Swing a little more, on the Devil's dance floor...

[highlyeccentric]

I'm sure it's not good for me to be listening to a playlist consisting mostly of jigs on repeat for hours...

*hops and skips her way off-screen*

Comments

[tarimanveri.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'm pretty sure there's nothing wrong with listening to mostly jigs on repeat for hours...

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

aside from the fact that I can't stand or sit still due to incessant foot-tapping and leg-bouncing?

[tarimanveri.livejournal.com]

Well, I did (badly) step-dance my way through my last two years of undergrad...

Yay for Cape Breton Island.

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

Step-dancing? What is this thing?

Also, where is Cape Breton Island? I suspect you're talking Canadian at me...

[ahsavka.livejournal.com]

Where did these jigs come from? Sometimes I think "boy I sure wish I had some toe-tapping songs!" but I just don't even know where to begin looking for that kind of thing.

[kayloulee.livejournal.com]

I guess I shouldn't recommend Chris Norman (http://www.chrisnorman.com/) to you then? Strangely I can't find any of his stuff on Youtube, but perhaps you have better google-fu than me.

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

er... from bands like Great Big Sea, Flogging Molly, Spirit of the West, The Corrs, the Bushwackers, and other misc. folk and folk-rock that I've aquired...

[tarimanveri.livejournal.com]

Step dancing is AWESOME! I learned the basics when I was at fiddle camp on Cape Breton in 2004 (although I'm sadly out of practice because it makes my entire house shake so I haven't been doing any since I arrived in Boston) and did I mention it was AWESOME?

Here's Harvey Beaton (you know beatonna? Those Beatons from Mabou) dancing, thanks to the glories of youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J5P3sL_W_A

Cape Breton Island (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Breton_Island) is the northern part of Nova Scotia and is also AWESOME.

Cape Breton step dancing comes out of a Scottish tradition that, according to folklorists in Cape Breton, anyway, has died out in Scotland. It's related to Irish step dancing, but as they will tell you in Cape Breton, it's much "closer to the floor" than Irish step dancing. For comparison: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOOBoQFMTgY

Is that not awesome?

Edit: I should also mention that they're dancing to reels and strathspeys in these videos. They do dance to jigs in Cape Breton, but mostly in a square dance-type context. Also, check out the Irish vs. Scottish wank in the comments of the second video.

[ahsavka.livejournal.com]

The Corrs and Flogging Molly I know -- but thanks for the rest! Good jig music isn't something you discuss with your typical record-store employee...

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

bwawhah. no, it's not. Most of mine are The Bushwackers, which I doubt you'll find- they're an Australian bush band, and i've never even seen their stuff on CD. Dad rigged up a grand contraption to rip MP3s from his old records. But you'll find a few in Great Big Sea's stuff...

[kitty-iii.livejournal.com]

You might like folk metal if you've never tried it before. Try "Spirit" by Eluveitie or "Lai Lai Hai" by Ensiferum.