Dancing around the World

All branches and affiliated groups are invited to send in their news (maximum 200 words) to Caroline Brockbank caroline@ceilidhkids.com

Every branch and club was asked to tell us what they had been doing in lockdown to keep everybody’s spirits up. Thank you for such a great response.

Before it all kicked off!

In late February the San Diego Branch was planning their 45th Anniversary celebrations. ‘Everything was in place for a fabulous weekend in March: Friday night class, Saturday the Sapphire Anniversary Banquet and Ball with the venue, band, caterers, decorations and most importantly of all dancers, all in place, followed by a fun brunch on Sunday morning. A week later and we would have been unable to hold our Ball. We had a wonderful event, a few people naturally and prudently had to cancel as they were travelling from far afield and felt vulnerable to falling ill. Reel of Seven were their usual magnificent selves and lots of energetic dancing ensued. We had two special events planned for the Ball. During the dessert intermission we presented our Dance Director, Ward Fleri, with his Branch Award and a brief performance of the dance that we had commissioned in his honor. We also introduced a book of dances that represented our branch. We are so thankful that we managed to celebrate our 45 years in a place of community, dance and music.’

Coming to terms with it all

It comes as no surprise that everyone who responded expressed their sadness that dancing has had to be cancelled, but also recognised that everyone’s health has to come first. The Gainesville Dancers from Orlando Branch told us that one of their members became sick with COVID-19. He was hospitalized, intubated, and recovered, thankfully. Some groups have had to suspend all activity for the rest of year, others are optimistically keeping events in the diary for later in 2020 or for early 2021; a lot depends on location. And everyone mourns Summer School, Pinewoods, Spring Fling and Fringe, as well as their own local events. As Linda Harley in Lisburn, Belfast, writes ‘Getting together with pals once or twice a week, enjoying a very sociable form of dancing which requires lots of eye contact, dancing with a partner, and in a set, all combines to a shared sense of community and belonging. And for that to suddenly cease was a huge shock.’ Many groups did manage a little dancing at the start of the year. Freiburg Scottish Country Dancers were lucky to be able to hold a Midwinter Ball on 29 February with safety measures – just a week before the first lockdown period in Germany came into effect. The pandemic came to Russia a bit later than to most European countries, so they managed to run some events in late winter and the beginning of spring, including the 5th Scottish weekend and Ball organized by the Affiliated Group Fairy Tale at the end of February. On 7-8 March, classes and a Ball took place in Kazan. Sheffield Branch had a great start to their season, with a very enthusiastic crowd of beginners. This is what every group hopes for, so they were devastated to then have to cancel all their classes and events.

Dance Scottish At Home

Almost everyone who responded expressed a huge amount of appreciation for Dance Scottish At Home and the weekly online classes. Agne Hanson in Stockholm described them as ‘The light in the darkness these last months, that gave us much useful dance and class information, kept our brains and feet moving and made us all feeling as members of one big family.’ Irene Whyte of Inverness Branch agrees: ‘The folk at HQ should be commended for organising and co-ordinating Dance Scottish at Homeand the online classes, as they have been great at maintaining interest and contact with our country dancing family.’

Most groups wrote to say that they had been keeping in touch with members either by email, by Zoom, or via Facebook. Wirral Branch wrote that they have kept members feeling connected through emails and phone calls. Some increased the frequency of their newsletters, including the Toronto Association whose publication is cleverly named ‘Set and Link’. ‘Set and Link’ is also the name of Leicester Branch’s Zoom club night, created to reconnect and to interact socially with members. Neil McLaren writes ‘It meets weekly for a pre-planned evening programme. It includes Have Your Say – a great way to see and learn how everyone is coping. This is followed by a dance or pubstyle quiz, and a talk by members on their interests. After that we can watch a dance video, and the night ends with a member’s Scottish music choice preceded with a story as to why they chose this piece of music. Afterwards there is a Stay on for a Chat section.’

Queensland Branch published an e-magazine entitled Corona Chronicle, for SCD (socially cocooned dancers), which has done a great deal to keep the dance community together. It proved to be popular both in Queensland and nationally, but also with dancers from overseas. Each issue had a theme and included a wide range of topics as well as a class, with web access to dances. The entire collection is now available online via their website and also via the State Library of Queensland. Visit rscds.org.au and then Queensland. Scottish dancing in Boston Branch has definitely gone online during the pandemic. Several weekly branch classes restarted online rather quickly, whilst the Cambridge (Mass) and Salem (Mass) classes joined forces with a bi-weekly schedule, alternating with a class and other related topics. These have included Robert McOwen’s Dance to the Music (with Furniture), and Susie Petrov’s Scottish Dance Music: a journey through the early recordings. All are available by video on the Boston Branch website - see the Movie Gallery under ‘About the Branch’. Ayr Branch sent out light-hearted daily emails with a track to listen to, a YouTube dance to watch and other dance-related items; walks, and visits to various places (eg the Titanic Exhibition, New Lanark, Falkirk Wheel, a trip on the Waverley) all with relevant dances included. Throwback Thursday had photos from past Ayr Branch events, and on some days they sent out dance-themed puzzles, and technique tips and formations to keep then fresh in the mind.

Kilcreggan and Cove SCD Class in Helensburgh Branch’s weekly Zoom session was particularly appreciated by those living alone. Ribble Valley Branch created a Facebook page, developing a system of a Monday class with dances from Thirty Popular Dances Vol 2, including some history or personal anecdote and a video one week, alternating with a formation suggested for favourite dances another week. They also post dancing news, both local and national, and various quizzes have appeared, including members’ ‘guess the baby’ pictures. Berkhamsted Strathspey and Reel Club have had weekly Zoom meetings, including quizzes, compiled and run by a member. They also have a monthly challenge to send in photos on a theme. San Diego Branch tells us that they also ran Zoom classes. Shirley Williams writes that ‘A Friday class with Ward Fleri was started to maintain our community spirit. All class participants can relate what’s new in their lives, and helpful tips on handling lockdown logistics are often shared. It soon expanded to include a variety of dancerelated topics, such as understanding Pilling diagrams; the different types of reels, jigs, and strathspeys; devising ball programs; and MacNab dances. Ward has used the RSCDS archive videos available from the National Library of Scotland and the RSCDS YouTube Channel. He has incorporated the ‘reel or jig?’ and ‘Fun with diagram’ features on SCD Database (https://my.strathspey.org/ dd/index/), and used this resource to show dances with unusual formations. Jeanne’s Monday class includes time for socializing, but the class emphasizes actual dancing. Initially reviewing steps, foot positions, and solo figures such as petronella turns, Jeanne expanded the scope to include several Highland setting steps and simple formations. She devised The Lochdown Medley to incorporate some of these components. More recently she has been teaching about five dances a night from Thirty Popular Dances Volumes 1 and 2.’

The Lisburn Class in Belfast Branch launched the ‘Lockdown LOLs’ aka ‘Little Old Ladies’. ‘Never underestimate them!’ writes Linda Harley. ‘Their advancing years and unfamiliarity with modern technology proved no barrier to members of the class during lockdown. A whatsapp group, previously in use to share information about class changes, or check who was on the tea rota that night, really took on a new lease of life during this period. The motto of Scottish dancers is ‘Fun, Fitness and Friendship’, and for this group of people, many of whom live alone, the ‘friendship’ part is the most significant. And so Lisburn’s whatsapp group began to fill that void. On their usual Tuesday night slot, members shared poems or pictures, or funny videos, and fun quizzes to amuse during isolation. Family were asked after, personal troubles were shared and empathised with, offers of assistance were volunteered.’

In New Zealand Branch, one club made up a dance every day with different members contributing, whilst another produced a weekly newsletter with interesting information. A club from the Canterbury Region held weekly quizzes over Zoom on their regular dance night. The BASCDancers from Buenos Aires have been meeting online via Zoom every Sunday morning. They discuss the RSCDS Wednesday class, recap favourite dances and comment on their week. Often they wear hats, caps or even plastic crowns to spice up these virtual gatherings, writes Marcela Galve. Many branches and groups have had online committee meetings, and are holding their AGMs by Zoom. Margaret Sanders writes that in Glasgow Branch ‘A virtual Zoomtype AGM was ruled out as it would have discriminated against members not able to join due to technology or know-how. They decided on a virtual AGM by proxy to take place at the end of June; this met their constitutional rules. Information was sent by email and post to all members providing an outline of the process. Each member then had the opportunity to vote on each resolution and appointed the Chair to vote on their behalf.’ Similarly, Irene Whyte tells us that in Inverness Branch several members do not use computers so have rather missed out.

Virtual events

There has been general widespread praise for the Society’s Summer Celebration. Some members of Carlisle and Border Branch managed to dance every dance with a small gathering of friends outside on the Saturday of the event. Ayr Branch has held virtual dances, in the form of their March Branch Dance, and Summer Dancing Mondays. These include an interview from each band leader due

to play, and a Band Leader’s Choice track - either audio or video. They ran introductory classes on Wednesday evenings and social dancing on the 4th Saturday of the month as usual.

In Russia in April, organizers of the Kazan weekend from the historical dance club Andersen started weekly online streams to keep dancers together and let them know more about different dance styles and traditions. The Saint Petersburg annual Folk Dance Festival was held online, with lectures on Scottish dance and music by Malcolm Brown. Dancers have joined the RSCDS Wednesday classes online, as well as clubs’ and schools’ classes online. In June Perm Scottish Dance Club ‘Silver Tassie’ and Bo’ness Dance Group arranged a joint online ceilidh with fantastic music by Phill Jones on accordion; a truly international collaboration!

Lyn Falck of Sydney Branch writes, ‘In May, it was decided to go ahead with our first Zoom event; the Sydney Branch Ball on 13 June. Leading up to the event one class a week, taught by a variety of teachers, was scheduled via Zoom, starting four weeks out from the event. On the night of the ball some of the dancers met at friends’ houses to make up sets. Others danced alone or with a partner, and some watched the proceedings. The music was pre-recorded by Iain Mckenzie especially for the ball. After this success, we decided to go ahead with the Sydney Winter Social via Zoom on 18 July. Prior to the event instructional videos were made for all the dances in the program and again, Iain Mckenzie kindly agreed to pre-record the music for the social, which was wonderful!’

Ribble Valley Branch have been holding monthly Ceilidhs via Zoom, with short stories, lengthy monologues, sketches, poems, and Highland dancers, making a point of inviting some of the band musicians to join in. Items of two to three minutes seemed to work best, with musicians playing either one or two sets of dance music. After the Houston and District Branch AGM was held online in May, members were entertained with ceilidh acts including music on dulcimers and a harp, as well as singing and dancing. In May, Boston Branch Highland Ball musicians performed a streaming concert via Facebook live, to raise money for branch musicians who lost gigs due to the pandemic. Craigellachie was due to play for the Berks/ Hampshire/Surrey Border Branch May

Grantham dancers distancing with umbrellas!

Ball but, of course, it too was cancelled. The band decided to give a short online concert. Judith Muir writes ‘The choice of music started with a couple from the original Ball programme and expanded to make it popular world-wide and also for couples to do couple dances in their own space if they so wished. Others were chosen because we know that some of the tunes are well received at dances. Keith Anderson’s fiddle solo was some Klezmer music; a musical style associated with Jewish communities that is very expressive and often evokes feelings of joy, pain, loss and longing, which Keith thought some watchers might find relevant as they face their own challenges.’ Judith and Ian recorded the master tracks at home and then sent them out to other musicians who then recorded themselves playing along and sent their recordings back to Ian. He edited the audio files together to produce the band sound, and then synchronised the sound and videos back together again to make the finished article. They included information and pictures relevant to each track, and the final part of the process was to render it and upload it to YouTube, which took six hours.

Maria Tsvetoukhina writes: ‘To keep the SCD community together Moscow Branch and Saratov Club Falcor welcome dancers all over the world to join the 4th Robert Burns Flash Mob Online at the end of January. In a set or alone, in the dance hall or at home, we suggest you dance My Love, She’s but A Lassie Yet (Book 9), record it and then post it online with a hash tag #BurnsNight2021 to celebrate Burns Night all together wherever you are, and whatever the COVID situation is. Please join and keep dancing!’

Meeting Up

Although it has often been impossible to dance, that hasn’t stopped many of our groups and branches meeting socially.

Berkhamsted Strathspey and Reel Club

organised walks as an experiment, in groups of six, led by a club member. Freiburg Scottish Country Dancers were very happy to reunite in June for a hiking tour in the Black Forest, and since then, they have met regularly and have even taken up the tradition of going out for dinner afterwards at restaurants serving outside. They hope for many more warm and dry evenings to enjoy the company, the dancing, and some music, even if it won’t be the same as before.

When lockdown eased in France, Lyon Branch held a barbecue, doing very little dancing and a lot of socialising, which was exactly what members needed at the time. New Forest Scottish Country Dancers have shared country walks and bring-your-own lunches with dancing friends. As several class members of the Kilcreggan and Cove SCD Class didn’t do Zoom, they had a socially distanced gathering on the shores of Loch Long recently. It was a lovely peaceful morning so they were able to catch up in real time and share news – but not the food!

Sheffield dancers using masks and batons

Adapting to Covid

In an attempt to get our fix of dancing any way we can, many of us have ventured into the new phenomenon of socially distanced dancing. In the words of John Aitken of Grantham U3A ‘Crossing becomes passing, turning becomes dancing around each other and dancing down and up can become following each other down and back to avoid making the set even wider. Rather than dancing around with metre sticks to ensure we stayed apart, we came up with a more colourful and convenient way – the photograph shows dancers walking through a reel of four with colourful golf umbrellas!’

In Freiburg, ‘We basically concentrated on dances that involved no giving of hands and made it easy to keep the appropriate distance. To do so, we modified existing dances accordingly and even tried dances that we had devised specially for this occasion.’

8 distanced hands round in Freiburg!

Norma Hutchinson writes that at Sheffield Branch, several dancers met, in a restricted bubble, on a quiet community field on a couple of Saturday afternoons for a socially distanced dance. They wore face masks, and carried short batons (offcuts from piping) to keep further apart and avoid touching hands.

A group from Bath and Bristol met together during August to enjoy some outdoor socially distant dancing. The teacher, Ros Rawlings, took great care to measure out the dancing area and used mini cones (the type used for children’s football) to remind dancers of the distancing required between dancers. They soon adapted to ‘hands across’ and turning without touching hands, and using longer steps to cover the distances. Ros made some adaptations to dances, eg a D-Tour to replace the Tourbillon, a D’Allemande, and a long cast to replace turn and cast. They also found that a strathspey grand chain worked better in 16 bars, adding a setting step at the beginning and another setting step half way round. Ros’s Distant Dancing Repertoire can be found in the Dance Lists on the Strathspey database.

Linda Harley of Lisburn class, Belfast Branch, wrote an incredibly detailed and entertaining breakdown of all the activities which her ‘LOLs’ – ‘Little Old Ladies’ – got up to during recent months, and which I wish we had space to reproduce here in the full original. She writes ‘As a teacher, I’d been looking for dances that could be done without giving hands, and there are very few. So I decided to devise one. A favourite dance that I’m always ready to teach is ‘Domino Five’… With that in mind, I decided to create a dance for individuals, rather than partners, in a hexagon shape, with everyone moving one step round at the end of each turn. It can be done without giving hands, though there is a ‘with hands’ option for once we are through the strict social distancing requirements. Because of its shape, I named it after the hexagonal basalt columns of the Giant’s Causeway. It contains figures of eight, setting and going through a pretend arch, and chase in a circle, all of which can be done with no hands.’

Unexpected blessings

Every cloud has a silver lining, and there have been some unexpected blessings accompanying lockdown that perhaps might not have been predicted. For example, making the most of the forced inactivity, Toronto Association is working to streamline their overall programme. Several groups have enjoyed the opportunity to reach out to dancers who would be unable to participate in a traditional SCD setting. Grupo de Dança Escocesa da ART in Lisbon started a weekly series of online 90-minute Zoom classes at the beginning of June, continuing until the week before A Summer Celebration. The classes included a warmup dance, stretching, exercises, technique and formation practice, three dances and a cool-down. The online format allowed friends from Barcelona to participate, as well as one of the people from our beginners’ course, who had moved to Leeds in the meantime, and joined in with her boyfriend, an absolute beginner! Since Houston and District Branch classes have moved online, dancers can join in from as far away as Canada and Spain, in addition to the local dancers. Tiffany Howard says ‘It has been fantastic to be able to dance with others around the world’.

Similarly, Boston Branch tell us that they are increasing online activities and engagement, and welcome dancers from other locations as well. ‘We have had participants from as far away as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa as well as many closer friends and dancers. In addition, in part spurred by cancellations of both the Branch Highland Ball weekend and Pinewoods, the Branch has sponsored two online concerts by musicians involved and several other Pinewoods events including a ceilidh and an auction. The Branch raises money for both the separate non-profit The Scottish Dance and Cultural Education Association to support dancers especially but not exclusively at Branch events, teacher candidates, and musicians, and Pinewoods Camp Inc. These onetime events were targeting fund-raising in addition to promoting engagement by the community. Not to be outdone, the cochairs of Pinewoods Scottish Sessions put together a whole week of online events, including a rousing staff concert, a virtual ceilidh, and an online auction to raise money for Pinewoods Camp.’ John Aitken of Grantham U3A and Waltham, Newark and Nottingham explains ‘After having to stop my weekly Grantham U3A dancing class, I wanted some way of staying in contact, but at the same time maintaining some relevance to dancing. Rather than encouraging dancing with ghosts on Zoom, I used the opportunity to share my enthusiasm for diagrams. To many, these look like unintelligible hieroglyphics, and this was a good opportunity to recruit some new diagrammers.’ Meanwhile Adelaide Branch has reached out in a different way. Daily Moves is a free supportive physical activity program for adults aged 65 years and above, which aims to encourage participants to move their bodies daily for 30 minutes. Daily movement has many benefits including maintaining independence, preventing frailty, managing chronic pain, keeping us socially connected, and lifting our mood. Several councils across Adelaide are offering this program, and partnering with the Branch to offer video introductions to SCD that participants can try at home. In future, when events are possible, they will assist in promoting them and encouraging people to try out SCD.’

Starting again

Since the start of easing of lockdown, Glasgow Branch has contributed to the creation of a guidance entitled ‘COVID-19 Safety Considerations – July 2020’ designed to assist branches around the world in how they might approach starting classes and dances. The guidance has been posted on the RSCDS website. Many groups told us that they would love to re-start dancing, but there are problems with venues. As Sheena Gilks from Toronto says, ‘Until we get the official all-clear our hands (and feet) are tied.’ The school and church halls that Inverness and Sheffield use are not yet available due to Covid-19. Wirral Branch tell us that one hall has no plans to open because the cleaning costs are exorbitant, and in Gothenburg, the Branch committee is having to pay rentals for dance halls which can’t currently be used, in order to secure access when restrictions are lifted.

However, other areas have been more fortunate. In Australia dancers have done well in this regard; cases of COVID-19 in Queensland have been very few, and Adelaide Branch had over 2 months without any new cases in South Australia. In June, Adelaide started a Ladies Step Class with appropriate spacing in a large hall with a COVID safety plan. From the beginning of July some of their regular dance classes started with sanitizing of surfaces, and hands between dances. Meanwhile in Queensland a group of enthusiasts are meeting weekly in a Brisbane arboretum, enjoying each other’s company and some dancing too. Since the lifting of some restrictions in the Sydney Branch area, a few clubs have returned to modified dancing, with no hand contact, and have also introduced a Scottish Step Class once a fortnight with Diana Hastie. In New Zealand, ‘all dancing stopped until 8 June, then we rejoiced that dancing was back on the agenda. Club nights started up again after the move to level 1 but most are now not dancing again as they have moved into level 2 for most of the country, but Auckland is under a stricter level 3.’ The route to re-opening is not straightforward. On the final weekend of June, dancers met in Stockholm for an open-air dance evening, and in Freiburg they were able to dance again on 3 July in the open air. At the end of summer some clubs and schools in different regions of Russia have gradually returned to regular dancing, indoors and outdoors, as the restrictions have eased. In Lyon, at the time of writing, they are also hoping to start dancing in September, but they are unsure about ‘the sanitary situation’! They will start their children’s class in September, dancing outside in the playground. However, as Liz Beckinsale from Somerset Branch says, ‘As quite a few of our members are older we are aware that they must be protected so we won’t be back dancing unless we are happy it is safe to do so. We are considering meeting up outside soon, even if only to have a distanced picnic and chat (and maybe a dance or two if appropriate). The hall we use should be open by September but subject to the stringent rules for village halls, so we will just have to wait and see what transpires.’ San Diego, local laws permitting, are planning an outdoor social gathering this autumn, maintaining distancing and wearing face masks, and BASCDancers are planning a weekend away in the countryside to dance morning and afternoon and organize parties in the evening. Meanwhile Neil McLaren of Leicester Branch ‘cannot wait for the ‘All Clear’ when we can put on our pumps and reel and jig’ – a sentiment shared by everyone. A prevailing theme in all the correspondence is that Scottish country dancers are a hardy and optimistic bunch, inventive at circumventing problems and managing to have a good time regardless. As Robert Morgan from New Forest Scottish Country Dancers writes, ‘There is a strong will to get back indoors as soon as we are allowed, albeit with face masks and no-touch dancing.’ Vancouver Branch quotes their Provincial Officer of Health, Dr. Bonnie Henry – ‘Be kind! Be calm! Be safe!’ and Raphaëlle Orgeret from Lyon is raising a glass ‘To a hopeful future!’