Daye, Anne. "Finding our Footing: A Discussion of the Evidence for a Social Dance Step Vernacular to These Islands."

Daye, Anne. "Finding our Footing: A Discussion of the Evidence for a Social Dance Step Vernacular to These Islands." In Stepping on: A Conference on Stepping in Dance. Papers from a conference held at Cecil Sharp House, London, Sat 16th and Sun 17th November 2019, edited by Toby Bennett, 51-65. London: English Folk Dance and Song Society, 2023.

URL: https://www.efdss.org/images/VWMLASSETS/PDFs/SteppingOnConference2019Proceedings.pdf (Open Access)


Abstract:
The instruction to ‘foot it’ and the term ‘footing’ are found in social dances for England, Scotland and Ireland. What do they refer to? Are they simply a way of saying ‘dance in place’ or did they reference specific steps, which might also be used to travel through a figure? Were certain steps vernacular to these islands, in contrast to fashionable French steps, and, if so, did they originate in England, Scotland or Ireland? Evidence for footing from the mid-eighteenth century onwards from a variety of historical sources is analysed including that of Francis Peacock (1805) for the reel, and several sources for the country dance. The continuation of the ‘back skip’ as a form of footing in traditional dancing is discussed. The analysis is supported by evidence from German sources for English and Scottish steps. Through the exploration of footing steps, the question of national identity in dance is raised as is the employment of steps across different genres of dancing, whether social or not.