Scottish dance society plans a reel party for 231st birthday of poet Robert Burns

In his brief life, poet Robert Burns wrote more than 300 songs. New Year’s Eve wouldn’t be what it is without one of them, “Auld Lang Syne.”

People who love Scottish country dancing also owe Burns a thank-you, because the tunes for many of their favorite dances come from the poet’s songs.

And many of them will be saying thanks in a grand way on Saturday when the Los Angeles branch of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society throws Scotland’s national poet a 231st birthday party at the Hyatt Edgewater Hotel in Long Beach.

The annual supper and ball not only celebrates a famous poet but it gives dancers a festive setting “to show what they can do,” said Aase Hansen, a society member. There will be music by Scottish bagpipers to accompany a grand march of men dressed in kilts, black jackets and ruffled shirts and women wearing long dresses accented with tartans.

“Everyone walks in and around the room, and this starts the dancing,” said Hansen, who teaches one of many weekly Scottish dancing classes that the Scottish society gives in several communities, including Torrance, Manhattan Beach, Westchester and Santa Monica.

During the evening, would-be and authentic Highlanders will perform 18 different dances, ranging from lively reels to elegant patterns that resemble the minuet.

Toasts will be drunk and everyone will get a taste of haggis--a pudding-like dish of oats, suet and organ meat boiled in sheep stomach--that is traditional in Scotland.

The words and deeds of Scotland’s national poet will be celebrated in the “Immortal Memory,” a talk that has marked Burns’ birthday in Scotland for nearly 100 years.

Devotees of Scottish dancing say that with the rounds of classes, workshops, parties and dinners the society offers, it can easily become an obsession. Though she’s Danish, Hansen said she got “hooked” on Scottish dancing when she took her first class 20 years ago.

“It’s a great place to make friends,” she said, adding that people have begun dating after meeting at Scottish dancing activities and some have gotten married.

“It’s a social and fun activity, and one you get some exercise out of,” said Scots-born Wilma Fee, who has taught Scottish country dancing for 14 years in Manhattan Beach. “The little jigs and reels are very uplifting. You walk into the room and your toes start tapping up and down.”

It takes four couples to perform a Scottish country dance with its circular and chain movements. It most closely resembles American square dancing, which is no coincidence, according to society members. Scottish dancing--with contributions from Scandinavian and German dance--was the basis for the American frontier pastime.

Scottish country dancing also has roots in the elegant dancing of the French court that Mary Queen of Scots brought to Scotland in the 16th Century. A democratic dance, it was enjoyed by everyone from the lord to the country lassies. As Hansen put it, it was found “in the barns as well as the great hall.”

But by the beginning of this century, it had all but died out, and in 1923, the country dance society was formed in Scotland to preserve and record the steps. People went into villages and interviewed elderly residents about the dances, studied old manuscripts and began publishing books--35 so far--detailing the traditional dances.

New dances in the old style also have been created. One is “The Reel of the 21st Division,” which was created by British soldiers imprisoned in Germany during World War II. “The soldiers, all together, came up with this dance,” Hansen said.

Fee said new dances often are done for a specific person or an event, citing one created for the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

While the “Immortal Memory” talk is usually given by a man, Scottish dancing teacher Ann McBride is delivering it at Saturday’s birthday bash. And she said she intends to emphasize the devotion of the poet’s wife, Jean Armour. Though he died after only seven years of marriage, she was his widow for nearly 40 years.

“My angle is how could this woman be so totally devoted to him,” said McBride. “She had an infallible memory. He would recite his new poems to her, and she would remember them. She had a bright, humorous personality and turned down several offers of marriage, preferring to be known as the widow of Robert Burns.”

McBride said that Burns’ immortality in Scotland stems from his honesty. “He was down to earth and he never made apologies for himself, never set himself down to be anything that he wasn’t,” she said.

Robert Burns will be in the spotlight on Saturday, but the opportunity to dance will be the evening’s big attraction for many.

“We listen to the speeches, then we just want to do the dances,” Hansen said.