On equal footing: Scottish Country Dancing and Football

In Lisbon, they know a good sport when they see one. During their annual Fun and Games Day, people can compete in many sports including Football, Touch rugby and _Scottish Dancing_.

While the rules for normal sports are easy to find, the ones used for two team competitive Scottish Country Dancing are somewhat harder to come by. Fortunately, I have the description here, courtesy of Roger Picken:

Two teams at a time are taught a simple dance (like Dunnet Head) during each “match” and the winner is the team which performs it best.

Apparently, this is a very popular activity. And, as described, capable of demonstrating that even a simple dance can present challenges by drawing upon one’s pattern memory, one’s sense of timing and distance and above all one’s ability to apologize after stomping on the partner’s foot during one of those advance and retire figures.