DanceData


Online access with your Browser available.

What it is

  1. In the highest level, it is first a collection of information on various aspects of Scottish Country Dancing.
  2. A set of files, freely available, containing the data. The computer-literate are free to manipulate this data as they wish.
  3. An application (for those who would rather not be computer-literate) to query this set of data. Unfortunately, this works only under Windows 95/98/NT (and higher). Sorry.
The 'objects' which are stored in DanceData are the following
  1. Dances. Scottish Country and Ceilidh Dances. A few Highland dances. A few party dances
  2. Tunes. Pieces of music suitable for accompanying Dances
  3. Publications. Books and leaflets, available commercially, containing dance instructions and/or tunes.
  4. Recordings. Complete pieces of recorded music, available on a physical medium, suitable for accompanying dances
  5. Albums. Collections of Recordings (as Tracks) on one single physical medium.
  6. People. Individuals and groups responsible for devising dances, composing tunes and performing for recordings.

History

DanceData was developed from ideas developed by a team of people scattered around the world and communicating by e-mail. Details of this project may be examined at  Scottish Country Dance Database. (Sorry - link appears to be broken for now)

A principal driving factor for this project, and one carried on into DanceData, is that the data collected in the database must be freely available to anyone who wishes to have it. With this philosophy it is hoped that people will not hesitate in helping to correct errors in the data and to provide new data when such is available.

The Application

is a Windows 95/98/NT (runs on newer systems too) program which one can use to query the data. A few screenshots may be seen here.

For a (very) small fee, your copy of the application may be registered. By doing this, you will be able perform a few additional tasks which might make it even more useful.

Download

Feel free to download any of the parts of DanceData. If you already have a copy, check the  update history (last modified 12 May 2006) to see if anything new has turned up.

What is coming

There are still things happening to DanceData. The following modifications are on the to-do list: Plus the fact that the data is continually being added to and corrected. So do check back here occasionally.

Online access

Using the DanceData data, Anselm Lingnau has put together a WWW search engine which you can use on-line to interrogate 'DanceData' from your favourite WWW brower. This is being done in full cooperation with DanceData and might well make it unnecessary for you to download it. So be it.

Try out the WWW search engine.

There are still advantages to be had from having your own copy though. Try both of these systems out and see what you like best.

How you can help

Any database is only as good as the quality of the data. If you notice any errors in the data or, if you have data which may be added. I would be pleased to here about it
Alan Paterson, 27 March 2005