ABSTRACT
The second half of the nineteenth century saw a big expansion in Aberdeen’s population. This was reflected in an increase in regular and itinerant dance teachers working in the town. This chapter examines the careers of two itinerant teachers, William Scott and his famous pupil, James Scott Skinner and their collaboration on a manual of dances. This chapter also assesses the controversy raised by the Free Church in Aberdeen on the immorality of dancing and raises the concept of ‘charlatans’, the name that the dance teaching profession used for bad teachers. The story of the development of the ‘Highland Fling’ continues with an analysis of Alexander Skinner’s version of the ‘Marquis of Huntly’s Highland Fling’ as described by his brother James Scott Skinner. Finally, the chapter considers what changed in dance teaching in North East Scotland during the nineteenth century.
