September 1997 Newsletter

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Social dancing continued throughout the summer at St. David's, with an average of fourteen attending. Thanks go to those members who dealt with the music and talked through dances, also to those who brought along delicious snacks.

Noreen MacLennan will continue to teach English country dancing, starting on September 10 at 8 p.m. at St. David's Church on Elizabeth Avenue. The cost is $2 per person on a pay-as-you-go basis. This is low impact dancing and not too hard on the joints. You are invited to attend a couple of sessions to see how you like it. If you do, then you will be asked to pay one additional $5 commitment fee for the semester. Rent has to be paid on the facility. For further information please contact Frankie or Phil Hanley at 745-2526 or Jo or Bruce Shawyer at 739-5717.

The Demonstration Team was asked to dance on a number of occasions thoughout the summer, starting in June at the Shriner's Club when they danced for the City of St. John's Seniors' Resource Centre. When the Matthew was in port, they danced on stage at the waterfront as part of a Scottish hour, along with Corryvreckan and the St. John's Pipe Band. The weekend of August 9, the Brigus Blueberry Festival was held, and also the Brimstone Head Folk Festival at Fogo. We had two demo. teams busy that weekend, Fogo being a weekend trip. Recently, they again danced for the Seniors' Resource Centre, this time at Mary Queen of Peace Parish Hall.

At the end of April three of our members took the preliminary exam with a view to becoming Scottish country dance teachers in the future. At the same time, Brenda Porter and her dance partner, Sharon Brannon, came from Nova Scotia in order for Brenda to take the exam for her full teacher's certificate.

It was a nerve-racking time for all the candidates and a big vote of thanks is due to Bill Scott and all the faithful volunteers who were "stooges" for Brenda and our candidates. A lot of time was given during the preceding weeks as well as the weekend of the exam.

Penny Gillies obtained her certificate, as did Brenda, and we congratulate them both.

Enclosed you will find an essay written by Bruce Shawyer on what is involved in playing music for Scottish country dancing. You will notice that a great deal of work goes into the preparation for our socials etc. and we really do appreciate the effort that Corryvreckan put into making our socials a success. At this point we should also mention that putting together the programmes for these socials is also time consuming and we thank those members who volunteer to do this.

Dancing at Fogo - Sunday August 10.

Well, we didn't fall off the edge of the earth when we climbed Brimstone Head on Fogo Island! It may come as a surprise to some of you, to learn that some researchers of the Flat Earth Society consider Brimstone Head to be one of the five* corners of the earth. All I know is, that sitting on top of the hill on a warm summer evening watching the sun go down, makes this one of the most peaceful and beautiful places on earth - flat or otherwise.

The stage at Brimstone Head is a permanent structure. The audience sits on rocks that surround the area, or dances on a platform erected for the purpose. (Joyce made good use of this!)

Our hosts were kind and generous. Food and drink were always on hand, the doors never locked.

A lovely place, lovely people and a lovely weekend. Thank-you Ann for not giving up on the idea of this trip to Fogo, and for all the arrangements it entailed. Thank-you Martin for working with a three couple set. Thank-you Brenda for dancing with a sprained ankle. Thank-you Robert, Phil and Joyce for driving us on such a long journey and, finally, thank-you to Frankie for supporting us and making sure Martin used his sun-screen!

Thanks, Karen.

Pinewoods Camp is located just outside Plymouth Massachusetts, between two lovely lakes, Long Pond and Round Pond. It is a true, rustic summer camp operated as a non-profit corporation with facilities rented to groups sponsoring traditional dance and music programs. Scottish Sessions are sponsored by the Boston Branch of the RSCDS. Session 1 began on Friday, July 11 and ended on Monday morning, July 14; Session 2 commenced on Monday afternoon and finished on Saturday, July 19.

Anne and I attended Session 1 during our driving vacation through the Eastern US and Canada and we thoroughly enjoyed the experience. We arrived not knowing what to expect (encouragement from Martin and Noreen notwithstanding), but very quickly realized that there were many others in our category. The meeting and greeting began at the gate; upon noticing the Newfoundland licence plate, the greeters (the co-chairs, Lance Ramshaw and Gail Wine) immediately remarked "Oh, you must be Martin's friends. Welcome to Pinewoods." Then, within 30 seconds of each other, Elaine Brunken and Ron Wallace observed the car and met us with exactly the same works. Having Martin Mulligan's acquaintance seems to go a great distance when entering discussion circles involving Scottish country dancers. We were assigned Cottey House and shared it with a Montreal couple, Michael and Jane McCusker. The weather was perfect - it had rained during the week before, and the humidity was not excessive.

The teaching staff was marvelous and included Elaine Brunken, Bob Grant, Ron Wallace and David Tague; others giving classes but not identified in the program included Mel and Elie Briscoe, and Roberta Lasnik. A great part of my wish to attend Pinewoods was to encounter the great musicians in attendance; included were: fiddlers Elke Baker, Earl Gaddis, Anne Hooper and, unexpectedly, Susan Worland; piper Dan Emery; cellist Beverly Rodda; pianist Beth Murray. There were dances every evening and parties after the dances (I have the dance programs if anyone is interested). After a 20 minute warm-up a variety of classes were scheduled in two morning and two afternoon sessions on Saturday and Sunday. While I had felt aching feet and tendons at the end of the first day, by the end of the Session all soreness had disappeared.

I have a list of attendees, many who send their regards to the Branch, and especially to Martin, Bill and Sue, Noreen, Brenda, and Jim and Robin Orr.

We would recommend Pinewoods to any Branch member if the opportunity presented itself. We had a most enjoyable three days, and were sorry to leave. Next time we plan to stay the week.

Thank you Robert

Fri. Nov. 14 Get-together party - Penny & Stewart Gillies, 8.30 p.m. 30 Ridge Rd. BYOB and nibbles

Sat. Nov. 15 Vanier School Classes: 9:30 - 10:45; 11:15 - 12:30; 2:15 - 3:30 Social: 8 p.m.

Sun. Nov. 16 Brunch - Brenda Burness, Tolt Rd., St. Philip's 10:30 a.m.

Fee for the whole weekend is $30 per person.

If people are only able to attend one or two events, the breakdown of fees is: class $15, social $10, brunch $5. If there is enough response from beginners, there will be a class on the Friday evening before the get-together party.

FEES are $55 for the fall session which is the combined annual subscription fee and branch dues of $15 and $5 respectively and the $35 class fee for the fall, until December. Fees are accepted now and up to the end of October, giving potential new members time to decide if they want to join. The treasurer is Derek DeLouche and cheques should be made out to The St. John's (Nfld) Branch R.S.C.D.S.

If anyone has a problem with the fee structure, please see Derek or your teacher since we do not want to exclude anyone from dancing due to financial difficulties.

In order for someone to participate in a regular activity of the branch, the minimum requirement would be membership fees, which include subscription and branch dues.

Thursday techniques class is still $3 per night and is on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Opinion is still divided on this issue. Conventional wisdom places the five corners at the following locations:

Corner 1: the northernmost extent of Lake Mikhayl in Tunguska, Siberia.

Corner 2: Greenland or Iceland (Ultima Thule); though some researchers place it at Brimstone Head, on Fogo Island, Newfoundland, Canada.

Corner 3: Easter Island.

Corner 4: Uncertain; possibly Hokkaido (Japan), Lhasa (Nepal), or a desolate location in Outer Mongolia.

Corner 5: Somewhere near the south of Tasmania or New Zealand, though some researchers have suggested somewhere the vicinity of the South Pacific island of Ponape.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT - 1997-98

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