Jig

The jig (Irish: port, Scottish Gaelic: port-cruinn) is a form of lively folk dance in compound metre, as well as the accompanying dance tune. It first gained popularity across the British Isles in the 16th-century, 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). It is most associated with Irish dance music, Scottish country dance, French Canadian traditional music and dance, and the Métis people in Canada. Jigs were originally in quadruple compound metre, (e.g., 128 time), but have been adapted to a variety of time signatures, by which they are often classified into groups, including double jigs (68), slip jigs (98) and single jigs (128).

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. The jig is typically associated with these countries, especially Ireland. It is second in popularity only to the reel in traditional Irish dance, and in Scottish country dance jigs and reels are the two quicktime dance forms. A jig is transcribed in compound metre, being time. The most common structure of a jig is two eight-bar parts, performing two different steps, each once on the right foot, and one on the left foot. As with most other types of dance tunes in Irish music, at a session or a dance it is common for two or more jigs to be strung together in a set, flowing on without interruption.

The following distinction is primarily observed in modern competitive Irish dance and should not be confused with the general notion of how the jigs are played and classified among traditional Irish musicians.