Welcome to the Scottish Country Dance Database!
Overview
This database aims to be a comprehensive resource for Scottish country dancers, dance teachers, and musicians. It brings together information on Scottish country dances, formations, musical recordings, Scottish country dance tunes, and the people behind all of those — all conveniently linked together for easy perusal.
The database builds on the efforts of many people. Keith Napier and Peter Hastings pioneered the idea of indexing Scottish country dances and music. Alan Paterson started the project behind this database, compiling a very large repository of data and making it available to everybody. Eric Ferguson and Charles Upton, among others, have contributed cribs for dances. Diagrams are provided by Keith Rose and others. This web-based version of the database was built by Anselm Lingnau, who is also hosting it on his server. Countless volunteers have helped organise, improve, and correct the data — an ongoing effort.
Features
- Largest SCD database on the Web — contains comprehensive information on more than 21100 dances, plus formations, people, publications, albums/CDs, recordings, and tunes. Runs rings around the competition!
- Includes Eric Ferguson's e-cribs as well as MiniCribs — in excess of 13700 cribs, total — and more than 6200 “Pilling-style” diagrams for dances.
- Catalogues approximately 7700 curated videos for specific dances from YouTube and other sources.
- Offers “taster” snippets from recordings by many popular musicians and bands.
- Powerful search functions for dances and recordings.
- Rate and review dances.*
- Dance lists make devising social programmes and lesson plans a breeze.* Producing crib and diagram sheets has never been easier!
- Publish event programmes, class logs, and lists of your favourite dances — even on your own web site!*
- Embed “live” dance lists on your own web pages.
- Collections let you search for dances among exactly the publications you own (rather than all of the database).*
- The data is actively maintained and kept up-to-date, and new and exciting features are added all the time!
(* = Function requires free my.strathspey account.)
What you can do
Feel free to browse the database and use the information in it to further your and others' enjoyment of Scottish country dancing!
In spite of tireless efforts to the contrary, the database probably contains lots of errors and omissions. If you notice anything that seems wrong or looks fishy, please notify the maintenance team — most conveniently through the “Submit a Correction/Addition” button that is part of every data page. Also, please get in touch if you have or know of a resource that is not in the database at all and that you think ought to be added.
We're always on the lookout for more volunteers to help us improve the database further. If you are interested in SCD and have a little (or a lot of) time to spare, why not dive in? See here for further information. If you're a software developer, ideally with experience in Python and Django, and want to help improve the Strathspey server code, we might greet you with a red carpet, flowers, and a marching band.
If you would like to use the data in this database for other projects, you can download daily dumps of the database content (or as much of it as we can share — we don't include “personal” items like dance lists and collections) to use under a “Creative Commons” license.
Recent Comments
- Jon Allen-Friend on
A Leisurely Stroll:
Beautiful dance I prefer the no hands … - Edwin Werner on
The Glenalmond Gamekeeper:
Excellent dance. Personally I would replace the … - SCD Chemnitz on
Chemnitz Loopings:
The dance description can now be found … - Edwin Werner on
Portnacraig:
Good dance but too many half figures. - Patricia Harland on
How many are there tonight, David?:
Good straightforward dance that I use regularly … - Arthur Kingsland on
A Christmas Party Jig:
Jean Shaw's full instructions give the first …
Recent Cribs
- The Breathalyser (J32, Drewry: Greenburn 2) from E-cribs
- The Mayne Event (R32, Stephens: Babes) from E-cribs
- Morison's Bush (R40, Shaw: Morison's Bush) from E-cribs
- Gary Morris (J32, Hay: Morison's Bush) from E-cribs
- The Lost Glen (S32, Priddey: Lone Sheiling) from E-cribs
- The Silver Rose (R32, Priddey: Silver Rose) from E-cribs
- Ian Powrie's Welcome To Canberra (J32, Conway) from E-cribs
Recent Lists
- RSCDS Wirral Tuesday Class - 26 September 2023 by Anne MacDonald (Sept. 24, 2023, 1:01 p.m.)
- 18th Sept 2023 - Beginners' Class by Christine Parker-Jones (Sept. 24, 2023, 11:16 a.m.)
- 2023 Houston Texas Celebrates the RSCDS Centenary by Kate Walker (Sept. 24, 2023, 4:02 a.m.)
- Blair Scottish Country Dance Class September 28, 2023 by Kathryn Lecocq (Sept. 24, 2023, 2:18 a.m.)
- KW Class Tuesday September 26, 2023 by Kathryn Lecocq (Sept. 24, 2023, 2:01 a.m.)
- Stratford Open House-September 25 by Kathryn Lecocq (Sept. 24, 2023, 1:54 a.m.)
Recent Videos
- Gary Morris (J32, Hay: Morison's Bush) via Murrough Landon
- The Mayne Event (R32, Stephens: Babes) via Isabel Monteiro
- Return to Paisley (S32, Ternes: Babes) via Isabel Monteiro
- Knotwork (J40, Joubert: RSCDS XLIV) via Murrough Landon
- Bill Jacob's Jig (J32, Laidlaw: Lochiel) via Murrough Landon