Education and Training Deb Lees This Centenary year we welcomed over 600 dancers to St Andrews from all around the world for our 90th Summer School. There was a definite air of celebration throughout, with special events each week, including a Big Ceilidh and a concert featuring musicians present and past, who have contributed so much to Summer School and the RSCDS over the years. A highlight was a joint dance with TAC, who were celebrating their 65th anniversary and 50th Summer School. The power of technology enabled us to see each hall dance the same programme at the same time with one MC announcing and recapping for the dancers on both sides of the Atlantic. A final Ball at the end of Week 4 completed a fantastic month of music and dance, making and renewing friendships, learning and developing skills, and sharing lots of laughter and fun. A huge thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make it happen, including the musicians and teachers, Moira Thomson and all the office staff and the two wonderful Summer School Directors, Jim Stott and Sue Porter.
The Virtual Teachers’ Conference will become an annual event This year we have maintained our focus on Continuing Teacher Development, including afternoon sessions at Summer School for teacher discussion on various topics, the Teachers newsletter and the second Virtual Teachers’ Conference (VTC). The VTC will become an annual event with five presentations across the week, which will remain available on the website, to view in your own time, either as individuals or watching together with other teachers and dancers. E&T are working with the Teacher’s Associations to develop material for next year’s VTC and welcome ideas and input from other branches and groups. This coming year we will be developing a range of video and other resources to support teachers, both during training and beyond. There is already a lot of information in the Learn section of the RSCDS website, but not always easy to navigate, so a complete review of this area of the website is underway. Work continues to develop Unit 1 into an online open book exam, which we are planning to introduce next year. Unit 4 information has been reviewed and updated and we have started work on guidance and resources for tutors. This will include developing a tutor training course, to be delivered face to face or online, so that the training is more readily available to prospective tutors anywhere in the world. Congratulations to all who have completed exams this year, especially those who have gained their Teaching Certificate and are ready to build their teaching experience in their own area and beyond. Well done also to those who have finished their CTI training and developed skills and confidence to make their local classes a fun and friendly place that will really encourage people to come back and bring a friend! My thanks to Rachel Shankland and Oluf Olufson for all their work during their term on E&T and I look forward to welcoming new committee members in November.
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Youth Services Philippa McKee Hello fellow dancers! I have just returned from St Andrews where a fun and energetic Junior Summer Camp (JSC) was reaching its conclusion. It is inspiring and encouraging to see the enthusiasm for music and dance from the young dancers. During the week we launched the 2023 Virtual Festival. We look forward to seeing the contributions to this year’s Festival. Entries are being sought under for two categories; “Dances through the Decades” and “Creative” with winners to be announced and celebrated at the Autumn Gathering. Thank you to our judges who have volunteered for the task of judging this year’s entries.
Grants are available to support Spring Fling events We were also able to launch our new Junior Members’ Booklet along with the opportunity for juniors to sign up to the new membership category. We talked to parents and guardians and were able to give JSC participants copies of the new booklet. A lively conversation about opportunities for young dancers ensued and certainly gave me some food for thought with regard to how Youth Services are placed to support events, initiatives and the fantastic work already done by branches and groups from around the world. I’d be very glad to hear from any readers with thoughts on this. Parents of young dancers can find out more and sign up for Junior Membership here; https:// rscds.org/get-involved/young-dancers/join-young-dancers We are very grateful to the support we have had from the Coates Crescent staff who worked so hard to get the Virtual Festival and Members’ Booklet ready for Summer School. We are so lucky to have their creative input and the time they put towards these projects. Away from the dance floor we have been speaking with organisers of previous Spring Flings to document thoughts and considerations for these events. The organisers from Edinburgh’s 2023 Spring Fling have drawn together a document which will provide a helpful reference for future organisers. We plan to do the same for Junior Summer Camp and other events such as the youth offering at the Autumn Gathering. I hope that a combination of these will provide a useful handover for future YSC members. We are also looking forward to a closer relationship with the Scottish Schools Working Group as we consider our role in this alongside Education and Training Committee. Information will be released soon regarding arrangements for Spring Fling 2024 so please look out for details in Branch Mailings, Dance Scottish Together and on social media. Abbie Brown and Erica DeGannes conclude their term on YSC this year and we would like to take the opportunity to say thank you to both for their contributions, creativity and insight throughout. It has been a pleasure to have them on our committee and they have brought some very valuable skills and experience to the team. We hope to welcome new members to the committee in November. Please get in touch regarding this, or any other matters relating to young dancers and musicians by emailing ysc@rscds.org
