| How does a Schottische (or shottish) dance step go? By some coincidence, someone just posted a text description of a "rant" step, and I noticed for the first time that it's a variant of the basic shottish step. You can define a shottish as a couple dance in which the basic step consists of one "rant" step in place (done without any foot-crossing), followed by turning around each other with your basic "skipping" step (step-hop-step-hop). The "rant" step is of course a "step-step-step-hop", which can be done in place or moving. In the rant there is typically (but not always) foot crossing at the start, producing a noticeable side-to-side motion; in the shottish this doesn't happen.
There are actually hundreds of shottish "steps", but they mostly have the same footwork. They differ by what the dancers are doing with their upper bodies and how they move across the floor. They can be summarized as whatever can be done by a pair of human bodies above the constant footwork of: step-step-step-hop, step-step-step-hop, step-hop-step-hop, step-hop-step-hop. These all work just fine to the typical dotted "hornpipe" rhythm. How irregular the musical beat is depends on local style, and shottishes are frequently done to music that's played evenly. It's the speed that's important. Such step-hop or skipping dances tend to want speeds around 70-90, so reels don't work very well. You have to turn them into hornpipes. To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
