(Leader, the Hon. Elisabeth Forbes -Sempill) in a programme of Scottish Country Dances which they will perform in Paris when they represent Scotland next week at the Exposition Internationale des Arts et des Techniques.
Scottish country dances are based almost entirely on the French model, a reminder of the 'Auld Alliance' between Scotland and France. They combine formality and vitality in well-balanced quantities; and the great point to remember is that the music is not of the bagpipes but of the fiddle, the instrument that was introduced to Scotland with the dances themselves.
The Hon. Elisabeth Forbes-Sempill, the leader of the dancers, is a young woman in whom love of all things Scottish is very strongly developed. She has made it her business to be able to speak in the language of the north-east of Scotland, so efficiently that she has won prizes for the recitation of Scottish verse in competition with speakers to whom Scots was their natural tongue. Another of her accomplishments is the playing of the clarsach and the harp. Her enthusiasm for Scottish country dancing led her to found 'the Dancers of Don', who, having performed all over Scotland and in a good many places in England, are now going to Paris to represent their country in a dancing festival.