Starlight Scottish Country Dance, by Ed Abdill

 

Ed always loved Scottish dancing. He loved the precision, the music and the geometry. Ed and Mary met in 1973 at the Scottish dance classes held at McBurney YMCA, which was on W23 street then. On our wedding day, December 8, 1973, we married in the Riverside Church, had an afternoon reception, and danced as a newly married couple at the NY Scottish Jeannie Charmichal Ball.

 

 

Ed had a passion for Scottish Dancing which he enjoyed with his wife, and he composed a Scottish dance, named Starlight. It was formally recognized and published by the RSCDS in 2004, in Book 44. His dance has been danced by Scottish dancers around the world, including at dance competitions and formal Scottish Balls, and can be multiple times on YouTube.

 

The RSCDS published Ed s dance, just before Ed and I traveled to India, where Ed taught the Theosophical Society s School of the Wisdom . We attended the Burns Supper celebration in Chennai, India in 2005. When the dancers discovered that we were both Scottish Country Dance teachers, and that Ed had written Starlight, they immediately wanted Ed to teach a dance workshop for them, focusing on his dance, Starlight, which he did.  

 

Ed wrote this dance, envisioning the twinkling of stars in every figure. You can see this twinkling in figures such as the Double Triangles where two dancers in the middle reach out to the four dancers on the corners. And where the four corner dancers dance diagonally forward and back into the center while the first couple dances in and out thru them. Again, with the teapots figure we see two stars twinkling. And finally, the hello-goodbye figure shows the stars twinkling from the center and out. Searching for Starlight Scottish dance on YouTube, shows competition dance teams and Scottish dance parties and classes all performing Ed s dance.

Some YouTube links showing Ed s Starlight dance

v  A mixed Russian team competed in 2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4EVgSaMPLQ

v  The Newcastle team competing in 2012: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aho1kBA6uiw

v  Danced at Younger Hall in Scotland in 2024: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw_u-aUJStk

v  His dance has also appeared on many Scottish Ball programs, also seen on Youtube. It was recently danced at the RSCDS summer school in 2024.

Dance instructions are at: https://www.scottish-country-dancing-dictionary.com/dance-crib/starlight.html

The recommended very lively music is Mrs Agnes Ritchie, composed by (David I (Snr) Cunningham)