Cape Breton Dancing

This dance form was lost in Scotland, but preserved in Nova Scotia by the Scottish emigrants, and has recently started making a comeback in Scotland. It is a form of percussive hardshoe dance, similar in sound to the hardshoe Irish dances made popular by Riverdance (though afficianados will probably tell me that's all wrong and the two are nothing like each other). I think it is mainly danced for performance and in sessions like (or with) Scottish music. But I'm not an expert, so I may have got that all wrong. Mairi Campbell was one of the key proponents involved in reviving it in Scotland, and it is now quite popular in Edinburgh.

Maggie Moore has written a more detailed explanation, and Sheldon MacInnes has this to say.

Ian Brockbank
November 2000


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Last updated 8-10-02 .


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This page is maintained by Ian Brockbank
ian@scottishdance.net
Edinburgh, Scotland