Irish Vs Scottish?

[Ozman1944]

I remember the St. Joseph Nuns in Australia were either Australians, Scots or Irish. They used to host an Annual Fete at their Convent in Kensington Sth Aust. and had Pipers & Dancers-mainly Scots. Men always performed the Sword Dance. And those 'serene' Sisters would revert to Highland women, clapping, stomping and calling. We used to love it whe they'd "let their hair down' so to speak!
We also had Irish dancing performed. But until "Riverdance" I never appreciated it nearly as much as the Highland. I enjoy watching both. It always gets my blood stirring.

[ccga3359]

I remember my reaction when "Riverdance" first was seen. Blew me away. I don't know of any Scottish dance show of that scale. Is there?

I much prefer Irish step dancing and yes the first time I saw Riverdance (on Letterman) I was just just blown away speechless. Perhaps Riverdance is not traditional Irish dance but rather an modern interpretation. I enjoy the structured part of it, the discipline. Allow the feet to tell the story, to make the music. I also enjoyed Creative Accents showing of Irish and American tap completing then complimenting each style.

[Arlen]

I believe I read in Traditional Gaelic Bagpiping, 1745-1945 by John G Gibson, that the step dancing style was "lost" in Scotland to a degree, and replaced by Continentally influenced style known today. Cape Breton is said to have preserved the lost tradition in dance, as well as in piping...

Ahhh, and here we get into it.
Because Highland dancing is an evolved form of Step-Dancing which continued in Scotland BUT 'Scottish Step Dancing' was lost and preserved in Cape Breton and Nova Scotia and brought back recently.

It all gets very complicated.