Jig

The jig (port, port-cruinn) is a form of lively folk dance in compound metre, as well as the accompanying dance tune. It first gained popularity in 16th-century England, Ireland, Scotland, and other parts of the British Isles, and was adopted on mainland Europe where it eventually became the final movement of the mature Baroque dance suite (the French gigue; Italian and Spanish giga). Today it is most associated with Irish dance music, Scottish country dance and the Métis people in Canada. Jigs were originally in quadruple compound metre, (e.g., time), but have been adapted to a variety of time signatures, by which they are often classified into groups, including double jigs (), slip jigs () and single jigs (). The term jig was probably derived from the French giguer, meaning ‘to jump’ or the Italian giga. The use of “jig” in Irish dance derives from the Irish jigeánnai, itself borrowed from the Old English giga meaning ‘old dance’. It was known as a dance in 16th-century England, often in time, and the term was used for a post-play entertainment featuring dance in early modern England, but which ‘probably employed a great variety of dances, solo (suitable for jigs), paired, round, country or courtly’; in Playford's Dancing Master (1651) ‘the dance game in “Kemps Jegg” is a typical scenario from a dramatic jig and it is likely that the combination of dance metre for steps and non-metrical passages for pantomime indicates how a solo or ensemble jig might have been danced by stage players.’ Later the dance began to be associated with music particularly in time, and with slip jigs time. During the middle of the 16th century the dance was adopted in Ireland and in the 17th century Scotland, where it was widely adapted, and the jig is now most often associated with these countries, especially Ireland. The jig is second in popularity only to the reel in traditional Irish dance; it is popular but somewhat less common in Scottish country dance music. It is transcribed in compound metre, being time.