Youth Weekend West 2009 by Hannah Strong, Zuriah Meacham, Milena Schaller, Catherine Berner
Participants at YWW 2009. The incredible energy of Youth Weekend West 2009 began at the welcome dinner and dance, where participants with ages ranging from 14 to 30ish from the Bay Area, Pacific northwest and Canada met with old friends and new faces to enjoy basic country and ceilidh dances. Saturday morning started out with challenging and fun classes in country dancing. The rooms were filled with people chatting, putting on ghillies, and running onto the floor for the first dance of the day. Our two exceptional teachers, Bill Zobel and Fred DeMarse, challenged us, teaching energetic and exciting classes that really motivated us to try our hardest. They went through group technique and individual ways to improve. Bill and Fred pointed out details that, when addressed, improved each person's style, and the dancing of the group as a whole. After just a few pointers,
you could see a marked improvement in the flow of the dances, the shape of the figures and the footwork. Local musicians provided great music which supported the energy of the class. Saturday night's ceilidh had a wonderful dance programme devised entirely by local dancers. Wild Rose provided fabulous live music. Great ceilidh acts included juggling, cello, Irish and Scottish dance, and a humorous item made up by two of the younger dancers titled Dance for One Couple in a Three-Couple Set. Overall, the ceilidh was a favourite part of the weekend; everyone was in high spirits and having a great time. There was one final SCD class on the Sunday morning, where all the dancers combined to do some fun new dances as well as our favourites from the day before.
In the last issue there was a photograph of Scottish country dancers who reached the Antarctic. Bob Melvillle of New Jersey went even further. Here he is on New Year's Day 2006 at the South Polar Station.
During the weekend, dancers had also enjoyed elective classes in highland dance, ballroom dance and advanced Scottish country dance. The weekend concluded with a tea dance, a formal event to raise funds for YWW and supported by local dancers and the RSCDS San Francisco Branch, Almost 150 people danced to the music of Fiddlesticks and Ivory, and enjoyed refreshments on the patio overlooking Lake Merritt on a beautiful, sunny afternoon. The wide variety of ages present helped to make the dance a huge success and a great way to end the weekend. Overall, we had a fantastic time, and we hope to attend YWW next year in Victoria, BC. We left completely exhausted and overjoyed to have been a part of such an amazingly friendly, entertaining and altogether incredible weekend.
There was dancing for all at The Gathering in Holyrood Park on 25 July, one of the highlights of The Homecoming year.
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