Celebrating Ceilidh Dancing: RSCDS Virtual Festival 2021 Ceilidhs are a great way to get a lot of people involved in traditional Scottish dancing. They are happy and energetic and a bit wild and – most importantly – very good fun. Everyone can join in with the dances, they are easy to learn, and equally enjoyable whether you’re a beginner or a more experienced dancer, young or old, Scottish, or international. Aberdeen Spring Fling in April 2021 offered a workshop on writing ceilidh dances, resulting in a very productive afternoon and eight new dance creations. Inspired by this workshop and to celebrate ceilidh even more, the most recent edition of the Virtual Festival was entitled “Ceilidh, dancing and beyond”, specifically asking groups to share their favourite night of ceilidh dancing, including one of the new dances in their displays. And the submissions did not disappoint! All of them were creative, carefully choreographed, and danced with joy. It’s a real treat to watch them! (The videos can be found on the Society’s YouTube channel.)
Thank you to all the dancers who joined this Virtual Festival, and made it into a fantastic and happy celebration of ceilidh dancing!
Strip the Willow at the Bath 10 to 100 Family Ball The 70th Bath 10 to 100 Family Ball It has been two whole years since we last reeled, so it was very special indeed, and particularly wonderful to see so many youngsters enjoying learning the dances! The event was the 70th Bath 10 to 100 Family Ball, held on Saturday 8 January 2022. It was a wonderful evening in Corsham Town Hall, beautifully organised by Charles Freeman, and we were dancing to the George Buchanan band. The photo is of a spirited Strip the Willow!
Malin Altenmüller, Youth Services Committee
Caroline Maggs, Bath
Best Team effort awarded to Lyon ceilidh dancers Our winners represent all aspects of ceilidh dancing. Our overall winner, and winner of the People’s Choice Award, are the Rosedale dancers from Toronto, who show how ceilidh dances blend excellently with other types of Scottish dancing. Lyon’s submissions highlighted the joy of dancing with a group of friends, a well-deserved Best Team Effort award. And a successful ceilidh dance doesn’t keep you on your chair, but makes you want to get up and dance. Congratulations to the Belfast dancers winning the Most-Likely-ToJoin-In-With award.
How the Urawa SCD Group started and Saitama Branch was formed Masanori Satoh (Chairman of Urawa SCD Group) introduce it to many more people. On 18th January 1977, she formed the first SCD group in Saitama, and gained the teaching certificate at the Summer School in Scotland in August 1990. By 2001, the number of Tokyo Branch members was increasing so much that Junko and Hitomi suggested forming the Saitama Branch. At the Tokyo Branch AGM, a committee of all the Saitama groups was formed and agreed to proceed, and the application for branch status was accepted by the RSCDS in 2001. The formation party was attended by 126 dancers.
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The National Folk Dance Federation of Japan was formed in 1956, and its membership is now around 100,000 dancers who meet regularly to enjoy dancing at their local community halls. Most dancers start off at folk dance classes. When they learn Scottish dances there, such as the Reel of the 51st Division, then decide that they would like to further their skills and join a Scottish country dance group.
When you start SCD, you become curious to know more about its history and background. You start to dream of dancing with other dancers from around the world and wish to attend Summer School in St Andrews. However, it is a long flight and the older one gets, the harder the journey becomes, particularly if you have elderly parents or children to look after. But for those of us who have experienced the summer school, we are contributing to the development of SCD in Japan, not only by dancing but by introducing its charm and letting other people know about our experience in Scotland.
Hitomi, my wife, is an instructor for the Federation, and a member of Tokyo SCD Tanoshimu Group. One day in 1975, we heard the sound of bagpipes coming from our neighbour Mrs Junko Matsuhashi’s house. It was Mr Bill Clement who had been invited to Junko’s house party on the occasion of his teaching tour to Japan. After then, Hitomi wanted to do more Scottish country dancing and
Urawa SCD Group is an affiliated group of the RSCDS and introduces SCD to folk dancers. SCD has wonderful music and dance, where you can make new friends among fellow dancers, and keep on dancing for many years. This year, 2022, the Urawa SCD Group celebrates its 45th anniversary and we hope to continue expanding the SCD family and its charm for many more years.
www.rscds.org
