What's it all about and why is it so popular the world over?  These are the questions that we want to try to answer.  There are many club websites with good descriptions of the history of Scottish dancing (some of these are listed on the SCD History page).  So instead of repeating these here, we give below  a brief description of the different types of Scottish Country dances (or SCDs) and how they progress.

Above all SCDs are great fun and a very social type of dancing.  There is lots of eye contact, smiling and plenty of opportunities for gentle flirting (if you feel so inclined!).   And at least in Surbiton, we do not take it too seriously (the dancing that is). 

There are three main types of dance: reels, jigs and strathspeys  (background and samples of the music used).  Basically, the first two are fast (and in fact few of us can distinguish them from each other) while the strathspey is slow and, as is often said, stately (or at least it can be!).  

Nearly all SCDs are done in sets.  The most common type is the longways set, usually of four couples - sometimes for five, or rarely six couples - but there are also square sets (also for four couples) and triangular sets (for three couples).  There is even a dance called the 32-some reel - for 16 couples!

Part of the fascination of SCDs is that there are so many different dances.  For instance in Surbiton, we dance just under 200 different dances each year (though you do not need to memorise them since we always have a walk-through before each dance).  Each dance combines just a few basic steps (essentially one for "setting"  and one for travelling) and number of "formations".  Setting, as one wag put it, means to stand admiring your partner and shuffling from one foot to the other (though there is a bit more to it if you want to make it look elegant.  The formations are the key to learning SCDs.  Once you know the main ones, everything falls into place very quickly.  You can study these in books or computer animations but the best way to learn is to get onto the floor (preferably with an experienced partner) and try them!

An important idea in all SCDs is progression.  Most commonly, the first couple begins the dance with the other dancers playing a supporting role.  One pattern that is used in many four-couple dances is for the first couple's dance (which often lasts for 32 bars - or about half a minute in reel time) to be repeated 8 times.  The first couple dance with the second and third couples then repeat the same pattern with the third and fourth couples and then move to the end of the set where they can have a bit of rest while the second couple takes over.  Eventually all four couples will have performed the dance twice and everyone is back in their starting positions.  This would be known as an 8x32 bar reel for three couples in a four couple set.  Another variant would be 4x32 reel for 4 couples (in which each couple does the dance just once (with all three of the other couples supporting) before moving to the end of the set and becoming the fourth couple.