Dr Pat Ballantyne has always loved Scottish music and dance – in fact when she was a child if she heard the sound of pipes she would start dancing in the street.
Pat, who is an honourary research fellow at Aberdeen University’s Elphinstone Institute, is a dancer and dance teacher specialising in Scottish dance and music. She is is also the author of Scottish Dance Beyond 1805: Reaction and Regulation.
She has a PhD in dance and been a research fellow at the university for around eight years.
Pat has performed and taught dance around Scotland, Europe and Canada, and has also played in a ceilidh band.
More recently she’s been sharing her expertise in a podcast. As part of the two-part podcast launched by the Pomegranates Festival to highlight the role of women in traditional dance, Pat discusses Isabel Murray and Betty Jessiman, and the impact the north-east women made on the traditional dance scene.
Love of dance started as a child
Speaking about her own enduring love of Scottish dance and music, Pat said: “I remember my mother telling me that she used to get horribly embarrassed when she had me as a small child out in the street – if I heard any Scottish dance music of any sort, whether it was the accordion or pipes, emanating from anywhere I would start dancing in the street. She found this quite an affront!”
Pat, who now lives in the Netherlands, is not able to play as regularly with the ceilidh band as she used to when she stayed in Aberdeen, something she misses “very much” and takes any opportunity to play.
She still teaches and last summer was in Germany, something she is doing again this year – and more recently teaching brought her back to her home city.
Pat says that while she had noticed a dip in interest in Scottish music and dance in the past few years, things have now picked up, something she says is “so important”.
Dance teacher was a ‘character’
Speaking of the podcast for the Pomegranates Festival – an event which celebrates international traditional dance, Pat said she didn’t have “any hesitation” in picking the two women to speak about, saying: “they came to mind straight away”.
Describing Isabel Murray, Pat said she was “quite the character”.
Murray was born in 1883 and trained at the Aberdeen Physical Training College where she was later appointed Principal in her 20s.
Her father was a publisher and published a physical training manual written by Isabel which explained drills, dances and exercises for primary school teachers. She also ran dance classes, fitted Spirella corsets and had a shooting gallery.
Meanwhile, Betty Jessiman, who was born in 1921 was a Highland dancer and the first female dancer to enter an all male dancing competition in the 1950s.
The Pomegranates Festival will run from April 25 -30 in Edinburgh. This year’s festival features artists’ residencies and social dance sessions, exhibitions, tours, and more – for further information go to linktr.ee/pomegranatesfest
The Feisty Women of Traditional Dance podcast is available to listen to on Spotify.
