room and Solo Dance Guide says that only 4 couples are needed for a dance:

In Contra-dances the ladies should be placed with their right side next the top of the room. Before commencing any dance, gentlemen now bow to partners, 2 bars of music being allowed for that purpose. Four couples are quite sufficient to go down in any contra-dance. When the top couple has finished with the fourth couple, the second couple, who are now at the top of dance, repeat; and so on, till all couples have gone down.

Note that this differs from the system used by the RSCDS for a two couple dance in a four couple set. In Anderson's method the original 2s do not start when the original 1s finish with the 3s, instead the 2s wait until the 1s reach the bottom.

Anderson's method doesn't work for triple minors, but as the vast majority of dances he devised were duple minors this may be forgiven.

At any rate short sets did seem to have become more common in Scotland as the nineteenth century came to its end, and dancing in four couple sets was probably not uncommon, but the specifics of how one actually danced in a small set are not clear.

Why do Scottish duple minors use a method of starting dances that began to die out in the 1850s? And why don't they finish it properly?

Prior to about 1850 or so all longways minor set country dances used a method of starting a dance which seems a bit peculiar today. You would have a long line of dancers. The couple at the top would start dancing with the couple below (while everyone else stood still), at the end of this those two couples would have switched places.

Then the original top couple (now in second place) would dance with the third couple, (and everyone else would stand still) and again they'd switch places.

Now the original second (at top) would dance with the original threes (just below them) while the original top couple (now in third place) would dance with the fourth. And everyone else would stand still.

By the time original top couple had reached the bottom the entire line would be dancing.

Then the original top couple would start moving up.

When the original top couple reached the top they would stop, but the rest of the line would keep dancing, each couple stopping when it reached its original place. Finally the bottom two couples would dance together, each ending where they started, and the dance would end.

(After about 1850 or so dance books published in both Scotland and the US would suggest that all the minor sets could start at once.)

This is almost the method used by the (R)SCDS for a two couple dance in a four couple set, except that there are only eight repetitions of the dance in the (R)SCDS's method, leaving the bottom two couples in the wrong places.

This is not the sort of thing described in most books (Playford never says a word about it, but Essex describes it in 1710), so it's not clear if stopping at eight iterations was common in Scotland, or if that were an inovation of the (R)SCDS — perhaps so that it would match the number of iterations of a three couple dance in a four couple set.

Heys or Reels

The OED (1982) says the phrase haye d'allemande was used in "15th c. Fr in Marot". In his The Playford Assembly, Graham Christian's introduction quotes Hay the gy of thre in English from 1529. In Thoinot Arbeau's (Jehan Tabourot) Orchésographie, 1589, a book about French dancing, he describes a dance called "Branle de la Haye" (page 90 (his numbering is unexpected, he only numbers every other page, most would call this page 180) where he gives a very clear definition of a hey that is essentially the same as what we do today (it's a progressive hey, so not the most common form but recognizable).

The OED (1982) says that the word "reel" in the sense of "to whirl around" first appeared in the 13 hundreds, but dates its use as a type of dance in 1585. (The OED also says that such use was chiefly Scottish). The OED does not have a separate entry for the figure called a "reel" (There are many dances which are called "reels" which do not, in fact, contain a "reel" — The Virginia Reel in the US, and Crummy Reel in Scotland are examples).

The Fletts suggest that the first known use of "reel" comes from "Douglas's Virgil, c. 1525:

And gan do dowbill brangillys and bambatis,
Dansys and rowndis traysings mony gatis
Athir throu other reland, on thar gys:

Rather a different spelling of the word, but here it seems to refer to a type of dance and not a figure (if I'm understanding the quote correctly, which I may not be).

They go on to say that a "threesom reel" is first mentioned in 1710 (again as a dance, but since modern threesome reels include the reel figure, this probably also refered to the figure too).

According to the Fletts, Thomas Wilson, of London, was the first to describe the movements of a Reel of Three (or four, or five). But he defines the figure by saying "they then hey", so he is using "reel" to mean the type of dance, not the figure. Contrariwise, Chivers in The Modern Dancing Master, London, 1822, defines hey as Is to reel.

The Register of Dances at Castle Menzies, 1749 uses the term "reel" both as a type of dance, and a figure.

The dancing masters and publishers of London from John Playford to Thomas Wilson to Cecil Sharp seem to have used the word "hey" almost exclusively when talking of country dances (Kynaston tended to spell it as "hay" though). But elsewhere the term "reel" can be found. Colin Hume describes the Dorset Four-Hand Reel on his website, which he says is "A traditional English dance, though it could be traditional Scottish if Dorset weren't at the other end of the British Isles!". In The Community Dances Manual, Book 3, Peter Kennedy collected "The Progressive Six Reel" which uses the word "reel" rather than "hey" for the figure.

Even in Scotland the term "hey" is occasionally found. In the Lowes' Ball-Conductor and Assembly Guide, (Edinburgh, ~1831) in the first Ecossoise:

...The first Lady hies, or makes a reel of three with the second and third Gentleman;...

John Sweeney also discusses the origins of the hey.

The Scottish Reel

The Fletts say that the Reel is a traditional form of dance from Scotland. The dance seems to consist of setting steps and a reel/hey figure. But I have my doubts that it originated in Scotland. Reels of this format are found all over the British Isles, and on Continental Europe. I suspect the general idea was wide-spread but the Scots developed it more than anyone else.

The Poussette

Cooper's Rotational Poussette Waltz Poussette? (R)SCDS Poussette (R)SCDS Strathspey Poussette

The poussette is an old country dance figure which acquired a French name in about 1770 when Cotillions came over from France. In Playford's day it seems to have been called "put-back" or, later, "draw" (Note: This is different from the modern "draw poussette", which Colin Hume suggests is a modern misunderstanding).

Playford's The 29th of May (1686) has a nice description of a(n English) poussette:

First cu. take hands, the 2. cu. doing the like at the same time; then the 1. man puts back his wo. and slips down behind the 2. wo. into the 2. cu. place, while the 2. man draws his wo. to him and slips into the 1. cu. place. Do this back again the same way;

While the even earlier Cuckolds all arow (1651) describes a half poussette:

Men put the co. we. back by both hands, fall even on the co. side
as does The Spanyard.

The Neals also give a fairly clear description from Dublin in 1726 in the dance A Young Virgin of 15 Years

1st & 2d men take both hands wth their partner's and back to back till in their own places:

The Regency Dance Site has a nice paper by Paul Cooper giving the history of the poussette in English dancing. Most English Country Dances use what Cooper calls a "Rotational Poussette", either going half way round in 4 bars to be progressive, or all the way round in 8 ending back where you started.

Around ~1820 something called a "Waltz Poussette" appeared. As far as I know no one ever bothered to define it, so we aren't sure what it entailed. However on page 9 of Lowe's Selection of Popular Country Dances (Edinburgh, 1853) in the description of Spanish Country Dance:

Then pousette, Waltzing round each other. (16 Bars)

This is the final figure of the dance, and needs to be progressive. It suggests to me that the two couples waltzed around each other several times (they had 16 bars) before ending in each others' places. Cooper's paper says that in dances imported from Spain the words "waltz" and "poussette" were used synonymously.

Almost all the other dances in Lowe's book use poussettes, but none of them is a waltz, none takes 16 bars, and none says the dancers should waltz around each other. Now if you have to remind people to waltz in a waltz then that suggests to me that normally the poussette took a different form. At least in Edinburgh, in ~1850

Looking back from the 1960s, the Fletts say:

The Pousette. This figure, which is performed by two couples starting from adjacent positions, is one of the principal figures used to achieve the progression down the set. It occurs only in dances in quick tempo and occupies eight bars of music.
In the form of the pousette used in Scotland within living memory, the two couples essentially just waltz round each other. The dancers take ordinary ballroom hold or some similar hold with their partners and use a simple waltz-type step, and the two couples move around each other in a counter-clockwise direction to exchange places, each couple at the same time rotating on its own axis in a clockwise direction, making two or more complete turns in the performance of the figure. The two men place their partners in position on the ladies' side, and fall back to their own side with one or two pas de Basque while their partners dance pas de Basque on the spot.

To my mind this is glossing over something important. How do you waltz to a reel or jig? Surely the footwork, at least, is going to be different? Or was "waltz" a broad enough a term to encompass a "partner swing", which can be done with a different travelling step than a waltz step?

In J.F. Wallace's The "Excelsior" Manual of Dancing, Glasgow, 1872, he describes "The British Grenadiers" (a reel). In it the poussette needs to be progressive. He describes it as Pousette, (using Galop step, making a half turn with each, (and breaks off without finishing his sentence or closing his parenthesis). In his publication from ~1900 he does close his parenthesis but we are no closer to knowing what "each" might modify. My guess is "step", and that this is a variant of a waltz poussette, turning halfway on each Gallop step — but remember this dance is a reel, not a waltz — indicating that the "waltz poussette" had extended to other types of music by 1872 (in Glasgow).

In Wallace's book, as in Lowe's, the poussettes used with waltz music are usually 16 bars, and the first one has the comment "still using the waltz step" as if this were unusual in a poussette.

Anderson (Dundee, 1897) also has to mention that a poussette in a dance with waltz music should be just waltzing.

Note that in 1964 the Fletts said It occurs only in dances in quick tempo. And a waltz is not a quick tempo dance. Does this mean that the "waltz poussette" wasn't used in waltzes in the Fletts' "living memory"? or that no one was doing country dances to waltz music by then? Except Anderson suggests that there were waltz country dances in 1897 which used waltz poussettes...

Anyway according to the Fletts, prior to the (R)SCDS, poussettes consisted of just waltzing around the other couple, suggesting that the (R)SCDS invented their poussette, and dances using it would, therefore, not be danced in a traditional way.

The Allemande

Cooper's Crossed Allemande Cooper's Pirouette Allemande (R)SCDS Allemande for 2 Couples

As far as I can tell, the allemande figure was not part of Scottish Country Dancing in the 19th century. I have looked through several printed dance manuals of the period, from the Lowes in ~1831 to Anderson in ~1898 and none of their country dances calls for an allemande.

The dances which the (R)SCDS interpreted that contain an allemande are all based on English sources. The (R)SCDS's version of The De'il Amang the Tailors does contain an allemande, and there is a traditional Scottish dance with that name, but it is a completely different figure to the one used by the (R)SCDS, and the Scottish traditional dance does not contain an allemande.

The two couple allemande first appears in Book 2 for the dance The Delvin Side, a 1 couple version is called for in The Earl of Home, Book 12, and the 3 couple version in Twenty First of September in Book 17.

Again the Regency Dance Site has a nice paper giving the history of the allemande in English dancing. There were various allemandes in the Regency period, and none match the Scottish version. All were non progressive; all involved only one couple; all took only 4 bars, instead of 8 for the Scottish version. Yet whenever a source dance calls for an allemande, the (R)SCDS replaced the original version with theirs, thus requiring several alterations to the rest of the dance — eliminating (or modifying) whatever progressive figure was in the original, and removing 4 bars somewhere in the dance (possibly the same operation).

However, in the Lowes' Ball-Conductor and Assembly Guide, they have a section on Spanish Dances and in it they define:

Allemanda, (allemande,) the same figure as promenade, only the hands joined behind backs.

(Although they define the figure they do not use it in any of the Spanish Dances they supply).

This description begins very like the (R)SCDS's allemande, but the (R)SCDS version is progressive, and this (assuming it is really the same figure as promenade) is non-progressive.

So I conclude this is another invention of the (R)SCDS. And thus, not traditional.

Double Triangles

Wilson's Double Triangles (R)SCDS Double Triangles

Double triangles is a figure invented by Thomas Wilson in about 1810. He defines it in his book An Analysis of Country Dancing, 3rd Ed. Again, after looking through several 19th century Scottish dance manuals, I can find no dances which use the figure. As far as I know only Wilson, himself, and Elias Howe (in the US) ever used the figure before the (R)SCDS did. Wilson's figure is a bit like the 1s doing a full figure eight around their corners. It's a little more complicated in that you have to step around the spot where your partner used to be when the figure started.

The first dance of Wilson's containing double triangles that the (R)SCDS interpreted was There's Nae Luck About the Hoose (Book 10). In it the (R)SCDS replace Wilson's figure with finishing reels, which have a similar path for the 1s but get everyone else involved.

The next time they faced double triangles (in Lord Rosslyn's Fancy Book 15), and on all subsequent occasions, they invented a completely different figure, which starts in a slightly different position and so requires alteration to whatever figure precedes it in the dance.

This is very clearly an invention of the (R)SCDS and thus non-traditional.

The dances of Thomas Wilson

The (R)SCDS interpreted at least 39 of Thomas Wilson's dances. With most old publishers or devisers you aren't always sure what the figures they name actually meant to them, but Thomas Wilson's book An Analysis of Country Dancing spells out precisely what each of his figures mean, and in his case it is especially easy to see how badly the (R)SCDS misinterpreted his dances.

Petronella

Let's look at one dance and see what we can figure out about its evolution over time. I chose the dance Petronella which is the first dance in the first book published by the (R)SCDS.

The (R)SCDS gives as their source for the dance a book called The Ball-Room (full title: The Ball-Room, or the Juvenile Pupil's Assistant; Containing the Most Fashionable Quadrilles, with Les Lanciers of Sixteen, As Danced in the Public & Private Assemblies in Paris) by J. P. Boulogne, published 1827 (This book may only be in the archives of the RSCDS. I haven't found a copy of it).

Looking elsewhere, the earliest description of the figure I have found was published by the Lowes in Lowes' Ball-Conductor and Assembly Guide. of 1831. The Lowes published in Edinburgh. They describe it thusly:

First couple chassé round to the right, and set in the middle; round to the right again, and set on the sides; to the right again, and set in places; down the middle, up again, and pousette.

So in 1831 practically every figure in the dance meant something different from the (R)SCDS interpretation.

Now the Lowes were a hundred years before Book 1 was published, and much might have changed in that period. Sadly most dance books just give the names of figures without describing how the figures were done, so it can be difficult to be sure when (or what) changes happened.

By 1853, the Lowes had become just Joseph Lowe, and he published a somewhat different version in his Lowe's Selection of Popular Country Dances:

First couple turn round to the right, and set opposite to each other in the middle of the Dance (4 Bars). Again round to the right, and set on the sides of the Dance, (4 Bars) Again round to the right, and set in the middle, (4 Bars) Again to the right and set in places. (4 Bars) First couple down the middle and up again. (8 Bars) Poussette with top couple. (8 Bars)
Courtesy of National Library of Scotland, licensed under:

Here the Petronella turn is no longer a chassé, but has become turn round to the right. I suspect this means just pulling back your right shoulder and turning 270 degrees as you move, since this is way the move is done in the US, and it crossed the Atlantic at about this time.

If you look back at the section on poussette you will find that in this same work Lowe says that a 16 bar poussette in a waltz should be done by waltzing round the opposite couple. Does that mean an 8 bar one in a reel should also be? He doesn't say.

The first version I've found in the US appears in an anonymous work from New Hampshire in 1858 (where the dance is called Patenella): The Ball Room Guide, A Description of the Most Popular Contra Dances of the Day,:

First couple balance, swing, balance, swing, and so continue four times, down the middle, back, cast off, right and left.

(Somehow the poussette was lost in the US in the early 19th century, and all references to it turned into rights and lefts.)

Then from Boston in Elias Howe's 1868: The Pianist's Matinee: A Collection of Music for the Piano-Forte, writes:

First couple turn round to the right, and balance opposite to each other in the middle of the dance. (4 bars) Again round to the right, and balance on the sides of the dance. (4 bars) Again to the right, and balance in the middle. (4 bars) Again to the right, and balance in places. (4 bars) First couple down the middle and up again (8 bars) Right and left with the next couple. (8 bars)

This is almost word for word what Joseph Lowe said, except that Howe replaces "set" with "balance", and "poussette" with "right and left".

There are a number of other sources of the dance from Scotland in the latter part of the 19th century, but all the ones I've found read very much like Joseph Lowe's version. Perhaps the way each figure was danced changed in this period, but the words describing them did not.

In 1897 in D. Anderson's Ball-Room and Solo Dance Guide, (Dundee)

Time 2-4
Turn to right in centre with two steps facing each other, then set to each other with two steps.
Turn into each other's places with next two steps then set with other two steps.
Turn to right in centre facing each other with two steps then set to each other with two steps.
Turn into places next two steps then set with other two steps (the four quarter turns describe the figure of a diamond).
First gent then leads his partner down the centre and back to places, the first and second couples pousette.
Repeat from the beginning other three times
Courtesy of National Library of Scotland, licensed under:

Note: Anderson very explicitly says the lead down and back returns to places, while sixty years earlier it had an implied cast off. That means his "pousette" must be progressive, though he does not say that explicitly.

Music

Prior to about 1800 country dances were printed with both music and a figure. The music was quite variable too. Jigs and reels might predominate, but there were also slip-jigs and minuets, hornpipes and rants, waltzes (once those developed) and other triple times, etc. And while most strains were 8 bars long there were lots of 4 bar ones, and many with odd lengths.

Thomas Wilson in 1808 seems to have believed that any dance could be assigned to any music and that all music should have 8 (or 4) bar strains.

Scottish Country Dances seem to have followed Wilson's ideas, even changing the music originally assigned to a dance. Cumberland Reel was originally a reel when Thompson first published the dance in ~1786, but in RSCDS Book 1 it has been assigned a jig tune.

Here is a list of the types of music used in SCDs, with an indication of when they were first used:

ReelPetronella (Book 1.1)
JigThe Nut (Book 1.4)
Slip-JigStrip the Willow (Book 1.7)
StrathspeyThe Glasgow Highlanders (Book 2.3)
Medley (Reel/Strathspey)The Perth Medley (Book 2.5)
WaltzWaltz Country Dance (Book 4.8)
MinuetThe Yellow Haired Laddie (Book 12.7)

As far as I know, Strip the Willow is the only slip-jig in the entire Scottish cannon, other dances which originally had slip-jigs for music (like Open the Door for Three) were assigned jigs instead. Waltz Country Dance is also the only waltz I know of.

Layout

In Thomas Wilson's Analysis of Country Dancing, 3rd Ed., 1811, he writes:

A Country Dance is formed by an indefinite number of persons, not less than six, but as many more as chuse; ... The persons composing a Country Dance are regularly disposed in two rows, the one consisting of Ladies, which is called the Ladies' side, and the other of Gentlemen, which is called the Gentlemen's side; every Lady is opposite a Gentleman ... The proportionate distance for the persons to stand at the commencement of a Country Dance, is about two feet and a half from each other; the distance from the Ladies' side to that of the Gentlemen's is about four feet and a half.

While the Fletts say that in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries:

The spacing of the set naturally varied with the amount of room available, but in general the two lines of dancers would be 6-7ft apart, and the distance between adjacent couples would be about 3ft.

So Scottish dancers tend to be further apart than English.

Steps

Sadly steps are not well documented in the historical record. And, in the rare cases where people do describe them they often use terms which I don't understand.

The first descriptions of steps in Country Dances comes from John Essex, who has two comments in For the Further Improvement of Dancing, London, 1710, he says the following (on page 7):

Tho^ my designe is not to mark any steps in Country Dances, being willing to leave the Dancers ye liberty of composing the same as they please

which I take to mean that dancers are free to use whatever steps they may have invented. However later he is a bit more restrictive (on page 15):

Advice concerning ye steps that best sute with Country Dances

The most ordinary steps in Country Dances (those excepted that are upon Minuet Airs) are steps of Gavot, drive sideways Bouree step and some small Jumps forward of either Foot in a hopping Manner, or little hopps in all round Figures as the preeceding & following are, one may make little hopps or Bouree steps but little hopps are more in fashion.

As it is ordinary that every figure of a Dance ends at every cadence of end of the Aire, it will be proper to make a small Jump upon both Feet.

In all figures that goe forwards and backward, or backwards and forwards, you must always make Gavott steps.

In all figures that goe sideways you must always drive sideways.

When it will be requisite to make other steps than them wee have mentiond, as Rigadoon steps, balances &c. they shall be mark'd upon ye figures.

Thomas Wilson's An Analysis of Country Dancing, London, 1813 says nothing about steps. He is fixated on the figures of the dance, and appears to think the steps used irrelevant.

A knowledge of the figures, and a precision in accompanying them to the music, are the foundation of good dancing; but ease and grace are the ornaments of the structure;
Shuffling and rattling the feet is not only vulgar in Country Dancing, (as being only adapted to sailors' hornpipes,) but produces a very disagreeable noise, and destroys the effect of the music.
Some persons erroneously imagine that great execution with the feet, is all that is required in dancing; but I would remind such persons, that it is as much a study to make a proper use of the arms and hands, as the legs and feet; for it is not the motions of the feet alone that charm the eye of taste, but the carriage of the whole figure,

At about the same time, in Aberdeen, Francis Peacock says:

Every one must allow, that the use of Steps are as indispensably necessary in Dancing, as Words are in Reading and Speaking, and that a variety in both are, in a certain degree, equally necessary.

Then later, the Fletts' Traditional Dancing in Scotland, devotes all of chapter V (pp. 75-131) to steps, with various refreshers later (as page 233). This is far too much for me to quote, so I refer you to their work.

But it seems that nineteenth centry Scottish dancers were more interested in footwork than those in England.

Starting Formations

Almost all the country dances published in English dance books between 1750 and 1850 were minor set longways dances. Usually triple minors, but with some duple minors as well. These mostly became three or two couple dances in a four couple set (see the section on 4 couple sets).

The Cumberland Reel was originally printed by Thompson as a duple minor in ~1786, but became a whole set dance by the time Kate Hughes found it in 1867 or Wallace published it in ~1872. Neither says it was a 4 couple set, it could probably have worked as 3 or maybe 5. The (R)SCDS said it was 4.

The Triumph also started life as a duple minor dance (Preston, 1793), and it remained a duple minor when Allan published it in ~1900, but the (R)SCDS turned it into a four couple longways whole set dance.

2 Couple Dance in a 4 Couple SetPetronella (Book 1.1)
4 Couple longways whole setThe Triumph (Book 1.2)
Round the RoomCircassian Circle (Book 1.3)
3 Couple Dance in a 4 Couple SetFlowers of Edinburgh (Book 1.6)
2*2 Couple dance in an 2*4 Couple Set†La Tempête (Book 2.1)
3 Trios, whole setThe Bumpkin (Book 2.2)
SquareThe Eightsome Reel (Book 2.12)
2 Trios, round the roomThe Dashing White Sergeant (Book 3.2)
3 Couple Dance in a 4 Couple Set, 1s improperLady MacIntosh's Rant (Book 3.9)
2 Couple longwaysFoursome Reel (Book 3.11)
Circle for as many as willRound About Hullachan (Book 5)
2 Trios, whole setThe Threesome Reel (Book 6)
2 Couple Dance in a 4 Couple Set, 1s improperCome Ashore, Jolly Tar (Book 7)
5 Couple longways whole setThe Jimp Waist (Book 9)
3 Couple longways whole setNeidpath Castle (Book 22)
5 Person diamondReel of Five (Book 27)
3 Couple longways whole setThe Star (Book 28)

† The crib diagram says this is a round the room dance with 4 active couples, but the description in Book 2 is longways. Book 2 allows for a round the room, but in that case wants only two active couples.

Figures

Some of the figures of Scottish Country Dancing in the order (I think) they appeared. I also include some regency figures which were in the source dance but which did not appear in the (R)SCDS version; these will be displayed as Kiss. Figures devised by the (R)SCDS are displayed as poussette. Figures devised by modern, non-RSCDS devisers are shown as Set & Link.

Petronella turnPetronella (Book 1.1)First appeared in early versions of the dance around 1825, and evolved over time.
SettingPetronella (Book 1.1)Setting predates Playford (before 1650). According to the Fletts pas-de-basque setting was the standard, and often the only style of setting in Scotland "in living memory".
Lead down the middle and backPetronella (Book 1.1)Rarely used by Playford (I think Black Jack, 1670 may be the first use), but became more common in the Regency period
PoussettePetronella (Book 1.1)See the earlier discussion on poussette.
Triumph figureThe Triumph (Book 1.2)First found in Preston's version of the dance from 1796
Poussette, single coupleThe Triumph (Book 1.2)Not in the original version of the dance, Lowe (~1850), Hughes (~1869), Allan (~1900), do have poussettes, but theirs are all normal two couple poussettes. The special version here appears to be an (R)SCDS invention necessitated by the change from duple minor to whole set dance.
Rights and LeftsCircassian Circle (Book 1.3)This also predates Playford (before 1650).
Ladies' ChainCircassian Circle (Book 1.3) This figure came from France with the Cotillions by 1776. However, Playford's Parson's Farewell, 1651 may contain both a men's chain and a ladies' chain.
Hand turnCircassian Circle (Book 1.3) Turning someone with the left, right or both hands must surely be one of the most basic figures of any style of dance. It certainly predates Playford.
Balance in LineThe Nut (Book 1.4) Balance in Line was a quadrille figure (Shows up in La Poule of Paynes 1st Set of Quadrilles). "Balance in line" is not present in Lowe's version of the dance (~1850), nor in Allan's (~1900).
Line of four, lead down and upMeg Merrilees (Book 1.4) Playford used this figure at least as early as 1657.
CastFlowers of Edinburgh (Book 1.6) Predates Playford
Turn corner, partner, corner, partnerDuke of Perth (Book 1.8) Used as early as 1726 in Bulock's Hornpipe. Common Regency figure
Set to and turn cornersDuke of Perth (Book 1.8) The first use of this figure that I know of is in Johnston's New Long Room at Scarborough, 1748. But the Fletts say: The first Country Dance figure which seems to have originated in Scotland is the figure 'set and turn corners', which appeared about 1720. Sadly they don't give an example of a dance in which it appeared.
Reel of threeDuke of Perth (Book 1.8)See the discussion of reels above, this predates country dancing.
Finishing reelDuke of Perth (Book 1.8)Reels of three on opposite sides followed by a right hand cross may be an innovation of the (R)SCDS. Allan and publishers before him, end dances with a "Reel of three", no indication whether the 1s are proper or improper in the reel, and if they are improper, how they get home.
Advance and retireRory O'More (Book 1.9)Playford calls this "lead in and fall back" or "up a double and fall back" or any of several other things. In Scotland the words used were "advance and retire" as early as the Castle Menȝies collection (1749). "Advance and retire" was used in England when quadrilles arrived.
Hands acrossCumberland Reel (Book 1.11)Predates Playford. Having right hands across be followed by left hands back became common in the Regency era.
CirclesLa Tempête (Book 2.1)Circles must be a very basic figure in all styles of dance.
ClapLa Tempête (Book 2.1)Clapping must also be a very basic figure in all styles of dance.
Reel of four on the diagonalThe Glasgow Highlanders (Book 2.3) I'm not sure if Playford ever uses a hey of four people, but one is mentioned in Orchésography, Thoinot Arbeau, 1589.
AllemandeDelvine Side (Book 2.9)See my earlier comments on allemande.
Do-si-doThe Haymakers (Book 2.11)Playford calls it "back to back", "do-si-do" being a corruption of "dos à dos", a phrase with came over from France with the quadrilles or cotillions.
Grand ChainThe Eightsome Reel (Book 2.12) "grand chain" is a name that came over with quadrilles and cotillions. The figure is older and used to be called "right and left 6" in the 1700s.
St. Andrew's Cross formationThe Eightsome Reel (Book 2.12) There are things vaguely like this in Playford (see Lady Banbury's Hornpipe), Quadrilles had a similar figure, and it's common in square dance where it's called "star promenade".
Turn in Tulloch HoldReel of Tulloch (Book 3.12) The hand-hold the (R)SCDS specifies is the same as the one used in the old regency allemande figures, with right arms entwined grasping partner's left behind their backs. However Wallace (~1900) specifies a different hand-hold so there was clearly some variability.
Figure EightCorn Rigs (Book 4)

The earliest use of a half figure of eight (that I know of) comes in the dance Branle de la Montarde from Thoinot Arbeau's Orchésographie, Langres, France, 1589 (page 89, his numbering). He calls the figure une haye (a term he also uses for a hey, so I guess in his time it just meant a weaving pattern).

This figure (and the name figure of eight) may also be found in the Lovelace manuscript as well as Playford.

Highland SchottischeThe Haughts O' Cromdale (Book 4) My first source for this is in J.F. Wallace's The Excelsior Manual of Dancing from 1872, but it may well predate that.
Strathspey PoussetteThe Haughts O' Cromdale (Book 4) See my earlier notes on poussettes.
Sett 3 and 3Dumbarton Drums (Book 5)This was a common Regency era figure.
Hello Good-bye SettingLady Susan Stewart's Reel (Book 5)This figure was invented by the (R)SCDS. The source of this dance has been lost, but I assume the figure is based on the Regency figure "set contrary corners" which do not have the 1s setting to their partners (other dances containing that figure have been given hello goodbye setting by the (R)SCDS).
Tandem ReelOxton Reel (Book 6)This dance has all couples in tandem (with men behind partners, holding on). The first example I know of with only one couple in tandem and not touching is John Drewry's Ferla Mor from 1981. I think this may be a uniquely Scottish figure.
Half Figure EightThe Bleu Ribbon (Book 8) This figure predates Playford, but I don't know if it had been used outside of country dancing.
Reflection ReelCadgers in the Canongate (Book 9) Mirror heys have a long history in Country Dancing, dating back at least to Adson's Saraband, 1651, where Playford describes the figure in words but with no name.
Double TrianglesThere's Nae Luck Aboot the Hoose (Book 10) Wilson's double triangle figure appears in the original, but the (R)SCDS replaced it with a reel.
Promenade roundGlasgow Flourish (Book 11) Promenade round appears in the original, but was replaced by the (R)SCDS with lead down and cast up.
allemande, single coupleThe Earl of Home (Book 12) I have no idea what the (R)SCDS intends this to mean.
Turn singleGreen Grow the Rashes (Book 12) The turn singles in the original are replaced by two hand turns.
KissKiss me quick, my Mither's Coming (Book 12) Walsh's original calls for a kiss, which the (R)SCDS has turned into "greet in passing"
Lead out sidesThe Bonniest Lass in All the World (Book 14) This is an old Regency figure whose name did not make it into the list of Scottish figures, but where the interpreted dances sometimes include the movements of that figure. In other words the (R)SCDS describes how the dancers move to do the figure, without naming it.
Double TrianglesLord Rosslyn's Fancy (Book 15)See my earlier comments on double triangles.
Half Strathspey PoussetteI'll Gang Nae Mair Tae Yon Toon (Book 15) See my earlier notes on poussettes.
Promenade RoundFidget (Book 16) This is a Regency era figure. (Note: it was replaced by something else in Book 11).
Allemande, 3 CouplesTwenty First of September (Book 17) See my earlier notes on allemande.
Promenade Round, 2 CouplesLeith Country Dance (Book 18) While a three couple promenade is an old Regency figure, I don't think they ever specified a 2 couple version.
Promenade Round, 4 CouplesLongwise Eightsome Reel (Book 18) While a three couple promenade is an old Regency figure, I don't think they ever specified a 4 couple version.
Poussette all roundLongwise Eightsome Reel (Book 18) This is a non-progressive variant of the Scottish Poussette. See my earlier notes on poussettes.
Poussette, 4 CouplesOff She Goes in the North (Book 18) See my earlier notes on poussettes.
Ladies' Chain, halfThe Mairrit Man's Favourite (Book 24) This figure came from France with the Quadrille (or possibly slightly earlier with Cotillions).
Men's Chain, halfThe Mairrit Man's Favourite (Book 24) I don't think this was used in Quadrilles (Thomas Wilson does not list a men's chain in his quadrille figures).
Double Figure EightEuan's Jig (Book 28)
The figure eight predates Playford, I wasn't aware that he ever used a double figure eight, but Colin Hume points out that he does exactly that in Maid's Morris, 1688, and Hare's Maggot, 1701. And it wasn't just Playford, Thomas Bray's The Scotch Measure, 1699 contains a double half figure eight (though he doesn't use those words).
It wasn't used often though, and it appears to have vanished completely later in the 18th century. Neither Dukes, 1752, nor Wilson, 1811, nor Chivers, 1824, mentions a double figure eight in their lists of country dancing figures. The first example I know of in the 20th century is Pat Shaw's interpretation of The Scotch Measure in 1959.
Sadly I can't find a source for Euan's Jig, so I can't check what the original looked like.
The double figure eight appeared earlier in John Drewry's Jenniver's Jig, 1968 but that wasn't in an RSCDS book.
The following figures were invented in modern dances
Corner ChainThe Laird of Milton's Daughter (Book 22) ~1963Lord Craigmyle
Half Reel ProgressionBonnie StronshirayRobert Campbell, 1963
Set & LinkHay's Australian Ladies Alec Hay, 1966
BourrelCampsie GlenRobert Campbell, 1966
La TournéeAllteshellach (Book 23) ~1967Elizabeth Gilroy, but the figure is credited to Robert Campbell possibly in From Scotia's Shores We're Noo Awa' in Leaflet Dances 8
RondelMrs. Hamilton of Wishaw (Book 23) ~1967John Drewery
SpurtleThe Glens of Angus (Book 23) ~1967Douglas Henderson
PhilabegThe Macfarlane's StrathspeyRobert Campbell, 1968
Corners Pass and TurnTommy Ford's FancyJohn Drewry, 1971
Schiehallion ReelSchiehallion (Book 53)Hugh A Thurston, 1971
Chain ProgressionGlen MorEric Forbes, 1972
Knot, 2 coupleThe Links o' ForthRobert Campbell, 1973, but credited to Mina Corson
Dance to each corner and set
Courage reels
Marigold figure		The Courage Reel John Drewry, 1977
Snake PassDevil's ElbowJ Trevor Stephenson, 1981
TargeThe Clansman (Book 32)Dereck Hayes, 1981
Poussette, 3 CoupleThe Rubislaw JigDereck Hayes, 1981
SpokeJohnnie's Welcome Hame (Book 32)Neil M. Grant, 1982
TourbillonSands of Morar (Book 45)Barry Priddey, 1983
La BaratteMicmac RotaryJohn Drewry, 1983
Set and RotateBrimmondJohn Drewry, 1986
Set & Link, 3 CoupleGang the Same Gate (Book 36) ~1990 Milton Levy
The SerpentineQueen City Salute (Book 37) ~1992G Dale Birdsall
Dolphin ReelPelorus Jack (Book 41)Barry Skelton, 1993
Rose ProgressionJenny Freeman's StrathspeyRod Downey, 1993
Knot, 3 coupleMay Yarker's Strathspey (Book 42)Roy Goldring, 1995
SwirlThe Dream Catcher (Book 45)Eileen Orr, 2001
Chaperoned Chain ProgressionLinnea's Strathspey (Book 47)Tim Wilson, 2001
Chain and TurnThe Celebration Strathspey (Book 43)Alan MacPherson, 2002
Spiral ProgressionA Castle in the Air (Book 43)Minnie Bänninger, 2002
La GirandoleThe Rampant Unicorn JigJim Rae, 2003
Highland Schottische PoussetteDouble Eighty (Book 45)Dulcie P Bond, 2003
Bourrel, 3 CoupleBarbara's Strathspey (Book 46)Sue McKinnell, 2006
Double reel of fourThe Mentor (Book 47)Brian Charlton, 2007
Double TargeThe Mentor (Book 47)Brian Charlton, 2007
Cross and Rotate, 3 CoupleRougemont Castle (Book 48)Duncan Brown, ~2009
Set and Rotate, 3 CoupleThe Festival Man (Book 48), ~2014Sheila Trafford
Set & Link, 4 CoupleThe Library of Birmingham (Book 49) ~2015 Kenneth J Reid
The CapstanMathilde is a Delight (Book 50) ~2016 Raphaëlle Orgeret, 2011
Hello-goodbye poussetteThe Ullapool Ferry (Book 52) ~2018Pat Houghton

I have tried the best I can to find the earliest uses of these figures, as I'm only looking at (R)SCDS Books, I know there are thousands of dances I have missed. If you know of an earlier use of a figure, please let me know.

Dance Sources

I have tracked down the original sources of as many of the dances the RSCDS interpreted as I could find.

References

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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.