Schottische

[citation needed] It was popular in Victorian era ballrooms as a part of the Bohemian folk-dance craze and left its traces in folk music of countries such as Argentina (chotisSpanish Wikipedia and chamamé), Finland (jenkka), France, Italy, Norway ("reinlender [no]"), Portugal and Brazil (xote, chotiça [pt]), Spain (chotis), Sweden, Denmark (schottis), Mexico (norteño music), and the United States, among other nations.

The schottische is considered by The Oxford Companion to Music to be a kind of slower polka, with continental-European origin.

The European or Continental version (often pronounced "skoteesh"), is typically danced to faster music and is quite restrained in its movements.

The American version (often pronounced "shodish") is often large and open, with a slower tempo than the European schottische.

In Argentina, the schottische was introduced by Volga German immigrants (now usually called "chotis") and also evolved and mixed into chamamé, an Argentine folk music genre.

In Brazil, the xote has largely developed in the north-eastern area, especially the Sertão, where it has created variations such as baião and arrasta-pé, which are usually grouped in the forró denomination.

The schottish Espagnol or Spanish schottische, also known as the "seven step" gained popularity in France in the early 1900s.

A dozen variations are known, for one or more couples, some free, some in fixed choreographies, and the original name became "sciortis" in Tuscany, "sciotzè" in southern Italy, "sòtis" in Romagna.

In the folk music of Ireland, a schottische is closely related to the highland tune type, though possessing a higher proportions of quarter notes.

In Portugal, a form of schottische called xoutiça or xote has become heavily standardized for folklore displays.

They then trot forward 4 steps to the beat, pivot quickly so that the man is on the right and woman on the left, both facing the opposite direction of travel.

The dance, when performed at ceilidhs, usually has a jolly, light-footed, spirited feel and is often accompanied by vocal yelps, woos and hooches from the male partners.

Instead, the woman stays in one position, performing the Highland toe-steps with the right foot for four bars, while hopping.

Back on the left, he then faces the woman and they perform the second (polka) half of the routine as per the popular version described above.

A simplified ceilidh variation of the popular version does not required the Gay Gordons method of holding hands in the first half of the routine.

This is interesting because the Norwegian word used for the same dance is "reinlender", suggesting an origin from the Rhine region.

In New Orleans, Buddy Bolden's band and other proto-jazz groups were known for playing hot schottisches.