Semblance of a Whole

Introducing 8x32

For over a year now I've been contemplating the idea of starting a blog about Scottish country dancing, which has been my main hobby and the center of my social life for about 15 years now. The problem was, I wasn't really sure what the purpose or point would be. I could use it as a medium for discussing the minutiae of Scottish dance technique, but the Strathspey listserv has long been the established and entirely satisfactory forum for those and many other SCD-related topics. A dancer friend and I toyed with the idea of reviewing Scottish country dance balls we attend, but ultimately rejected it on the grounds that things could easily get rather snarky, and the SCD community is too small and close-knit to withstand much open criticism. A recent posting on the Strathspey listserv finally provided me with the excuse I was looking for. In it, the writer proposed that someone start a web site where people could post Scottish country dances they have devised (i.e. choreographed, for those of you not familiar with SCD jargon), and get feedback on them. With the built-in comments function, search function, and ability to assign categories, the blog seemed a promising format for such a purpose.

I now present to you, Eight by Thirty-Two*, a resource for sharing Scottish country dances. Let's see what happens.

*For those of you new to SCD, " it's called "Eight by Thirty-Two" because most Scottish country dances consist of a 32-bar sequence repeated 8 times. Of course, you'll notice the first dance posted (by yours truly, as you might guess), happens to be 3x40, but as in all things, it's the exception that proves the rule!