Dear All,
To continuing dancers - Welcome back! And for those who are new - we're so glad you have joined us!
I hope you have all had a healthful, happy and productive summer. It sure has flown by! Many members enjoyed dancing throughout the summer, especially on fine summer evenings at Quidi Vidi Lake, with the water lapping and sun sinking in the sky. As a result, we were asked to dance at the Regatta, but due to inclement weather, we weren't able. Perhaps we can pursue this for next year.
We have a fun evening of ceilidh dancing scheduled for September 16. I hope you can make it. Feel free to bring friends and family members. The more the merrier! Socials have also been scheduled, so mark them on your calendars.
If, during the year, you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me or another member of the Executive. We plan to have a great year of dancing!
On Friday, September 16, we are having a ceilidh at the Masonic Hall downtown, to get the juices flowing, and to attract new dancers. Noreen MacLennan will have prepared a selection of easy Scottish, contra, and English country dances, so even beginners will enjoy it. We hope that members of the English country dancing group will also attend. Please come along at 8:00 p.m., and spread the word among friends and colleagues who might want to give it a try. There will be a small charge of $5 to cover the cost of the hall and light snacks, and there is also a bar for refreshments during the evening.
You will be happy to hear that, unlike gasoline prices, our membership fees are not increasing this year!
The Fall session, 12 September - 12 December (14 weeks) costs $60, and is payable by cheque or cash to our treasurer, Denise Sharpe, at the first opportunity. Cheques should be made payable to "R.S.C.D.S. St. John's Branch." The Winter session, 9 January - 15 May (18 weeks excluding Easter Monday) will also cost $60.
These fees include a contribution to cover the cost of full membership in the parent organization for our Management Committee members, which is required to maintain our status. Anyone who wishes to be a full member of the R.S.C.D.S. should inform Denise and pay an extra $25 for the year.
There will also be drop-in fees of $5 a night for anyone wishing to add a Thursday or Monday night to their schedule, or who cannot make a full session. We want to encourage you to come out and dance! For insurance purposes, we need to keep a list of attendees, and ask you to sign in or tick off your name at each class. Please make sure the secretary has your name and full contact details.
Can you unravel these scrambled dances, all of which we have danced in the past year? (Initial article "The" not included.)
Answers at bottom of page.
". . . My wife and I teach Scottish country dancing. A tame and house-trained red- collared lorikeet used to come in when it heard us selecting or editing music for class, sit on a shoulder or arm, and bounce up and down in time to the music with obvious pleasure and excitement. And in the grounds of the hall we use for dance classes there lives a large frill-necked lizard, which frequently abandons its trees or bush and comes right up to the door to sit upright looking in at the dancers and listening for hours. It is the driving reels and jigs that attract both, rather than the slow strathspeys."
Many venues, such as Vanier School, now insist that groups using their facilities have insurance to cover injuries and damage. We now have coverage through the CSCDA (Canadian Scottish Country Dance Association,) which for the insurance year 2005 has 28 member groups with more than 2700 persons insured under the policy. CSCDA have sent us advice and guidelines for preventing and reporting accidents, some of which we should all be aware of.
They recommend that groups have members sign waivers when they join. An example would read:- "I understand that participation in Scottish Dancing demands a reasonable level of physical fitness, and that if I undertake any activity beyond my personal capability, I will not hold the [ member group] responsible for any resulting injuries."
While sprung floors are almost a thing of the past, most member groups are generally careful, wherever possible, to avoid the use of floors that are either slippery, too sticky or too hard. As dancers know, any floor with another floor or basement below is usually more comfortable to dance on than one without. Buildings with steel frame construction usually have more �give� than those of reinforced concrete construction although unfortunately the latter now tend to prevail in newer buildings.
Good warm-ups before dancing are always important.
When needed, dancers can use moisture from wet towels or �Stop� on the bottom of their shoes to reduce the chance of slipping. �Stop� can also be sprinkled onto a boot tray in the corner and made available to all who may require it. This avoids the need to sprinkle it all around the floor. Gillies with �non-skid� soles can also be purchased from footwear manufacturers such as St. Andrew's Shoemakers.
As noted from a recent article in the newsletter of one member group, dancers can also help in the following ways. Good dancing habits go a long way toward preventing injuries. It is suggested that you make the following an automatic part of your dancing: (original source unknown)
Dance with relaxed muscles
Dance with good posture
Keep your centre of mass over your feet, especially when turning or circling.
Use good handing.
Don't assumethat you will get good handing from others every time -be prepared to "dance on your own feet."
Always dance with "soft" arches and knees. Use your arches and leg
muscles to land gently and absorb impact - especially for pas-de-basque.
Turn out from the hip, not from the knee.
Be watchful - develop "eyes in the back of your head."
Don't dance if you know you are tired.
From an insurance point of view it is important that a careful and complete record be made describing any accident that resulted in personal injury and that might give rise to a claim against the policy. In the language of the insurance policy such an event that might result in a claim against the policy is called an occurrence.
All executive members, conveners and teachers in each CSCDA member group should be aware of the procedure to be followed in case it is needed.
In summary, the information recorded should include:
a - What, where, when and how the occurrence took place;
b - A description of any injuries and
c - The names and addresses of any injured persons and also those of witnesses.
In addition, for example:
The above list of headings for the description of an accident is general and probably sufficient. Notes and a brief description should be made as quickly as possible at the time as descriptions made later can begin to vary. In addition, the use of a special form is recommended. This helps to ensure that a record is prepared and retained.
Lydia Hedge informs us that Halifax RSCDS is hosting a Teachers' Workshop this Thanksgiving weekend, with Linda Gaul from Pitlochry, who is a wonderful teacher and has served on many of the RSCDS committees, culminating in two years as Chairman. She is currently director of Summer School. She is conducting a teachers' workshop on Saturday, October 8, but a general SCD class on Sunday October 9. If you are planning to be in Halifax that weekend, why not check out the website for further details and a registration form.
Summer dancing began as usual in mid-June at St. David's church, but then the executive came up with a bright idea � why not dance outside one evening and attract some new recruits? The first experiment took place in Bannerman Park on July 11, with ten dancers.
Although it was fun, there were hardly any spectators, so the venue was changed to Quidi Vidi. With all the strollers and dog-walkers out around the Lake, we had plenty of on-lookers, and handed out some leaflets. We have been exceptionally lucky with the weather - all Monday evenings are destined to have clear skies, or at least be dry!
Our big opportunity came on the Monday before Regatta Day. We were dancing on the wooden dock in front of the brick marquee, and we were spotted by the Chair of the Regatta Committee. She was really enthusiastic about having us come and dance on the Big Day, during the supper break before the championship races, and most of us agreed to give it a go. Alas! That Wednesday evening was the only wet one of the week, and we did not want to risk the slippery boards. We are hoping to have better luck next summer, and maybe make it on to TV!
Unfortunately we had to move back to St. David's on our final Monday, as it was very grey and cool at lakeside. We were joined there by two visitors from Ontario, and finished the summer on a lively note.
The RSCDS runs a four-week summer school every year in St. Andrews, Scotland. The school is divided into two two-week sessions and participants come for one or both weeks of a session. Most choose the one-week option, which is probably the best - one week leaves you tired but wanting more, the right time to leave a place.
I decided to attend the first (slightly shorter) week this summer. I flew to Edinburgh and then took the train and bus to St. Andrews. The summer school is based in University Hall, which is where most participants stay and where the school office and shop are located. The classes are spread around town in various churches, halls and university buildings. We were very lucky as the weather was perfect. It was sunny but not too warm during the day and the evenings were cool. Some years, dancers freeze or drown trying to get to class.
There seem to be two goals - dance as much as you can and eat as much as you can. Regular members take two classes in the morning before lunch. After lunch there are optional classes in Ladies' Step dancing, Highland dancing, Quadrilles or practices of that evening's dances. Every evening there is dancing at University Hall or, on Thursdays and Saturdays, at Younger Hall, which is a concert venue in St. Andrews with an amazing dance floor. The meals were the big surprise for me. I went to the summer school many years ago when the food was still the standard institutional variety: adequate but not inspiring. Since then the RSCDS spoke harshly to the catering staff at University Hall, suggesting that it be improved � members of the summer school were adults on their summer holiday not students. The food has improved. Enormously.
Although the idea of a week long workshop sounds scary, it really is not. Everyone is very friendly and keen to be dancing. I had a wonderful time. My classmates were all superb dancers. The classes were challenging without making me feel hopelessly out of it (although why we had to learn a four-bar poussette still confounds me as this happened the last time too - it went better this time but it still looked awful; I am told that it is not a compulsory part of the summer school experience). But it is not just for experienced dancers. I was amazed at how many beginners had come for the week. Many members come from all over the world � Norway, France, Germany, Japan, South Africa and New Zealand. Several of the youngest dancers were from France and other parts of Europe � and they are really good.
And then there is the music. Musicians (real live ones) play for every class, and the RSCDS is encouraging musicians to try their hand at playing for dancers by running courses for musicians at the summer school.
Is it worth going? Absolutely. A completely worry-free holiday that is good value for your money, a great dancing experience and a wonderful way to meet other dancers and to realize how global Scottish country dancing is. Just ignore the blisters and pack the aspirin.
Deadline for the next newsletter is October 31, 2005. Please send me any interesting events, announcements, recipes, anecdotes, jokes, poems or riddles to share with us all.
1. Wild Geese; 2. Round Reel of Eight; 3. Silver Tassie; 4. Australian Ladies; 5. Barley Bree; 6. Highland Fair; 7. Maxwell's Rant; 8. Irish Rover; 9. Rakes of Glasgow; 10. Byron Strathspey.