The Glorious Revolution of 1688 led to the deposition of Catholic James VII (of Scotland)/II from the British throne in favour of his protestant relatives. The Revolution got its name due to a relatively mild disruption of civil life in England. However, the transfer of power caused multiple protests in Ireland and Scotland through the 18th century organised by the supporters of the Stuarts known as Jacobites. These Jacobite rebellions occurred in the context of wider European conflicts aimed to put pressure on Great Britain.
The Jacobite movement with the Stuart court in exile left many traces in the visual arts. Paintings, sculptures, decorative objects were made as propaganda by the Jacobites as well as ‘counter-propaganda’ by the British government. Further romanticisation of the cause inspired more art works after the last Rebellion of 1745 and again after the death of the last Stuart heir, Charles Edward, in 1788. Such objects have been attracting considerable attention of modern researchers. However, dance practice of the time and its material evidence has not been systematically investigated in this context. This work aims at rectifying this gap by analysing Scottish and English dance collections created between 1714 and 1788. The Scottish collections are represented by mostly handwritten sources such as David Young’s manuscripts created c. 1740 (MS.21715 at the National Library of Scotland and MS.Don.d.54 from the Bodleian Library), the Register of Dances from Castle Menzies (1749), and the A.B. notebook (after 1745, La.III.564a, University of Edinburgh). The English collections used are publications by John Walsh and Benjamin Cooke (between 1730s and 1760s).
The Scottish and English collections were analysed for the presence of Jacobite associated material before and after the 1745 Rebellion. In addition, these collections were used to identify the similarities and differences between dance practices in Scotland and England in the 18th century. Finally, additional, historical sources were investigated to identify the events in Scotland linked to the Jacobite cause and containing dance elements.
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Dr Alena Shmakova is a dance historian based in Edinburgh, Scotland. She has taught and performed historical dance as part of Les Danses Antiques since 2013, focusing on social dances from the XVII – XIX centuries. Her research interests include Russian influences in the British dance repertoire of the 18th and 19th centuries and the Scottish dance scene during the Enlightenment period. The later project she is doing as a research volunteer at the National Trust for Scotland. Alena is a committee member of the Early Dance Circle.
Mats Melin, Stockholm born Dancer, Choreographer and Researcher, has worked professionally with traditional dance in Scotland since 1995 and in Ireland since 2005. Mats is Emeritus Lecturer in Dance, and former Course Director for the MA in Irish Dance Studies at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick, Ireland (2005-2021). He holds a first class honours MA degree in Ethnochoreology (2005); and a PhD (2012) with the University of Limerick for his research on Cape Breton Step Dancing.
Mats has been engaged in freelance dance teaching, researching and performance work nationally and internationally. He was Traditional Dancer in Residence for four Scottish Local Authorities (Shetland (1995-96), Sutherland (1996-98), Angus (1998-2002) and Perth and Kinross (2002-2003). Mats is a recent board member of the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland, a former member of the Scottish Arts Council’s Dance Committee and a former office bearer for Dance Research Forum Ireland.