January 2001 Newsletter

Welcome back everyone to the winter session of dancing. In view of the fact that we are having lots of snow and a class could be cancelled, please contact Martin (739-0166), Sue (738-3355) or Penny (726-1008) if there is doubt on Mondays, and Bill (738-3355) for the Thursday class.

TWELFTH NIGHT SOCIAL was a great evening of dancing, with good food to follow. Thanks go to Corryvreckan and to those involved in putting the programme together.

The DEMO. TEAM danced at St. Andrew's School in November as part of their celebrations for St. Andrew's Day. One of the classes wrote letters thanking us and there was a write-up in the school newsletter. Talks are ongoing between Penny and the school trying to get Scottish country dancing as an after-school activity. A few of the children attended her classes at St. David's and are keen to continue. We have invited the children to join us at Glenbrook Lodge on Jan. 30th.

The Demo. Team will be dancing at the Burns Supper on 20th Jan.

GLENBROOK LODGE - Jan 30th, 7 p.m. Once again we will be dancing at Glenbrook Lodge to help the residents celebrate Burns night. We have been doing this for about 16 years and the residents are very appreciative. We hope many of our dancers can come along (including our new dancers). Easy dances are performed and we encourage you to bring children who sometimes join in. Corryvreckan will be playing and the haggis is piped in. Please bring along a small plate of goodies suitable for elderly people (no nuts or marshmallows).

WORKSHOP. Plans are underway for our workshop Aug. 3-5, 2001. Mel Briscoe from Alexandria, Virginia will be the teacher. We are still looking for volunteers and if you can help please speak to Sue Scott.

MAY 26 WORKSHOP. Duncan Keppie, Scottish Country Dance teacher, accordionist, and leader of the band, the Macadians, will be in St. John's on this date to teach a one-day workshop for us. Duncan, formerly of Nova Scotia, now lives and works in Mexico, but will be here on geological business. It is our good fortune that he has offered us a workshop while he is here.

Details have still to be worked out, but do save the date. We'll have classes in the morning and afternoon and a social in the evening.

FEE INCREASE. Some of you will have noticed that the fee for this winter semester of classes has increased over last year and now stands at $50. This has been necessary because we now pay the band a fee for playing at our socials, and we also have to pay the school custodian at Vanier for his time during the evening. In order not to have to double the door charge at the socials, which would tend to alienate partygoers, the executive decided to raise the class fee to help cover these increased costs. In this way, everyone plays a part in supporting the socials, and we hope more people will be encouraged to come out to them.

These matters will be discussed at the Annual General Meeting in May. Meanwhile, one clear answer to increased costs is to have more members! Our costs for venues are fixed, regardless of the number of people attending classes or parties. So, bring out all your friends! Spread the word on the fun of Scottish Country Dancing!

One small advantage of having a custodian is that we can use the kitchen at Vanier to heat up our food after dancing!
Sue Scott (wearing my Chairman's hat).

TEACHERS' CORNER
LET'S DANCE!

When we take the time to walk through most of the dances at a social, think of the dancing time we are losing! Briefing the dances is important, and is meant as a reminder. but Margaret does a wonderful job of providing us with instruction booklets well in advance, so that we can review the dances even several times before we come to a party. Then all we should need is that reminder.

We could be dancing at least two more dances on a party evening, or having more time to socialise between dances (that's important too!). But right now we spend a lot of time just standing while one couple walks through. Also, the band cools down during these walk-throughs, and then sometimes has trouble getting warmed up again to play. Let's do our homework, and come prepared to dance!
Sue Scott (wearing my Teacher's hat).

The Toronto Tartan Ball will be held Feb. 17th at the Royal York Hotel. This is a popular event and a number of our members have attended in the past. Details are on the notice board.

There is a Montreal Weekend Workshop to be held June 1-3, 2001. Details on the notice board. If you are travelling, it is always a good idea to pack your ghillies and check the branches of the RSCDS for ongoing activities. Other workshops and balls are always taking place and any notices we receive are posted on our notice board./P>

Priscilla Burrage, in a Nova Scotia branch newsletter, came up with "Tests to determine dancing ability!" which is fun to read.

"The question is as follows: Has anyone determined any series of objective tests which could be used to give an accurate description of the level of a dancer?
Remember, Scottish dancing is social dancing. Here's the Home Truth department!

Beginner: Can get self through dance most of the time. Really needs good, helpful partner. Should stay out of dances in which partner is not in a place to help. Technique: Looks at feet.

Intermediate: Can get self through dances. Helps partner. Occasionally recognizes that there are other dancers in the set (other than the one that he/she is dancing with. Technique: Panics frequently. Woman can dance on man's side in a few dances. Woman wants man to dance with most of the time. Either sex: Books dances with partner in whom dancer is confident.

Newly Advanced: Has great footwork and knows it. Impatient with dancers who don't 'get it' right away. Occasionally dances solo even though in four-couple set. Technique: Needs to relax while dancing. Books entire set for challenging dances.

Experienced Advanced: Looks for beginners if the dance is an easy one. Laughs when makes mistake, but is in the right within a bar of music. Looks at a dance programme and knows all but two or three. Technique: Has been dancing a lo-n-n-ng time. Is usually heard complaining about feet, knees, hips, or back. Fussy about the type of floor for dancing. Uses good footwork when it matters to other dancers (sometimes with a grimace)."

Jim and Robin Orr recently went on one of the Ken McFarland tours to Turkey. We often advertise these tours on our notice board, some of which sound exotic, but I don't know anyone from our branch who has taken one, until now. Jim writes:

"In mid October, Jim and Robin Orr, who danced for several years with the St. John's SCD group, joined one of the Farland McTravel SCD "expeditions". Normally Ken McFarland, who is both a travel agent in Fairbanks and a Scottish Country dancer, organizes bus trips of SCDers to visit places such as New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii, England or Scotland and dance with local SCD groups, and visit places of interest: castles, etc., sometimes even dancing in the castles.

This trip was a bit different, we spent 2 weeks in Turkey, going around major archeological sites during the day, and some hardy souls actually did go to the evening SCD sessions which were run with Ken on the ghettoblaster, and John Drewry of SCD choreography fame teaching us the dances that he had devised specially for the tour (soon to be released in print). The dances are very pleasant, at least the ones that I (Jim) tried. The dancers were all quite experienced, in fact I was quite glad that I had sat out one where John started the talk-through with: "This one starts with Inveran reels*, and then you do....". This didn't seem to faze the eight members of the set, and they were such a good-humoured lot that I'm sure my "hold on, I need that explained in more detail!" would have been acceded to quite happily by the group. How John would have reacted, I'm not so sure; his remarks at times were a bit sharp. We were dancing on hotel floors of varying hardness, from glistening marble to springy wood.

The sightseeing days were delightful; we visited Greek, Roman and other sites such as Pergamon, Ephesus, Troy, Hieropolis and Perge. We had just enough time at Gallipoli to visit the small museum; the photographs, many taken by the soldiers themselves, were moving. It was a lovely day and looking down on Anzac Cove, so blue and sparkling and peaceful, it was hard to imagine the horrors of the campaign. The second week we were in Konya (home of the whirling dervishes) and in Cappadocia an absolutely surreal landscape of soft volcanic rock (tufa) where early Christians had gone to avoid persecution and dug large underground cities and churches in the rock. There are a lot of free-standing pillars where people still live. This is an area where St. Paul travelled extensively. Ankara was as far east as we got, and it's more-or-less central in Turkey.

Our fellow travellers were an interesting lot, with diverse expertise. We got on very well, on the whole. Since then, over the year-end holidays, we went to two parties in Toronto at the homes of members of the group. Most of our fellow-travellers were from the US, but there were four or five Canadian members; no Europeans...

The cost of the trip was quite reasonable: about $900 US per capita which covered everything except air fare. When I mentioned to Ken before we went that a couple of our friends here in St. John's would be interested in going, we were gently told that the trip was for those with some previous SCD experience."

*Inveran reel is a figure devised by John Drewry. If you want details please talk to one of our teachers.

Thank you Jim. It must have been a marvellous trip.

CARING & SHARING. We had a Christmas card/photo from Jason and Robin Churchill who send their best wishes to everyone. The photo was such a lovely one we reprint it here for all to see.