The Virginia “Reel” News

 

Vol. 56 March 2008

 

 

 

Weekly classes at Richmond Community High School on

Tuesday evenings at 6:45 pm

 Beginners welcome for the 1st 6 weeks in September

DURING BASKETBALL SEASON

PLEASE DO NOT ENTER HALL BEFORE 6:55 PM

 Winter Weather Policy

If for any reason the Richmond schools are closed during the day, we will not be able to use the school in the evening.

                         Please contact 282-5482 for alternate location.

                                           www.scd-richmond.org

Biweekly 1-hour Technique Class at Thistle & Shamrock

Saturdays at 1:30 pm

Call 778-4708 for next class date or check web site calendar

The technique class is for those who would like to improve their footwork and their knowledge of SCD formations.  Please note this is not a social class.  It will focus on steps, foot positions, transitions and all the formations in the RSCDS manual.  Everyone welcome.

Questions?           E-mail: moirajturner@aol.com         phone: 778-4708 / 647-2164

 

                      In class

                           Please check for information papers

 

New Dancers

Welcome, we are delighted to have you.  Please ask Carol for a registration form.  We need a contact number in case of time or venue changes.  Please note: If you are unable to attend class any Tuesday, it is much appreciated if you notify Stella ahead of time.   stellafogg@comcast.net   phone: 282-5482

 

Experienced dancers will be expected to dance most of the dances on the St. Patrick’s Day programme from a briefing.  Your goal should be to limit your need of a cheat book at the dance.

 


March Birthdays

Karen

4

JoAn

20

Stella

23

 

 

 

 

Richmond’s upcoming events:

 

St. Patrick’s Day Dance: Saturday, March 15, 2pm

Musicians:  Liz Donaldson & Mike Dunn

Information on the website. Dance is followed by

“baked potato bar” and “chocolate fountain” party

The 2008 “Silver Thistle Ball” is on June 14. Musicians are: John Turner & Elke Baker on Fiddle and Ralph Gordon on Cello and Bass

        “If you cannot afford to give a ball in good style, you had better not attempt it at all”                                                                                                Richard A. Wells - Decorum      

Ball Programme: The Laird of Milton’s Daughter-Delvine Side-On the Morning Tide-Ian Powrie’s Farewell to Auchterarder-Cape Town Wedding-Flowers of Edinburgh-Napier’s Index-The Silver Thistle Ball-Rest and be Thankful-The Mad Hatter-The Craven Strathspey-8th Battalion the Royal Scots-The Wild Geese-Forget-Me-Knot-John of Bon Accord-The Chequered Court-The Silver Tassie-The Montgomeries’ Rant

Brunch Programme: Joie de Vivre-The Argyll S’spey-The Triumph-The Lady Wynd-The Rose of the North-Australian Ladies-St. Andrew’s Fair-Neidpath Castle-The Edinburgh Castle Reel-MacLeod’s Fancy-Linnea’s Strathspey-J.B. Milne

 

Between dances at a Ball George Meikle, Lothian SCD Band

Before you read this, let me say that our group is exceptional in their sociability and care of newcomers and out-of-town dancers. Other dancers constantly comment on how much fun it is to dance with the Richmond group, no one is left out unless by choice. If you have not experienced “Dance Cards”, they are sometimes given out at dances (and some dancers don’t need them, they just write names beside the dances) so you can sign up your preferred partner for each dance. 

…George is responding to a comment made in reference to dance cards.  He says:

“I much prefer the more friendly SCD method of taking a partner when the music strikes up.”  I wish this were more often the case as I am finding it becoming more common for dancers either not to leave the floor at all, or take to the floor before the dance has either been announced by the MC or the band has had the opportunity to strike up with 8 bars of music to announce it.

As a bandleader I find this habit to be most annoying as it gives the band no time to get the music together. Please, please, please, can dancers stop this habit and consider the musician(s), and other dancers in the hall, before taking to the floor.  It is even more annoying when you find that those that have just taken to the floor early, stand reading their crib sheet swatting up on the dance they have just taken the floor for.  I have even been given dirty looks because I have started to play the actual dance before they have finished reading their crib!  Oh yes, I can assure you this has happened and I have actually had a dancer complain to me verbally that I had not given them enough time to read their crib.  Would it not be easier for everyone, if these dancers were to read their crib during the break between the dances first, and then take to the floor when the dance is announced?

I get the impression, perhaps, wrongly, that certain dancers always want to get as near to the band as possible, to the detriment of other dancers (often less experienced) in the hall, who politely wait for the dance to be announced.  Surely this is a very selfish attitude to take, but if they were to wait until the dance was

announced they would find that they would have to fight with all the rest of the well-mannered dancers who wait for the dance to be announced. How tempting it must be at times for some MCs and (musicians) to consider asking the set at the top to go to the bottom – now that just might be one way to get them out of this habit.

George also notes that this habit is most noticeable in the Central belt of Scotland and particularly at RSCDS Balls, with RSCDS certificated teachers being every bit as guilty as others.  Surely they were taught not to do this when taking their certificate, or have they just conveniently forgotten that bit? After all, is it not supposed to be a social event involving everyone?

The Power of Hands by Rosemary Coupe, RSCDS Vancouver Branch

Newcomers to Scottish Country Dancing may assume that the key to their full enjoyment of dancing lies in its footwork.  Footwork is certainly the most noticeable and impressive element in our dancing, and it sets it apart from other forms of social dance.  And sometimes it may take many years to master the niceties of a precise pas de basque or a strong yet elegant strathspey step.

However, the true key to giving and receiving pleasure in Scottish Country Dancing is literally in our hands.  Hands, not feet, are the points of contact between dancers, and their use makes dancing social.  Fortunately, effective handing can be learned fairly easily.  Rather then demanding exceptional physical aptitude, good handing demands empathy with our fellow dancers and attentiveness to their needs.

In a sense, hands and arms actually control the movement of our feet.  When we turn our partner, the angle of the arms will set the distance the feet must travel.  Also, the steadiness of the arms can make the turn either smoothly circular or choppily elliptical.  But careful interaction is needed; in a tight turn, both partners must give the same degree of tension in the arms so that both can benefit from their partner’s help.  Feeling that tension through the hands and returning it is a mutually satisfying way of attending to one another’s needs.

Hands also guide and lead.  In dancing down the middle and up, danced in promenade hold, and Allemande hold, we think of one partner leading and the other being led.  Once again thought, partners should be equally attentive to one another.  The partner who leads must put himself mentally in his partner’s place.  In formations such as the allemande, the “following” dancer has a longer track to dance, and gentle guidance is needed rather then hauling.  Similarly, the dancer who follows the lead should respond to the gentle pressure of the hands.

In turning formations, partners are meeting as equals.  The shaking-hands hold is an excellent way of ensuring an even balance between them.  Once hands or wrists are twisted, a forcing of one partner by the other replaces that mutual interaction.  In two-handed turn, of course, one dancer gives hands with palms upwards and the other one with palms downwards, but the gentle steady upwards pressure from one side should be met with similar downwards pressure from the other.

The same attentiveness should occur when hands are given to two or more other dancers.  Advancing in lines of three, for example, becomes dynamic and exciting when the centre dancer purposefully gives hands to the other two and all advance in unison.  The shape of double triangles is made visible by hands and arms, and attentive corners enable the dancing couple to stay back to back.  Hands, then, help to create the figures we dance - the feet simply follow the path set by the hands and

 

arms. But more important, the careful and considerate use of hands helps us make dancing more enjoyable for others, and thence for ourselves.

 

Dancing Dynasty  The RSCDS Teachers are part of a dynasty of Dancing Masters which goes back well over 200 years in Scotland.  One of the earlier such is John Lowe, a Brechin dancing teacher.  He was the first in the 1790s of a long and prolific line of professional teachers of dancing who taught in many Scottish towns and cities throughout the 19th century and into the 20th.  He was the father of two well-known teachers of dancing – Joseph Lowe (died 1866) who taught in Edinburgh and Inverness, and Robert Lowe (died c. 1852) who taught in Glasgow, Montrose, Brechin and Forfar.  The last known direct descendant of John Lowe is Mrs. Eva Farnington Pearson, a teacher of dancing in Edinburgh, who died in 1971.  Her parents were also Edinburgh dance teachers – George William Lowe (died 1909) and Isabella Taylor Lowe (died 1954).

 

Our Dances            The Duchess Tree

The Duchess tree was a lime tree in the grounds of Gordon Castle at Fochabers.  It spread to vast proportions.  The 100th (highland) Regiment of Foot was raised in 1749 by the Duke of Gordon and legend has it that the Duchess of Gordon, who was young and attractive, offered a kiss to any man who enlisted in the regiment.  The legend further has it that one enlistee, after receiving said kiss, threw his enlistment shilling to a crowd, to show that it was the Duchess’s kiss he really valued.  The video for the 1994 Edinburgh Military Tattoo shows a re-enactment of this tale.   The Duchess of Gordon was an avid dancer, and a good friend of Robert Burns during his stays in Edinburgh. In 1881, the regiment was re-named “The Gordon Highlanders,” under which name they served until 1994, when they were amalgamated with The Queen’s Own Highlanders to become the “Highlanders.  The Gordons are one of the most storied regiments in the British army, having fought under Wellington in the Peninsula and at Waterloo, then serving in India, The Crimea, Scotland, Ireland, Afghanistan, the Boer War and World War 1.

In World War II the 1st battalion Gordon Highlanders were part of the famous 51st Highland Division, which covered the British Expeditionary Force retreat to Dunkirk until being captured at St. Valery in 1940.

All told, the Gordon Highlanders were one of the great infantry regiments in military history, all sprung (so we are told) from the kiss of a young and lively Duchess.

 

Figure in the Duchess Tree:     Allemande for two couples

Steps:          8 travelling steps

No of bars:   8

Bar:

1      Starting from the middle of the set, both couples dance a step diagonally to the right

2      1st man wheels round bringing his partner beside him to face the man’s side 2nd couple

         follow

3      1st couple dance a step across to the man’s side and face down. 2nd couple follow

4      1st couple dance a long step down the dance. 2nd couple follow into line of dance, also

        facing down

5      Each man brings his partner round into a line facing the women’s side of the dance

 

Bar:

6      Both couples dance into the middle, each man bringing hi partner round under her right

        arm to face him

7      Releasing hands, both couples dance one step backward with the right foot

8      Both couples dance one step backward with the left foot to finish on own side

 

 

Scottish Wills Online
A new Scottish Web site has been created by the Scottish Archive Network which offers free access to a fully searchable index of over 520,000 Scottish wills and testaments dating from 1500 to 1901. This is a fantastic resource for genealogists and historians. While the newspaper reports on the site majored on the wills of famous people like Rob Roy MacGregor and Robert Louis Stevenson, it will be the wills of our own ancestors which will be of greatest interest to most people of Scots descent. Of course, it has to be borne in mind that only those with sufficient property thought it worthwhile to make a last will and testament in earlier centuries. Visitors
to the site can purchase high quality colour digital images of related documents for only £5 each (around $10 US).

 

Tartan Day  on April 5th Saturday from noon until 4:30 to 5 PM tear down time, we will be celebrating National Tartan Day with our Festival on Market Square in Olde Towne,  Alexandria.   The alcove under City Hall will be the staging areas for dancers and musicians. April 5th is the biggest traditional weekend celebration of cherry blossom and there will be large crowds in Olde Towne.  Plus, There are numerous other events happening in and around the Richmond to Philadelphia area during that week.  Expected events will be Scottish Country Dancing, bagpipes and celtic music (old and modern interpretations). There should be plenty of vendors, Clans, and Societies. There may even be Scot's whiskey flavoured ice cream.
Please contact me with any questions
Bob Cameron, Clan Cameron, Chair for NTD Committee
Festival on Market Square, Olde Towne, Alexandria, VA
April 5, 2008    202-321-7718   rbcthescot@yahoo.com

 

 

Do You Need?

 

For Sale –   1 pair new blue pumps size 6 (UK)

                    2 pair new black pumps size 6

                    1 pair new black pumps size 7 (UK)  

                    1 pair gently used black pumps size 8 (UK)

                    1 pair PINK lady’s split sole pumps size 7B

                    1 pair gently used black ghillies size 6 (UK)

                    1 pair gently used black ghillies - size 9½ (may be a bit stretched)

                           see Peg Rawson

                    1 pair Black men's ghillies size 12

                    If interested call Martha Ryan at 355-1921

                                                            

 N.B.    Shoe size is about 1 to 1½ sizes smaller than US street shoe size.

                                                  see Stella             

 

 

 

 

Tapes and LPs The group owns many tapes and LP’s of Scottish Country Dance Music.  Since most of our dances have been recorded on CD’s and they are the most practical method for teaching, we would like to sell some of these items at a very reasonable cost.  Please see Stella if you are interested.

 

 

What Does A Scotsman Wear Under His Kilt?  -  SOCKS!

 

The Cadadh!  The original hose worn with the kilt were cadadh.  These were stockings made from tartan cloth -  often times a different tartan from the kilt – cut and sewn on the bias giving the tartan a diagonal appearance.  The earliest portrait found depicting the cadadh is from the first decade of the seventeenth century.  Since the earliest form of kilt, the feileadh-mhor, can only be documented to 1594, it is safe to say that the cadadh have been worn for nearly as long as the kilt itself.  Knit goods were produced in Scotland at this time, but knit hose were not worn with the kilt until the middle of the nineteenth century.

 

Did you know that........?  Sgian Dubhs *  are worn in the top of the sock and, contrary to their appearance, are not weapons, but utensils used for skinning animals and removing scales from fish.  While it is acceptable to be in possession of a Sgian Dubh in the House of Commons, bagpipes are refused entry as they are classed a weapon of war.

* translation from the Gaelic: black knife.  During the Middle Ages and even later, your host allowed it to be taken indoors as it also served as your eating utensil.

 

                        Scottish Humour

Demon Whisky

A temperance crusader was standing outside of a bar in Glasgow's Gallowgate, trying to persuade people not to go in. He stopped Wee Willie (who had just staggered down the road a short distance from another pub) and shoved a pamphlet in his hand, saying, "Satan is in there". Wee Willie very carefully looked the temperance crusader up and down and then said, "He'll have to buy his own drink."

 

Don't Wear That
Wee Morag was watching her parents getting dressed for the annual office dinner/dance and she watched as her father put on his black bow tie and evening suit. She looked up and said sadly "Daddy, you shouldn't wear that suit and tie." Her father looked surprised and asked why not. Wee Morag, wise beyond her years, replied "You know it always gives you a headache the next morning."

 

                        Scottish Humour – (cont.)

Grieving widow

A fairly young woman's husband died and left his wife everything he had, £20,000.
After everything is done at the funeral home and cemetery, she tells her closest friend that there is none of the £20,000 left.
"What!” says the friend,  "How could you possibly spend £20,000 on the funeral ?"
The widow replies,  "Well, the funeral cost me £2,500.  And of course I made a donation to the church. That was another £500, and I spent another £500 in all for the wake, food and drinks, you know.   The rest went for the memorial stone."
 Memorial Stone ??!!" says the friend,  "How can you possibly spend
£16,500 on a Memorial Stone?  Good grief!," she says, "£16,500 for a Memorial
Stone; it must be enormous, how big is it ??"
The widow says, "Three carats at least."