What is Scottish Country Dancing
People have been enjoying Scottish country dancing for about three hundred years.
It has undergone an explosion in the twentieth century - and, now, in the
twenty-first century, you can find Scottish country dance groups around the world.
For instance: Nairobi, San Francisco, Osaka, Chicago, Berlin, Tucson, Paris, Kansas City,
Bandar Seri Begawan,... as well as St. Louis.
Scottish Country Dancing is social dancing. You have a partner, and you dance in lines of men
facing lines of women - this is like the American dance: The Virginia Reel.
The music for Scottish country dancing ranges from energetic reels and
jigs to the stately strathspey - a form of music found only in Scotland.
Violins and pianos provide music, and sometimes bagpipes do as well.
Origin of the Mystic Scottish Country Dancers
Margaret and George Fraser were founders of Burns Nights in Southeastern Connecticut shortly after their arrival in the United States in 1964. The couple first met at a dance hall located between their hometowns of Kircaldy and Burnisland in the county of Fife in Scotland The moment George set eyes on beautiful Margaret, he was ‘vera smitten and vowed that he would dance with the prettiest girl in the hall. She was indeed a lovely young woman – as lovely as that red-red rose, and at that time was the reigning Miss Fife. George gallantly asked Margaret for a dance and was properly chagrinned when she declined his invitation; he was undaunted in his determination to capture the heart of such a lovely lass and did indeed persevere. After a very few weeks she relented and they began to see one another. A budding romance ensued and they were married in the beauty of heather on the hillside….the rest is history.
The young family made many friends in their new homeland, including many other Scottish couples. George and Margaret Fraser hosted special dinners in their home in Norwich for many years to honor the birth of Robert Burns. There was always an atmosphere of great excitement as the night of the gala dinner approached – for preparations were in full swing for an elegant dinner menu, as well as careful selection of appropriate tributes to Robbie including the Immortal Memory - AND then of course the family had to oversee the proper preparation of fine haggis and neeps - so that the elaborate presentation of the Ode To The Haggis would be just right. There was a lone piper who added just the right touch for the evening. Their son Andrew remembers exclaiming to his dad one year that what with all of the singing and dancing that was part of the evening, surely their home would fall down or explode if many more guests were included in the Burns Supper. It was at that point that George and Margaret decided they should to move the dinners to local hotels or the VFW hall to accommodate more guests, and eventually the dinner was held to the Branford House at Avery Point in Groton. George also organized Highland Games in Stonington in the summer time and son Douglas won the Toss-the-Caber competition.
Margaret, George and their associates felt that it would be appropriate to organize themselves, and thus The Mystic Highland Pipe Band Burns Club was established in 1981 with George Fraser as the first president of the group in 1982. The goal of the membership was to present superb annual Burns Night Celebrations for Scots throughout the area – honoring the Plowman’s Poet – the Bard of Scotland. They were determined to honor their heritage and traditions as well as to keep alive the unique art form of Scottish Country Dancing alive in our part of New England.