Earl of Erroll (reel)

For other uses, see Earl of Erroll (disambiguation).
Earl of Erroll

Highland dancing, Dornoch
Genre Scottish highland dance
Inventor Francis Peacock
Year 1805
Origin Scotland

The Earl of Erroll is a Scottish highland dance sometimes danced today at Highland games around the world, as part of Scottish National dances repertoire. It is danced to two slow reels (4/4), Earl of Erroll and the 23rd Countess of Erroll.[1]

The dance takes its name from James Hay, 15th Earl of Erroll, for whom it was choreographed by Francis Peacock.[2] It was originally performed in hard shoes. The dance came back to the repertoire of Scottish dancers after it was published in 1953 by Mrs Isobel (Tibbie) Cramb,[3] with reference to Frederick Hill's Manuscript (1841) and Miss Cruickshank of Aberdeen. It is still seen as a soft balletic Scottish step dance by RSCDS teachers[4] The Earl of Erroll is considered one of the hardest national dances to perform well.[5]

A Scottish country dance of a somewhat similar name, Earl of Errol's Reel, is performed in groups of 6 dancers (3-couple sets) as part of Scottish country dancing repertoire.[6] The Earl of Errol's Reel is a jig, collected in Quebec, Canada, by Mary Isdal MacNab, who noted that the dance originated in France. It is a 6/8 jig, performed to a tune Mrs McMillan's Quadrille.[7]

References

  1. United Kingdom Alliance of Professional Teachers of Dancing (2012). The UKA Highland, National and Hebridean Book. Blackpool. p. 15-16.
  2. McKee Stapleton, Anne (2014). Pointed Encounters: Dance in Post-Culloden Scottish Literature. Rodopi.
  3. Cramb, Isobel (1953). Four Step Dances. Edinburgh.
  4. Royal Scottish Country Dance Society (2013). St Andrew's Collection of Step Dances. Vol. 1. p. 28-29.
  5. "Highland Dance History". The Thistle Dancers And Pipers. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  6. "The Earl Of Errol's Reel". Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  7. Royal Scottish Country Dance Society (2007). Scottish Dances Collected by Mary Isdal MacNab. Edinburgh. p. 8-9.

External links

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