Dancing Around the World

All branches and affiliated groups are invited to send in their news (less than 200 words and photos over 500kB please) to Caroline Brockbank caroline@ceilidhkids.com We particularly like to read news from branches who have not featured recently, and those whose events are out of the ordinary!

Ayr Branch

A photo from our Branch Dance in the Walker Hall in November 2021 - our first Branch dance since January 2020. Super music from Sandy Nixon, Stuart Thomson and Gordon Young; a fantastic afternoon! Wilma Brown, Ayr

Bristol Branch

We were promised a surprise celebration at the start of our dancing year in September, following an interminable time away from the dancefloor. After intense speculation, it was revealed that Hugh Ferguson, our local musician and band leader, was to be awarded the RSCDS Scroll of Honour. Hugh has been the musical mainstay of Scottish country dancing in our area since he moved here in the late 1970s from Manchester, and before then, Bellshill in Glasgow. He has also played worldwide, for dance classes, balls, summer schools and at festivals in Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. His band, Dalriada, has played many times for the Royal Family at Sandringham, Windsor Castle and Bagshot Park. A gifted composer of tunes, and musical arrangements, he has produced recordings and published The Langford Collection of Tunes for Scottish Dance. He was a regular workshop leader for SCD music weekends at Halsway Manor National Centre for Folk Arts. RSCDS Chair Elect William Williamson presented the scroll to Hugh, and took us through a very enjoyable class, dancing to the music of Ian Robertson. It was indeed an evening to remember. Ruth Davies, Bristol

Budapest Scottish Dance Club

Our weekend and ball in Budapest in September was fantastic: a welcome dance on Friday, a ball on Saturday and workshops on Saturday and Sunday. Our teachers were Patrick Chamoin, Gábor Turi and Beatrix Wepner, with Silke Grosholz (piano), Matthias Rank (violin), and Thomas Naefe (recorder). We did not know until the last minute if it would be possible to hold the event. At times, the organisers felt it impossible, especially when people from the UK cancelled, but we were determined to go on with a ‘real’ dance event after such a long break. We usually have twice or three times as many foreign dancers as locals, but this year we had twice as many locals. We enjoyed a sunny picnic on Gellért hill, and dinner in the nearby garden restaurant in the oldest building of the Taban area. Check out YouTube to see pictures from our fun weekend. The BSTK dance regularly. In the autumn we had several Scottish ‘táncház’ (ceilidhs) with music from the Dagda Band. We celebrated Burns Night with a performance at the 25th Burns Supper in Budapest, the Scottish Brunch performance the next day, and the recording for the Moscow Branch Robert Burns Flash Mob Online. Agnes Borbely, Budapest

Canterbury Region NZ

2021 was a year we were more than ready to kiss goodbye, and the Canterbury Region’s Hogmanay did it with style, with many friends from across the region and further afield enjoying a fun, inclusive, gentle dance programme. After the disappointment of a postponed and then cancelled Summer School in Christchurch, and more disruptions to weekly classes, it was lovely to spend an evening dancing with friends. We had the undeniable musical talents of a group of friends who were dubbed ‘The One Night Stand Band’ for the evening. You cannot beat live music to really lift the atmosphere and encourage spirited dancing! After supper and more dances, we joined together (including the band) for the traditional sing-along as we counted down to midnight. Fun was had as we ‘redded the hoose’, and tradition received an update as our First Foot was a rather gorgeous, dark-haired woman, bearing the traditional gifts and sure to have brought good luck into the hall! After more dances, including the traditional New Zealand favourite The Eightsome Reel, we all made our way home, thankful to have seen the New Year in with good friends, good music, good whisky and good times! Wellington Region also put on a Hogmanay Night, enjoyed by all. Sue Lindsay, New Zealand

Carlisle and Border Branch

Carlisle Racecourse had swinging kilts and colourful ball gowns instead of prancing horses on Saturday 20 November, when Carlisle and Border Branch held a special Ball to celebrate its 70th Anniversary! The venue was alive with the music of David Oswald’s Band from Stirling, and the hundred guests enjoyed an excellent dinner and programme. The celebratory cake was made by Sue Casson of Whitehaven, and it was cut by Club President and longstanding member Gill Thompson of Carlisle. There were jigs, reels and strathspeys aplenty danced throughout the evening and a demonstration of a new dance Rivers of Carlisle. It was devised by John Foster who sadly died last year before it was completed, but his daughter and Chairperson of the club, Jane Atkins of Brampton, put in the finishing touches and it was a highlight of the evening, symbolising the rivers Caldew, Eden and Petteril. A presentation was made by Sue Porter to Quinn Inglis of Wigton – the Branch is sponsoring Quinn through her teacher’s examinations. Carlisle and Border Branch is back in action after Covid, with classes on Monday afternoons and Wednesday evenings. Gail Inglis, Carlisle

Central Iowa Branch

Our group is spread between Ames and Des Moines, Iowa, in the middle of the US. Normally, we run a weekly class in Ames and in Des Moines, with occasional social events. We stopped dancing altogether in March 2020 and I led Zoom dances from June 2020. Starting in June 2021, we danced outside in both locations, with no extra social events and no new beginner classes. We are forty miles apart, so some dancers trek to the other location, which can be daunting in winter. Our group is small, and we require everyone to be vaccinated, and to mask while dancing inside. In summer, we met in parks, with occasional live music. Outside, we could dance unmasked. We haven’t danced since the beginning of December, partially due to the holidays but mainly because of Omicron. We normally have a Day School/Burns Ball at the end of January, but this year (as last year) we had a Zoom event with singing, music and poetry. Since it is via Zoom, friends in other states can join in. The photo shows our Friday night December Social in Ames. We have danced in this room nearly every Friday night (until 2020) since 1989. Let’s hope for all of us to get back to dancing soon! Linda Lieberman, Iowa

Cheshire Branch

This January thanks to the hard work of our Committee, Webmaster and Membership Secretary (who is an absolute whizz on social media), and despite all our worries about the Omicron variant, we have managed to attract 14 new beginners to the Cheshire Branch. We advertised on various websites and Facebook pages, as well as our own, and created a link to the community hall where we dance. Offering two blocks of six weeks at the knockdown price of £15 per block, we have been inundated with newcomers. A few have danced many years ago and are returning to develop long-forgotten skills, while many are completely new to Scottish dancing. Their ages range from mid-thirties to mid-sixties, and it is obvious that all of them are very enthusiastic and enjoy the classes since they have stayed five or six weeks so far. They are being ably taught by two of the Branch teachers with the most experience at this level. Our social events are being tailored to encourage and support them, including our forthcoming end of term social, which is being developed into a ‘Nice and Very Easy’ evening, to include all the dances taught during the 12-week course. C Anne MacDonald, Cheshire

Epping Club’s End of Year Event –‘Bangers, Beer and Bubbles’

We are located in the northwest of Sydney, and you will have read about our ‘Mini Fitness Sessions’ in December’s Dance Scottish Together newsletter. On resumption in October, our class continued with the emphasis on fitness routines and exercises to strengthen and flex muscles, and build up our cardio fitness, and then to walk or gently dance through the programme for the Sydney Branch social in December. However, the main theme of this report is our ‘Bangers, Beer and

Anna Underhill, Andrina Brennan and Trish Nicholls limbering up

Bubbles’ end of year picnic. The committee decided to have an outdoor event rather than our usual dinner at a restaurant, due to covid concerns. Furthermore, the get-together was free for our members and their families. Andrina Brennan and Trish Nicholls organised Highland Games, getting everyone in teams for the ‘stick and mask race’, ‘toss the hand sanitiser’, ‘throwing the caber’ (a garden stake!) and a version of musical chairs, but instead of chairs you had to walk around a picnic table to grab the ever-fewer sanitiser bottles when the music stopped! Prizes of chocolate Santas were given to winners. Some non-dancing husbands kindly ‘volunteered’ to cook the bangers for our sausage sandwich lunch. Everyone had a happy time celebrating the end to a very strange year of dancing, with beer, bubbles and bangers certainly helping. Andrina Brennan, Sydney

Gothenburg Branch 45th Anniversary Celebration.

The Branch celebrated its 45th Anniversary with a dinner dance event on Saturday 24 November 2021. Some of the 24 guests were present and past members from the formation of the Branch 45 years ago. Several related their memories of the Branch’s history since its formation. All the dances were chosen by present and past Branch dance teachers, who included the devisers of some of them; one, Gothenburg’s Welcome, is published by the RSCDS. The present and past members and their guests who attended the event enjoyed a lively, social and energetic evening - the first after some 18 months of Covid restrictions.

Kilmarnock and District Branch Double Celebration

Members of Kilmarnock and District Branch participated in two celebratory events in December 2021. The Branch received an initial enquiry asking if we could supply some dancers for a surprise at a local lady’s 100th birthday celebrations. Further information about the lady revealed that not only had she been a member of the Branch until twenty years ago, but at least eight current members of the Branch remembered dancing with her at Annie Parker’s classes, and at many of the local dances held in and around Ayrshire. Although now not able to dance, Margaret Bryce enjoyed renewing acquaintances with long-lost friends, and watching a set dance a selection of well-known dances as she celebrated her birthday with family and friends at the Fenwick Hotel. A week later, Branch members were joined by dancers from most of the surrounding branches in the West of Scotland at a special dance to celebrate the 85th Anniversary of Kilmarnock and District Branch. Before the dance started, Branch Chairperson Dorothy McCrum cut a celebratory birthday cake. Thereafter, some fifty dancers enjoyed a varied and full programme of popular dances to superb music provided by Ian Muir and his Scottish Dance Band. David Pinkerton, Kilmarnock

London Branch’s 90th Anniversary Ball a year late!

2020 was to have been a year of celebration for London Branch: a series of dances to mark our founding in 1930, the first outside Scotland. Our first event, a tea dance in March 2020 at the London Scottish Regimental Headquarters, was a great success. Dancers of all ages enjoyed the music of Ian Robertson and his band, and a celebration tea, including a 90th birthday cake. Covid, however, intervened and plans for a summer dance and autumn ball were put on hold. Restrictions made the July dance impossible. Hopes were pinned on the 2021 Grand Autumn Ball. On 16 October, Allum Hall in Elstree was filled with music from Craigellachie and the buzz of dancers, reunited in dance after far too long. It was perfect, from the first note of George Ferrier’s piping until we headed home. The hall was decorated with archive photographs. The greatest joy was in greeting old friends and rediscovering the exhilaration of the dance, steered by MCs Jim Cook, Lindsey Rousseau and Rita Marlow. We welcomed past Chairman Andrew Kellett and Chairman Elect William Williamson, who read a message of congratulations from Chairman Lorna Ogilvie before proposing a toast to London Branch. The evening included a new dance, London Nine-O, devised by Lizzy Conder, and the presentation of a Branch Award to Stephen Webb. Margaret Catchick was presented with flowers in thanks for her work in coordinating the celebrations. A year late, but an anniversary ball to remember! Joanne Lawrence, London

Los Angeles Branch

As I write, Los Angeles and Orange County Branches are preparing for our delayed Burns Ball which will be held on 19 February. Here we still wear masks indoors, even while dancing. Everyone who attends classes or events must be vaccinated. The Torrance class continued over Zoom throughout the pandemic. Each class consisted of five teachers, each teaching one dance for each online

class, and people participated from throughout the LA area. In May, the class resumed in person, but several people and teachers continued dancing from home – a true hybrid class that continues today. In addition, our demonstration team also started classes in May in person, and another class reconvened in September. We have taken some time off to allow the Omicron surge to subside, but we are dancing again as I write this. We were very happy to be able to hold our St Andrews Ball as usual in November with four sets of dancers, and appetizers and desserts in lieu of a full dinner. Music was provided by Susan Worland and Lyle Ramshaw. What a pleasure it was to dance together again! Roberta Gotfried, Los Angeles

Méaudre Reel

We are so pleased to dance normally again here in the French Alps! The first children’s and teenagers’ class was amazing; they were so eager. Five dances taught in an hour; not at all an average! During the spring lockdown, to keep links with our teenagers, we organised a weekly SCD creation workshop, dancing on paper. We published our first book: Dancing in Vercors. Dancing them now for real is pure joy. For each dance, the girls explained the context of its creation, which often led to funny debates. For Thoughts of Romance, their first strathspey, it started with a talk about romanticism and SCD. ‘It is so romantic to dance a two-hand turn with a handsome partner, looking him in the eyes! Do you remember in Newcastle I danced with M….?’ ‘For me, my best partner was in St Andrews, it was a dream dancing a strathspey with A...’ But other girls said that it can also be a nightmare when dancing with a poor dancer! The two-hand turn may last too long! So, it is now very funny to teach the two-hand turn; everyone hopes to be the dreamy partner, not the poor dancer. Sophie Marchand

Newark Scottish Country Dance Society Scottish Country Dance meets Steampunk!

Scottish country dance groups in Newark, Waltham and Grantham U3A have been making the most of opportunities to advertise their classes. On Bank Holiday Sunday we were invited to dance at a ‘Newark Creates’ event in Newark, Notts. When we arrived, we found that it coincided with a big Steampunk Festival. The photograph that appeared in the Newark Advertiser on 2 Sep 2021 was captioned: ‘In addition to the Steampunk Festival, members of Newark’s Scottish Country Dance Society danced in the town centre as part of the Dance in a Day Festival, which was happening alongside the event.’ Newark’s return to dancing in the Summer began by following the summer tradition of Garden Dances. Classes then started in September in a new hall with more space and better ventilation than the previous one. We celebrated 50 years since the society began and a great night was had by all, dancing to music by Chris and Julie Dewhurst. John Aitken, Newark

Seattle Branch

Over the past two years the Seattle Branch has kept Scottish country dancing alive … virtually! During 2020-2021, Harry Khamis and Linda Silber offered three 8-week Scottish country dance class series on Zoom starting at the very basic level and moving up through advanced formations. There was an average of 24 “Zoom-in screens” during this period. Following these three 8-week series, 8 monthly Zoom dances were presented during 2021-2022. Those who Zoomed in came from all over the U.S., as well as from Canada, Mexico, Sweden, and Hungary. Now that dance classes are slowly returning to in-person dancing our Zoom classes and dances have ended. Many attendees expressed appreciation for the opportunity to keep current and active with Scottish country dancing without having to leave their home. Harry Khamis, Seattle Branch RSCDS

Toronto Association

As the pandemic drifts along, we focus on keeping everyone connected to the spirit of Scottish country dancing. While virtual classes are not what we really want, they’re a valuable morale booster. Hooking up with other dancers every week goes a long way to helping folk cope with isolation. Thanks to our teachers for their time and support. In November 2021, we held an in-person dance. Thirty dancers showed up, undaunted by covid protocols. After such a long absence it was a joy to meet again but we realised how hard it is to maintain social distancing once the dance has ended! December saw us involved in the Virtual Festival. Our entry The Rosedale Romp was filmed by our Vice Chair, Paul Barber, assisted by Leo Roytman; choreographers were Moira Korus and Halyna Sydorenko. Despite having to mask up while dancing, the result was impressive. 2021 ended with our virtual Christmas dance on 11 December, hosted by Keith and Deidre MacCuish Bark. Sociability was high on the agenda with frequent breakout rooms for chatting. Sixty-four dancers zoomed in; most from Toronto but also from Hamilton, Kitchener, St. Catharines, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, New York State, Boston and New Zealand. Many are also regulars at our weekly virtual classes – we’re a community from far and near. We’re hopeful 2022 will be a better dancing year; fingers are very firmly crossed! Sheena Gilks, Toronto

Townsville, North Queensland

In Townsville, North Queensland, Australia, the last six months have been good to us. We had our first ever dance in the park on nearby Magnetic Island for St Andrew’s Day. About a dozen dancers from Townsville and a few locals joined in on the grass at Alma Bay. Back in August we had our annual Ghillies and Gowns Social and for the first time in many years we had live music, from accordionist Iain Mckenzie. For many of our members it was the first time they had danced to live music and they loved it. There was such a buzz on the dance floor. Margaret Silke, Townsville

Wellington Scottish Country Dance Hogmanay Celebrations, 2021-2022

Dancing, music, celebration, friendship, fun, tradition, and singing were all part of the Hogmanay celebration in Lower Hutt. Damon Collin was MC for an enjoyable evening. Aileen Logie and her band contributed greatly to the party atmosphere as they filled the hall with music. The programme was colour-coded to reflect the Traffic Light theme operating in NZ because of Covid. The front of the stage was swathed in tartan, and balloons around the hall were green, orange and red. As newer dancers it was a treat to watch several advanced dances, a double Culla Bay, The Aviator and The Flower of Glasgow. Debbie Roxburgh was presented with her Life Membership Badge of the Branch, in recognition of her contribution over many years. The Wellington Region launched a book of new dances to celebrate their 60th Anniversary. The Amateur Epidemiologist, from this book, was on the programme, with the deviser taking part. Thank you very much to everyone who organised and ran the evening: setting up the hall, organising supper, doing dishes, presenting the midnight tableau, and to the dancers who were part of such a lively and fun evening. Also thank you to Gaye and Damon Collin, and local dancers who gave us an opportunity for a practice earlier in the week: much appreciated and helpful. Jan and Bruce Austin, Carterton SCDC

Windsor Ontario Branch

In January 2022, Windsor Ontario Branch celebrated the 90th birthday of one of their founders, June Dey. June has been dancing in Windsor since 1966, when she joined The White Cockade, a group of dancers who formed in the city a year earlier. In 1980, she and her late husband John qualified as RSCDS teachers, enabling the White Cockade to apply to become a Branch. Windsor was granted Branch status in December 1981. Over many years of teaching, June also taught and mentored several dancers who have since become RSCDS teachers themselves. Although she retired from teaching in 2018, June has remained a vital part of the Windsor Branch. As an ‘in-person’ celebration was not possible, members of the Branch saluted June with a ‘drive-by’ birthday parade and arranged for a piper to play outside her home. June, who was delighted to receive wellwishes from her many dancer friends, is pictured here with her gift from the Branch, a framed birthday greeting certificate from Ontario’s Lieutenant-Governor. Miriam Wright, Windsor

Waikato Bay of Plenty Region, NZ

Hogmanay is celebrated every year in The Waikato Bay of Plenty region. This year it was a real treat - one of the few events not shut down. Chris Wilson had the energy to get the event started, and his wife Liz and his club Cambridge rallied. So once again on a hot night in Cambridge dancers put on glad rags, dug out their shoes and gathered. We were joined by dancers from Auckland, and by Nico, one of our youth members home from studies. The program was lively; after such a long break I was grateful for the walkthroughs. A few new experiences - Colleen Gunn, our regional secretary, revealed herself as a competent pianist for the sing-along prior to midnight. After the songs, the Reaper and Sweeper did their circuit, the chimes rang, and we sang Auld Lang Syne. Toasts of whisky, sherry and orange drink were circulated, and shortbread was enjoyed. No kisses and cuddles; I missed that, but the tall dark handsome first foot arrived bearing the traditional gifts, and a mask for safety. The new year dancing commenced and there was energy for The Eightsome Reel. Happy New Year from the Waikato Bay of Plenty region! Sue Lindsay, Waikato, NZ