Don’t Wait 50 Years for Your Gold Star in St Andrews Ruth Davies travelled north wondering if she was a good enough dancer to attend the RSCDS Summer School.
Dancing in the Common Room, St Andrews Being a first timer at Summer School in St Andrews, my name badge had a Gold Star, so people looked out for me and made sure I found my way around. There was also a special introductory social event. I was immediately struck by the friendliness of everyone and the wide range of nationalities – at least eight European countries were represented plus North America, New Zealand, Australia and Japan. “Why hadn’t I been before?”, people would ask. I had mistakenly been concerned about my level of dancing. Those I knew who had been to St Andrews from my local group were very good dancers and I hadn’t realised there were classes for beginners and intermediates. I have now met people who attended Summer School very soon after starting Scottish Country Dancing and they believe it cemented their love of the dancing as well as making sure their footwork was good from the outset. In previous years, I had family commitments and limited holiday time off work, but children grow up, circumstances change, and new opportunities arise.
I loved it, the classes were excellent, and as is the way of St Andrews, we had two different teachers in two different venues. We were a mix of ages and nationalities, we laughed and learnt; it was taxing on the legs, feet and head and we all suffered from brain fog at times, but I’m sure we improved. My class started the week in Younger Hall. People had talked about the floor, and it was lovely to dance on although if you were a standing couple, it was initially disconcerting to be bounced up and down by everyone else! After three days we moved venue to the Town Hall with its amazing ceiling. It is newly painted with St Andrew’s Crosses, thistles, roses, and other emblems with initials. I need to find out more and explore St Andrews further. Being Families and Youth week, the age range was huge, from about 5 to some in their 80s, I would imagine. At the ceilidh, some of the children, to rapturous applause, showed us what they had learnt, and at the evening dances there were those, not in their first flush of youth, who were obviously still enjoying Scottish Country Dancing, dancing and helping younger, less experienced ones through the dances. What else had I misunderstood? The dress code for Saturday was party dresses not ball gowns – St Andrews has plenty of shops for dresses, new and pre-loved. Cinderella went to the party suitably clad. I attended on my own but was never lonely. I recognised some faces, but everyone was friendly, and we shared a common interest. There was so much to do: classes took up the mornings and then there were walk-throughs for the evening and the opportunity to learn Step or Highland for Scottish Country Dancing in the afternoon. The latter had me in a ceilidh item, I’m not quite sure how! And then we danced almost every evening. I’m hooked, and wondering when I can sign up for next year?
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