9 minute read
Growing a Scottish Country Dance group in France
Christiane Orgeret fell in love with Scotland while a French language assistant in Edinburgh, but it was not until a few years later when she returned to visit friends, that she was taken along to her first Scottish country dance class. On returning to Paris, she joined the Chardon d’Ecosse group, and Scottish country dances became her passion because they were so lively and varied. In conversation with Fiona Grant, Christiane describes how the dance group she started a few years later when she returned to work in Lyon, grew into a branch, and the challenges she had to overcome.
Small beginnings
La Chanterelle and La Ronde Folklorique, two folk-dance groups, organised dance weekends, including one annual Scottish weekend each. Although I was teaching English full-time and had three small children to look after, I wanted to do more Scottish country dancing and helped to persuade a small group of the dancers to meet once a month in 1986. Being the most motivated, I was quickly chosen to be the secretary, then ‘Présidente’ of the group – I didn’t know then that this would last 30 years!
Finding new members to enlarge the group was difficult, and at first most came from other dance associations. We advertised everywhere we could, including getting the group added to the list of British Associations which was handed by the UK Consulate in Lyon to all UK citizens coming to stay in the area. An advert in the university English department proved more fruitful, and although many left to work elsewhere after they graduated, these energetic young people were very enthusiastic, and the Scottish group continued to attract a few new students each year.
were encouraged to attend and find out that dancing friendships extended further than the weekly class. A few of us attended the RSCDS Summer School in St Andrews almost every year and encouraged other members of the class to go too. We were taught by many wonderful teachers, whom we then invited to Lyon, and met people in St Andrews from all over the world who shared our passion, and thus expanded the magical network!
Financial independence
Our class members were often young people and others with limited disposable income, and so we tried to keep the cost of the dance classes as low as possible. Our season ticket had the reputation of offering the least expensive regular hobby in Lyon! Nevertheless, we usually managed to make a class profit, which was used to subsidise and reduce the price of the weekend events, making attendance more attractive to all. We occasionally organised large ceilidh dances to attract new members and make a small profit. They were very successful, attracting 200 to 300 people, and made us more visible, but they did not often lead to new recruits because the immediate fun of ceilidh dancing is so different from the challenge of Scottish country dances with their complicated formations and steps.
Expanding the group
Key to the success of the group were the weekend events, which we managed to expand over the years. At first, they were held once a year with one invited teacher using cassettes. Over the years, they progressively became well known in the SCD world for the hospitality of Lyon members, happy relaxed atmosphere, serious emphasis on technique, quality of teaching, and the opportunity to attend classes on different levels, including Highland dancing. Classes and evening dances gave our members the opportunity to meet and often host dancers who travelled from other groups to spend the weekend dancing and socialising together. New dancers
Teaching Strategy
Teaching at the weekly class was always done in French, as few could understand English. It is important for teachers to adapt to local conditions, as the key to class enjoyment is getting everyone moving and dancing. At the same time, the steps and style are an essential part of Scottish country dancing and our group wanted to be taught technique from the start. Our very first teacher for the weekend events was Philippe Rousseau from London. He and Alice Murphy from Carlisle taught us in French. Patrick Chamoin from Paris was our most regular weekend teacher for many years. As to weekly classes, Martin Sheffield from Grenoble visited us regularly, and Antoine Rousseau from Paris taught and danced with us while he spent three years as an engineering student studying in Lyon. Later, we had our own homegrown Lyon teachers, who passed their teaching certificates in St Andrews. After a few years, weekends were progressively taught in English, as members realised it was not a major obstacle and they could discover and benefit from the teaching of so many excellent and diverse teachers from Britain, Europe, America and New Zealand. What a joy it was to bring all this, and the wonderful live music, to ordinary Lyon members!
Every autumn, we put together a programme for the whole year in advance, so that the teaching was progressive from September until the end of June. Classes started as if everyone was a beginner, and experienced dancers agreed and were very happy to assist those less confident. As the year went on, the class adapted to the dancers attending, so that after the first hour with beginners, the next hour and a half was shared between intermediate and advanced dancers.
Hints for keeping beginners
Not everyone who comes to class for the first time stays, so it is important to keep advertising for new beginners, whether it is using the internet, social media, or other more local noticeboards. We advertised the classes and ran dance events with easy dances for friends, families, and other dance groups, to encourage them to try out Scottish country dancing. Every new member of the class was given a copy of the book Thirty Popular Scottish Country Dances. Groups of us went to other events, such as the Montpellier Ball held each year, the weekend workshops in Grenoble, Méaudre, Turin, Paris, or further away (Budapest, Brittany, Jersey, London, Vienna). The RSCDS Summer School in St Andrews was our key reference: not only did we subsidise several young future teachers to take their certificates there, but we even paid half the cost of the whole group (over 20 people) attending Summer School in 2009 and 2015.
Raphaëlle set up a ‘Lyon Glams Team’ of young Lyon dancers who went to Newcastle once a year, with some parents helping with the logistics. Newcastle was a wonderful occasion, with many young (and some older) teams from all over the UK and Europe meeting to show off their technique and choreography. Another daring project we carried out successfully was to organise Units 1,2 and 3 of the Teaching Certificate in Lyon, and Units 4 and 5 two years later. Patrick Chamoin was our devoted and hyper-qualified and efficient mentor. It was Raphaëlle’s idea, but I was in charge of most of the organising. A rather onerous task, my swan song as it were, but it was worth it: all our 14 candidates passed and are now teaching in many groups, mostly in France, including Lyon for 4 of them. I am proud to think that several of them would not have dared or been able to afford to take the exams in Scotland, and that we brought new blood to SCD in France.
Personal Commitment
Dancing was a family interest and all dancing felt natural to me, whether it was ballroom, rock and roll, or historical dancing. As Cocteau said, ‘Birds never sing better than when in their own family tree’. Meeting Scottish country dancing was love at first sight for me: the sheer joy of feeling the wind in my hair while responding to the music! My interest only increased over the decades because of its symbolic value: there is almost total equality between men and women when they dance together as couples, all couples play the same leading or helping roles in turn. The need for teamwork between everyone in the set reflects an almost utopian social cohesion. Over the years, I tried to mirror this equality and teamwork within our group as an activity for all ages, and for people from all backgrounds. Scottish country dancing is a social activity where the sense of achievement and shared enjoyment comes from everyone working together to perform the dance as best as they can. At the same time, each dancer should get the chance of achieving the best technique he or she is capable of.
Becoming an RSCDS branch
By 1991 the group was affiliated to the RSCDS, and in 2009 Alex Gray, the then Chairman, welcomed the formation of the new branch, now named the Lyon Branch of the RSCDS. It coincided with my daughter Raphaëlle passing her full Certificate, so she took over much of the teaching. As a primary school teacher, she taught quite a few young pupils to dance, and opened a new dance group in her school neighbourhood, encouraging them to bring along their parents. Her influence and charismatic teaching no doubt increased the number of younger people dancing in Lyon. She also set up an international team, who travelled to Newcastle to compete in the Scottish Country Dance Festival providing an opportunity for many young proficient dancers, some from isolated groups, to join forces and meet for rehearsals. After several years running the international team,
The Future
Advertising events and classes is essential to keep our group going and using our mailing list of past attendees at previous events has been very important in letting dancers know what we have planned. Often visitors think about coming again to our weekends, even if they do not come every year. Membership of the RSCDS is very important for Scottish country dancers in France. Unlike the UK, it is not possible for us to drive a few miles to a dance each Saturday or to attend another group’s class without travelling many miles. Summer School is a wonderful opportunity to meet other dancers and introduces our members to different teachers as well as expanding their knowledge and enjoyment of dancing. I was shocked to hear some members in Britain ask what they got for their RSCDS subscription. Supporting the RSCDS in its aim to spread the enjoyment of Scottish country dancing and allow people to dance in the same way wherever they meet in the world is very important. Few of us would be dancing today if we did not support the RSCDS as a worldwide organisation.
