Alison and Amy first worked together in 1998 as founding members of pioneering group The Scottish Stepdance Company. Stepdance was historically an important part of Gaelic culture, but became virtually unknown in Scotland due to cultural suppression, the Highland Clearances, and evolution into Highland dance and Scottish country dance. It was preserved by Scottish emigrants to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and we learned from their descendants bringing the dance back to Scotland in the 1990s.

The Scottish Stepdance Company produced ground-breaking work exploring the relationship between music, dance and Gaelic song, and performing stepdance as an indigenous percussive artform. It received critical acclaim and remains hugely influential today in the reintegration of stepdance into Scottish culture. 

In the years that followed, Amy and Alison formed a uniquely close bond as dancer and musician, collaborating frequently on performances and the presentation of workshops.

In 2013 we created and performed Galloway to Gàidhealteachd, a sold-out show at the Edinburgh Fringe which explored our individual origins and our musical connections. In 2015, we created a show which celebrated the commonalities between Scottish traditional music, old-time American music, stepdance and American flatfooting, and performed that at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig and An Lanntair.

In 2024, we took the first steps towards creating a new work in the Scottish stepdance idiom. These were the initial steps towards the creation of Deiseil: Dancing in Time.