Gillie Callum
Gillie Callum , also known as Sword Dance or The Swords for short , is a Scottish solo sword dance from Highland Dancing . It differs from most other sword dances in the following characteristics in the choreography : The dancer does not hold the swords in his hand, but they lie crossed on the floor. Above it, people dance without touching them - basically to the piece of music of the same name and usually played live by a bagpiper .
The name of the dance was taken from the piece of music, it is the first two words of the text. There are numerous spellings: Gillie Callum, Ghillie Callum, Gille Calum ( Gaelic "the Malcolm lad") or Gillie Chalium, Gillie Chaluim, Gille Caluim ("Malcolm's servant"), Keelum Kallum and many others. Gille means "boy, lad, young man", also "servant"; Calum , genitive Caluim , is the Gaelic form of the first name Malcolm.
A variant is the Argyle Broadsword Dance , in which four dancers dance around four swords lying cross-shaped on the floor. Other amazingly similar dances, danced over crossed objects, also exist in Ireland and England under the names Pater-o-pee or Bacca pipes .
Highland dancing
The sword dance, which can be seen today at highland games and highland dance competitions, is danced by a dancer over two Scottish broadswords lying crossed on the floor. The dancer stands partly outside the swords, partly in the four fields separated by the blades ( “inside” the swords ).
The dance consists of four to a maximum of six steps , the first of which are danced slowly, the last one or two faster. The tempo recommended by the Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing (SOBHD) today is 104–116 bpm for the slow and 120–144 bpm for the fast part. During each step, the dancer moves around the swords counterclockwise.
Today there are eight steps recognized by the SOBHD (dance sections of 16 bars each), from which up to six can be selected:
- First Step: Addressing the Swords
- Second step: Open Pas de Basque
- Third step: toe and heel
- Fourth Step: Pointing
- Fifth Step: Diagonal Points
- Sixth Step: Reverse Points
- Seventh Step: Open Pas de Basque (Quickstep)
- Eighth Step: Crossing and Pointing (Quickstep)
history
Scottish sword dances of a different kind are mentioned as early as the Middle Ages. The oldest source is Walter Bowers Scotichronicon from 1440: At the wedding of Alexander III. with Yolande de Dreux in Jedburgh on October 14, 1285 a war dance was performed by several dancers to bagpipe music. ( "At the head of this procession were the skilled musicians with many sorts of pipe music including the music of bagpipes, and behind them others splendidly performing a war-dance with intricate weaving in and out." ) This dance is reminiscent of the English rappers Sword Dances or Long Sword Dances ; with the Gillie Callum bears no resemblance.
The Gillie Callum is not mentioned until the 19th century. The oldest description is from 1804:
Gille Callum da 'pheigin , is generally danced by one man, who performs it with great address over a naked broad-sword laid on the floor; This dance is sometimes danced by two, three, or four men, but when so done they do not reel, but only change place.
The dance was danced not only by men, but also by women and girls, as here by seven-year-old Elizabeth Grant of Rothiemurchus ; she writes in her memoir of the same year:
“We were often over at Kinrara, the Duchess having perpetual dances, either in the drawing-room or the servants' hall, and my father returning these entertainments in the same style. A few candles lighted up bare walls at short warning, fiddles and whiskey punch were always at hand, and the gentles and simples reeled away in company until the ladies thought the scene becoming more boisterous than they liked remaining in nothing more, however a Highlander never forgets his place, never loses his native inborn politeness, never presumes upon favor. We children sometimes displayed our accomplishments on these occasions in a prominent manner, to the delight, at any rate of our dancing-master. Lady Jane was really clever in the Gillie Callum and the Shean Trews , I little behind her in the single and double fling, the shuffle and heel-and-toe step. The boys were more blundering, and had to bear the good-natured laugh of many a hard-working lass and lad who, after the toil of the day, footed it neatly and lightly in the ball-room till near midnight .. "
The Gillie Callum sword dance was first danced in 1832 at highland dance competitions and demonstrations that had been held in connection with pipe competitions since 1783. This was the first time the dance had been seen in the Lowlands. The dance was then called "old" ( ancient called):
"The ancient Ghillie Challaim or sword dance over two naked swords was peculiarly gratifying, and was performed by John MacKay with a degree of precision and ease altogether extraordinary, considering the intricacy of the figure and the rapidity of the motions."
The oldest surviving description of the individual steps dates back to 1881. In this description, unlike today, the swords were danced around in a clockwise direction.
Numerous unproven traditions are connected with dance. The dance is said to go back to Malcolm Canmore , who, after defeating one of Macbeth's officers in 1054, placed his sword across that of the vanquished and danced over it. It is also said that the dance was danced by highland warriors before a battle, whereby it was considered a bad sign of the outcome of the battle if the dancer touched the swords with his foot.
Pater-o-pee and Bacca Pipes
In southern and central England a very similar dance was danced over crossed whips, flails, sticks, brooms or the long clay pipes. This dance, a form of jig , i.e. a solo tap dance, was sometimes called pater-o-pee (also pater o'pee ), which is possibly onomatopoeic to reproduce the knocking of the feet on the floor.
The pater-o-pee was also danced in Ireland in the early 19th century, as in this report by William Hamilton Maxwell :
“I looked out; The boys and girls had left the floor, the men settling themselves on the colliaghs , empty casks, and turf cleaves , while the ladies were comfortably accomodated upon their partners' knees. One gentleman alone was standing. Presently two sticks were laid cross-wise on the ground; the pipes struck up an unusual sort of jig, and the feat commenced. "This," said my kinsman, "is called the 'pater-o-pee,' and none but an accomplished dancer would attempt it." To describe this dance would be impossible: it consisted of an eternal hopping into the small compartments formed by the crossing of the cudgels on the floor, without touching the sticks. "
Another form known as Bacca Pipes is a solo jig from the Morris Dance , which is danced over crossed clay pipes.
A connection between these dances and the Gillie Callum comes to mind ; the Encyclopædia Britannica describes them as related. Which dance is derived from which is not clear.
The melody
The Gillie Callum melody is older than the dance. The earliest records of the melody appeared around 1735: in a manuscript with Reels by David Young as Gillecallum and in two printed collections by John Walsh as Gillium Callum .
The title is derived from the corresponding Puirt a beul text:
Gille Callum dà pheighinn,
Gille Callum dà pheighinn,
Dà pheighinn, dà pheighinn,
Gille Callum bonn-a-sia!
Gille Callum two pennies,
Gille Callum two pennies,
two pennies, two pennies,
Gille Callum a sixpence!
There are many regional variants of the text that only have this first stanza in common. According to a widespread opinion, this Gillie Calum is said to have been King Malcolm Canmore, and the money mentioned relates to a tax he introduced. However, this tradition is completely unfounded. A coin corresponding to the sixpence had only existed in Scotland since 1400, the actual sixpence was not introduced in England until 1551.
The melody is a not very typical reel , which in later collections is classified partly as a reel and partly as a Strathspey . Today the slow part is often played as Strathspey, the fast end as a reel.
Web links
Videos on YouTube :
- Highland Dancing: Sword Dance ( visited February 5, 2010 )
- Argyle Broadswords ( visited February 5, 2010 )
- Morris Jig: "Bacca Pipes" ( visited February 5, 2010 )
- Bacca Pipes Jig ( visited February 5, 2010 )
literature
- Roderik D. Cannon: The Highland Bagpipe and its Music. 2nd edition. John Donald Publishers, Edinburgh 2002, ISBN 0-85976-549-0 .
- George S. Emmerson: A Social History of Scottish Dance. Ane celestial recreatioun. McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal 1972, ISBN 0-7735-0087-1 .
- John G. Gibson: Traditional Gaelic Bagpiping 1745-1945. McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal et al. 1998, ISBN 0-7735-1541-0 .
- Highland dancing. The textbook of the Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing. 6th edition. Lindsay, Glasgow 1993, ISBN 1-898169-01-2 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Edward Dwelly: Illustrated Gaelic-English Dictionary. Edinburgh 1993 (first publ. 1901-11). ISBN 1-874744-04-1
- ↑ SOBHD Recommended Tempos ( Memento of the original from September 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Alexander Campbell: The Grampians desolate: a poem. Edinburgh 1804. p. 263
- ↑ Elizabeth Grant: Memoirs of a highland lady, 1797-1827 [1] . P. 44f
- ↑ Emmerson 1972, pp. 244ff; Gibson 1998, pp. 134ff
- ↑ cit. after Emmerson 1972, p. 245
- ↑ Charles North: Leabhar Comunn nam Fior Ghael (Book of the Club of True Highlanders). 1881. [2] Vol. II, pp. 40-43
- ↑ Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , article "Jig"
- ↑ [William Hamilton Maxwell]: Wild sports of the west: With legendary tales, and local sketches . New Edition. London 1850. pp. 79f
- ↑ Encyclopædia Britannica, article "sword dance"
- ↑ Drummond Castle MS ii. (“A Collection of the best Highland Reels written by David Young, WM & Accomptant”) [1734?]
- ^ John Walsh: Second Book of the Compleat Country Dancing Master. The 3d Edition 1735
- ^ John Walsh: Caledonian Country Dances. 2nd book [1736]
- ^ Robert Craig Maclagan: Games and Diversions of Argyleshire. London 1901 (Reprint 1976, p. 106f)
- ↑ Cannon 2002, p. 117
- ^ Coinage of Great Britain. Part 12: Scottish Coins
