The Dance Notebook of Frederick Hill of Alford, 1841 by Alastair MacFadyen
Summer School at St Andrews and noted the successful reel classes taught by “Mr John Reid of Newtyle, Forfarshire”. Dancie John Reid, who was a regular teacher of step dancing at St Andrews until his death in 1942, was a surviving 20th century example of the old-style peripatetic dancing master, a familiar figure in many parts of Scotland from the mid 18th century. Since those early Summer Schools, many excellent teachers have been recruited to keep up this tradition of step dance teaching not only at St Andrews but also at classes and workshops organised throughout the world by RSCDS branches and groups. Like so many Society members of my vintage, at my early Summer Schools, I was privileged to receive tuition in highland step dancing from Bobby Watson of Aberdeen and from Mrs Tihi West of Elgin, both former pupils of a renowned dancer and teacher, Johnnie Pirie of Aberdeen.
Hammersmith and the Earl of Eightsome. I have a particular memory of our teacher’s announcement, at the start Erroll On 30 October 2010, I will be joining the members and friends of RSCDS London Branch to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Branch in Hammersmith Town Hall. On that occasion I will be very aware that I am within a short walking distance from St Paul’s Church, Hammersmith, to where Daniel (a‘Taylor’) and Charlotte Louisa Hill brought their son, Frederick, for baptism on 11 June 1815. 25 years later, by then resident with his younger brother, Hugo Russell Hill, in the Aberdeenshire village of Clatt, Frederick Hill compiled his detailed record of 74 dances. This manuscript record is now regarded as one of the most significant pieces of documentary evidence available for anyone interested in Scotland’s traditional dancing. Although unaware of it at the time, my first encounter with this important document occurred many years ago. I consider myself exceedingly fortunate that at an early age I was introduced by an inspirational teacher, Mrs Ethel Double of Aberdeen and Carlisle, to a traditional diet of Scotland’s dances. It included the country dances, the highland step dances, Highland Fling and Sword Dance, as well as the highland reels, Threesome, Foursome and
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of a new season of classes, that we were to learn a new step dance. We were immediately captivated by the dance as it was so different from the step dances learned so far. Especially appealing was its percussive character and we practised assiduously to master its single and double trebles in preparation for the closing class display. The dance to which I refer is the now very familiar solo step dance, Earl of Erroll, which, as I became aware much later, was passed on to me and my classmates immediately following the teacher’s summer visit to the RSCDS Summer School at St Andrews where it been taught to her for the first time by Mrs Tibbie Cramb of Aberdeen.
The RSCDS and Step Dancing It is, I believe, not always sufficiently well acknowledged and appreciated just how much has been achieved by our Society for Scotland’s tradition of step dancing. Although primarily dedicated to its aim to promote the Scottish country dances, it has not neglected other aspects of Scotland’s dance heritage. In its presentation of the Annual Report and Accounts to the SCDS AGM of 1927, the Executive Council referred to the first
It was during my first visit to St Andrews in the 1950s that I first witnessed the graceful and elegant demonstration of ladies step dancing in the splendid setting of the University’s graduation hall, the Younger Hall. Amongst the dancers was Tibbie Cramb from whom, subsequently, I heard the story of the discovery of the Hill MS in Aberdeenshire in the late 1940s and learned about the part it had played in her own enthusiastic efforts to revive a form of step dancing now known universally as ‘ladies step dancing’ with its characteristic soft balletic style of performance. This is a story frequently related to RSCDS members who respond to the appeal of ladies step dancing and has been retold in a recent RSCDS publication entitled The St Andrews Collection of Step Dances. This attractively presented and informative publication contains directions for 15 dances, 6 of them deriving from the Hill MS, including the Earl of Erroll, together with their musical accompaniments. Whilst it is agreed that the successful revival of ladies step dancing is a significant aspect of the 20th century history of the RSCDS and a testimony to our Society’s encouragement of Tibbie Cramb and her many disciples, it does not account fully for the historical importance which attaches to the Hill manuscript.
Frederick Hill and His Notebook The details of Frederick Hill’s life during his first 25 years are still a mystery which might yet be unravelled with further investigation. In the meantime, questions such as ‘What brought him from the south east of England to rural Aberdeenshire?’ or
