Spring Fling Aberdeen 2009 by Gary Coull sympathetic to the dancers’ state of mind and body. Spring Fling 2009 ended with all three classes coming together for a gentle ceilidh, with music provided by those who had attended the musicians workshop the previous afternoon. The committee would like to thank everyone who helped in any way to make Spring Fling 2009 such a success and thanks, too, to everyone who came along for the weekend.
Participants in Spring Fling 2008 The annual dance weekend for young people kicked off in great fashion in Aberdeen last March with a fancy dress ceilidh. There was a great array of costumes from a traffic cone, soldiers, sailors, the witch from Wicked, a bumble bee, cow girls and even Bananaman made an appearance! It was an excellent ceilidh. Glasgow based band Rerr Terr provided the music and everyone was in high spirits from the start. Classes started on the Saturday morning and we were lucky to be taught by Jim Stott from Aberdeen, Jimmie Hill from Edinburgh and Catherine Livsey from Leeds. Each one put us through our paces in a fun and lively manner. We were also fortunate to have three of the top Scottish country dance musicians playing for the classes – Neil Copland and Mo Rutherford from Perth and Aberdeen’s own Frank Thomson. No one was deterred by the lack of heating (we think the local council was trying to save money) though Mo had to
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play in her jacket and fingerless gloves. Having been brought up in Banffshire she knew how to cope with the cold! In the afternoon our teachers and musicians showed their versatility. Jimmie taught some Quadrilles, Catherine did some highland while Frank played, Aberdeen Branch member Heather Blair led a walkthrough of the dances on the evening’s programme and Mo and Neil took a musician’s workshop for a good number of talented dancers who can also play an instrument. The Spring Fling committee felt that as well as promoting dancing to young people, the RSCDS should be promoting the playing of Scottish country dance music among young people. The dance in the evening with Nicol McLaren and his Scottish Dance Band was well attended by both Spring Flingers and members from local branches. Then came the parties, but it was up and away again on Sunday morning for another class though thankfully the teachers were
Spring Fling 2010 is to be held in Newcastle on 26 – 28 March and preparations are already well under way. For more information contact springfling@rscds.org
