h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

on my second favourite hobby

Scottish country dancing is up near the top of my hobbies. There was nothing correct & serious about the dancing I went to last evening though. We take it seriously enough to try & do the dances properly but we came to a complete standstill several times when half the dancers collapsed in hysterics. Some clubs get too prissy with pointed toes & frilly shirts, I don't think thats the real spirit of Scots dancing.

Oh yes, SCD is about being just good enough to be able to do it without having to get it perfect, about laughing and helping around when someone misses their step or forgets what's next, about including the newbie and helping them around, about enjoying yourself and having a genuine smile on your face, about being in a team of people you may or may not know, not being one person on your own, about inclusion and not exclusion...
it is a gut feeling and when it isn't there then it isn't SCD just a bunch of people being too serious about something that was always meant just to be a let off of spirits

Definitely. Yesterday we practised 5 new moves:-
- Turn round & round on the spot in a daze until claimed by someone.
- 2 handed teapots.
- These went with the 5 handed star move.
- Sprint round the set to get to where you think you should.
- And, much more confusing all round, sprint across the set through all the other dancers to where you ought to be.

have you tried pousettes?
sett in around a square facing and holding someone's hands so that you go bakcwards, turn and go forwards, turn and go backwards and then do a fast 180 degree while another couple are doing the same on the other side
nightmare

Not sucessfully!

my ankles usually die after the 10 minutes practise of them before the actual dance

SCD - had my go at it --- and I love it. In Selkirk we have the Manitoba Highland Gathering on the first Saturday of July each year. Outside on the stage are the Highland Dance competitions, and inside in the pavillion there is entertainment all day. This includes a couple of Scottish Country Dance troups. One of them gets people from the audience up, and its great fun! Like you said, getting confused and in the wrong place, and having an expert straighten you out. I look forward to it every year.

19 year old student. Proud to say there is unlikely to be a SCD or Highland dance I either cant do (once I've remembered!!) or at least have a damn good attempt at! I even used to be ranked for the highland dancing a while back (but we wont say that too loudly..)

All I wanted to say is I'm so jealouus of all you lucky dancers out there, I'm yet to find a similar thing down here (London) which I can attend. Another thing, just enjoy yourself, it doesn't matter if you get it wrong, and the times I've most enjoyed is when we all did get it wrong!!!

I was in London for the last 4 years and I did find a place but the travel home on the tube was not fun so I didn't go often. Do a web saerch - that's how I found the place I went to. Or ask the Royal Country Dance Society - they have a list of all registered clubs and clubs that are too far for you to go may be able to give you a more local contact.

I would ask where you have all this fun if I wasn't sure it must be a long way from Aylesbury where I happen to reside and Scots dancing opportunities are decidedly thin on the ground.

Have you tried the London Highland Club (Friday nights - and others - church hall, Pont Street, Knightsbridge) or Colin Robertson's highland class at Imperial College? Haven't been to either for a few years but assume they are still running.

You should try living in Aylesbury, then you would know what SCD withdrawal really means.

Have you tried the London Highland Club (I think it was Friday nights - and others - at the church hall, Pont Street, Knightsbridge); the RSCDS also have classes (Wednesday at Pont Street I think); how about Colin Robertson's highland classes at Imperial College (used to be Thursdays in the students' union)? Haven't been to either for a few years but assume they are still running.

You should try living in Aylesbury, then you would know what SCD withdrawal really means.

I was AT Imperial - and never heard of Colin R.

I'm am now somewhere where SCD (not highland) happens
though I have so little time for it

sorry... been away...


thanks for the info though Mindy! i will definitely try to track somewhere down when i go back to uni...

Reply to the "have you tried poussettes?"

I have a question for everyone: have you tried flying poussettes? That's when you do a poussette, but on the 6th beat, the man lifts his partner into the air and she "flies" back onto the sidelines. It took me ages not to fall over (I dance as the man), or completely mess up, but once you manage not to trip it's really fun!

... and yet they never let us do it at performances. Hmph.

They sound great - I've never heard of them, never mind seen them.

Ordinary ones are difficult enough, had a go at some just this evening.

They're really fun once you learn them properly -- you should try to find someone to teach you!

What's your favourite step?