jig, folk dance, usually solo, that was popular in Scotland and northern England in the 16th and 17th centuries and in Ireland since the 18th century. It is an improvised dance performed with rapid footwork and a rigid torso.
In England jigs were sometimes danced across crossed flails and clay pipes; they were occasionally danced by performers wearing clogs and were akin to the modern clog dances of northern England. At the court of Elizabeth I, the northern jigs became fashionable in the 16th century, and the name was also loosely applied to other dances of folk origin. In the 16th and 17th centuries, jigs appeared as stage dances and as stylized keyboard compositions by such composers as William Byrd, John Bull, and Giles Farnaby. The jig soon spread to France and, in modified form as the gigue (q.v.), became fashionable at the court of Louis XIV.
Irish jigs are performed by one or more soloists or by couples dancing the solo dance. The music is in 6/8 time. The hop, or slip, jig is a similar step dance (solo dance) in 9/8 time. When set dances, or figure dances for several couples, are danced to music in jig time, they are also called jigs. The few English Morris dances for solo dancers are also called jigs. Related to the jig is the Italian giga, a lively couple dance still popular in the folk tradition.