Perspectives on Summer School

Roseanne Baker of Milton Keynes Branch won a Youth Scholarship to attend St Andrews Summer School, and Patricia Nicholls of Sydney, Australia, travelled to teach at St Andrews through a grant from the International Teacher Development Fund. Extracts from Roseanne ’ s account of her experiences appear below, together with a letter from Patricia. Summer School scholarships and grants are funded by the Jean Milligan Memorial Fund (see p.5). All photos by Neil Jones.

The last two lessons got very technical and I found loads of brilliant On classes – Morning classes went very well and I definitely felt improvements happening in my dancing, as well as having so much fun and laughter… The second class was yet again fantastic and jampacked full of ways to improve our phrasing and timing in each dance.

ways to improve my footwork, so I definitely have something to

August 19th, 2012

take back and show my branch classes at home.

To the Convenor, Education and Training Committee,

I am writing to express my sincere appreciation on being given theopportunity to travel from Sydney, Australia to teach at the 2012 StAndrews Summer School.

I felt the experience to be both a great honour and a greatresponsibility. I really enjoyed teaching my classes and being part ofthe ‘ staff’ at the Summer School. I have been reflecting on my teaching of students from non-Englishspeaking backgrounds, my transition each day from having anIntermediate class followed by the technically skilled High Impactclass, the challenge of using a musician (which I don’t experience inmy Sydney teaching with CDs) and the balance of teaching technique with encouraging enjoyment each day. Once again, thank you to all those people who were responsible forbringing me to St Andrews this year and I am most grateful for thechance to further develop my skills and experience as an ‘ overseas’teacher during this time.

On the dances in Younger Hall – I enjoyed the dancing so much

and the whole atmosphere was just electric. Getting the chance to meet other dancers from different branches was an amazing feeling.

Yours sincerelyPatricia Nicholls

I recommend that everybody whether a young or older dancer should attend Summer School at least once. The different levels of dance classes appeal to all dancers, and most importantly a lot of fun is 100% guaranteed.