Jean Milligan

Dances of Scotland Jean Milligan

The enthusiasm with which Scottish gatherings all over the world welcome the strains of a Reel tune or a stately Strathspey is no less marked today than it was in the eighteenth century, when an English visitor to an Edinburgh ballroom noted, 'The moment one of these tunes is played, up they start, and you would imagine they had been bit by a tarantula.' Some of the dwindling antique treasure of music and dance is now being recovered, including such dances as the weird 'Carlin of the Mill Dust' and the fascinating 'Hebridean Weaving Lilt' from the Isles. More commonly known are the highland step-dances and the country dances; step-notation and music for four of these are provided in this book. Also included is a bibliography for further study, and four colour-plates showing authentic costumes.




Miss Milligan, one of the founders of the Scottish Country Dance Society, played a leading part in the preservation and teaching of Scottish dances. Mr. MacLennan, renowned as an expert of Highland dancing, made a lifelong study of Scottish dances, bringing to light many not hitherto generally known.