A Tale of Two Spring Flings

Not just one, but two Spring Flings to celebrate the RSCDS Centenary Year: Rebecca Woods danced in Edinburgh, and Bethany Wright participated in Toronto

Rebecca Woods, Dundee Branch

Spring Fling in Edinburgh kicked off with an evening of dancing to the music of Ewan Galloway’s Scottish dance band. Being the centenary year for the RSCDS, we commenced with The Jubilee Jig, which was followed by a lovely programme including both familiar and new (at least to me) dances before ending with The Deil Amang theTailors.

On Saturday morning, Abigail Brown, Alasdair Gray and Deb Lees each taught two classes, so we all got to learn from two teachers and enjoy the music of two of the three musicians: Susan MacFadyen, Shona MacFadyen and Ewan Galloway. After a mostly sunny lunch break, we had a choice of three different classes - Scottish step dance, Around the world with Unusual Formations, or Highland steps for SCD. I had great fun trying (and failing) to master high cuts.

Everyone dressed up to the nines for the evening ball, and I was very impressed by the number of dancers who embraced the theme of the Roaring 20’s with strings of beads, feather boas, fringe, sequins galore and opera gloves. After a wine reception and a slice of centenary cake, we danced away to the wonderful music of Jim Lindsay’s Scottish dance band. It was a great chance to dance with friends attending Spring Fling as well as those from other classes and some from university classes who have since moved away.

For those of us who still had energy on the Sunday morning, we had an SCD challenge. After a quick round-the-room warm-up dance we were put into teams and had to compete in various challenges including doing a dance backwards, devising dances

by playing consequences and doing a dance after hearing only 8 bars of the original tune. Then a final lunch together before heading home to catch up on a weekend’s worth of missed sleep.

The First Shall be Last: Toronto 2023

Bethany Wright RSCDS Buffalo Branch

With my 36th birthday looming, I knew my first Spring Fling might also be my last. Carpe dancem, I thought, for tomorrow ye shall be Fringe. York University’s Glendon campus was beautiful and park-like, with birdsong accompanying us on our slow march up and down the many stairs to

and from the dance. The fabulous teachers stretched our feet and brains. Fiona Mackie kept us alert Saturday morning with 18th century dances (half-way on bar 5!). Linda Henderson provided memorable moments with ‘stuffing the sausage’ in the Ceilidh class and the ‘mousehole’ figure in the combined class. With an ironic twist (or twirl, rather), Gavin Keachie had us dancing like nonagenarians on Sunday morning. The musicians gave us the lift we needed to carry on through more than 50 dances (plus reprises) over the weekend. Saturday’s ball programme kept us on our toes, but it was hard to resist moving to the sevenpiece band including Laird Brown, Donny Wood, Mara Shea, and Don Bartlett and the Scottish Heirs. Just when it felt our feet could no longer function after Sunday morning’s class, Don and Mara played one final polka we couldn’t resist before bidding farewell to new and old friends. The youthful energy on the dance floor was palpable and promising. After a slow restart following the pandemic, what a pleasure it was to reconnect with the joy and exuberance of dancing together! It was an honour to serve on the Toronto Spring Fling committee, who worked together seamlessly to bring this event to fruition. I sincerely hope the global RSCDS community continues to invest in the next generation of Scottish country dancers. Keep it up, Youth Committee!