Seann Triubhas

The Seann Triubhas (pronounced [ʃãũn̪ˠ ˈt̪ɾu.əs̪], approximately shown-TROOSS) is a Highland Dance. Its name is a Gaelic phrase which means "Old Trousers".

There has been a widely accepted story that the kicking or sweeping movements of the legs in the first step represented the attempt of the dancer to shake off the 'despicable' trews, but D.G. MacLennan writes in Traditional Highland and Scottish Dances that 'this first step has nothing to do with the idea of kicking off the trews, but...is new to the dance and was composed by myself'. The Seann Triubhas, then, is simply about a pair of old trews which may or may not have been a subject of distaste or fun to the wearer, and may or may not have something to do with the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745. Trews were anciently associated with the Celts. Martin Martin described trews as common men's wear throughout the Hebrides in his 1695 "Description of the Western Islands of Scotland." Tartan trews were part of the Highland wardrobe for chieftains and gentlemen whilst on horseback (the large Highland ponies) from the early 17th century onward. Some Seann Triubhas steps seem to have originated from hard shoe dancing, and the dance was taught to be performed in regular shoes with heels by dancing masters in the 19th century. In her Memoirs of a Highland Lady, Elizabeth Grant recounted that in 1805 she 'danced my Shean Trews...in a new pair of yellow  slippers bought at Perth'.