Footwork

The objective of this footwork section is to define the uses of the Steps and to remind the dancer of the details of the Steps. There is no satisfactory alternative to learning the Steps from a good teacher. Beware of following another dancer's bad example! Very few dancers, even among the most experienced, have truly good Footwork.

Ideally, every class should start with step practice though this is often omitted because so many dancers prefer to learn the Figures of a new dance rather than to improve their Footwork; indeed, many of us have become so accustomed to performing the Steps inaccurately that we may no longer be capable of undoing the damage. Fortunately, for the successful performance of almost any Scottish Country Dance, accuracy in the Figures and in Timing are much more important than perfect Footwork.

To be successful, the Scottish Country Dancer needs to concentrate on the Figures and so must be able to perform the appropriate Steps without thinking about them, in the same way that the experienced driver of a car uses the pedals and steering wheel completely automatically to perform whatever manoeuvre is required. Until this level of proficiency is attained, the Beginner should practise at every opportunity; fortunately, the basic form of each step requires no Partner and one can "sing", in one's head, an appropriate memorable and strongly rhythmic tune (such as the principal tune of the Reel, Mairi's Wedding, or of the Strathspey, The Duchess Tree). To avoid embarrassment, Skip change and the Strathspey travelling step can be practised in an empty corridor or a quiet street; an empty lift is ideal for Pas-de-basque and, if wide enough, for the Strathspey setting step and the Highland schottische setting step.

Conventions in Footwork Diagrams

This diagram shows the conventions used in all diagrams for Footwork in this Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary.
Note that the shading convention for the heel is the same as that for the ball of the foot.

This diagram defines the conventions used in all diagrams for Footwork in this Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary. Note that in the representations of the Steps, the movement for each beat is, for clarity, shown on a separate line, starting with the movement for the first beat at the bottom of the diagram. Where Ballet foot positions are referenced, the subset as used in Scottish Country Dancing is implied. In the descriptions of the Steps, each movement is shown in the approximate fraction of the bar which it should occupy.

It is important to remember that the heels are only on the floor when stationary and that when the foot is not on the floor, the heel should never be lower than the ball of the foot. While moving, the feet should maintain the splayed relationship to the forward direction; the heels should be raised so that the weight is on the ball of the supporting foot and the toes of the moving ("working") foot should be pointing downwards.

The Lady and the Man almost always perform exactly the same Steps when they are Travelling together; this is in contrast to Ballroom Dancing where the Lady's Steps are usually the "counterpart" of the Man's (i.e., with right and left, forward and backward and wall and centre directions interchanged) and are sometimes quite different. Exceptionally, in Slip down/up and parts of all Poussette movements in Strathspey tempo, the Lady's and the Man's Steps are left/right differentiated.

Again with the exception of highly prescriptive Figures such as Allemande, Poussette (of all types), Promenade round and The knot, another significant difference from Ballroom Dancing is the logical separation of the detail of the Footwork from the Figures; the Dancer simply uses the designated step to perform the desired Figure. The seven Steps described here cover the vast majority of Scottish Country Dances; most Figures require only two of these dance Steps, one when the Figure is used in a Strathspey and the other when used in a Reel, Hornpipe or Jig.

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