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

Had my first time dancing with the Scottish demo team this afternoon!

Now, I'm no stranger to performing, but I've only been doing Scottish dancing for 3 years, so to be asked to join the demo team so quickly is a great honour. I was more thrilled when I got to see the beautiful white dress I get to wear, and even more so when I learned that it used to belong to Jean, our venerable 80 year old instructor.

At ceilis and balls, dances ore frequently walked through before hand, or called as we dance, so it's fresh in your mind when you dance. Not so for this one - we were expected to know all the dances and perform them without prompting. Now, the other 7 dancers were all old hands, and nobody wants a set to go wrong and fall apart, so they kept me right by hissing "Half diagonal Reels!" or "Set and petronella!" as required.

I wasn't perfect - but then, there were a few wee mistakes from the others too. And nothing totally collapsed, we worked out where we were supposed to be, and got there, still smiling.

Sounds fun. So no 'River-Strathspey'?

A couple of the dances were indeed strathspeys. I quite like them, as they're slow enough to work out what you're doing. We finished with 2 very fast reels - Mairi's Wedding, and The Irish Rover. The music is familiar to the audience, and usually guaranteed to get them clapping and cheering. I don't really like the Irish Rover, and usually sit it out at balls, but I'm going to have to make myself do it and get more familiar.

'Mairi's Wedding' is a pretty tune.

well done that person