I am a dancer deprived of dancing
16 November 2020
I am a dancer deprived of dancing. I am a social dancer. Especially a Scottish Country Dancer.
"I Dance Therefore I Am" is the title of my amusing memoir. Now I am not dancing: so I am not..... !!!!! I am suffering from an existential crisis. [How very French!]
Normally I dance twice every week, sometimes more often: an hour or two where I share the exhilaration of music and movement with friends and fellow-dancers. Janet McCrorie's pictures illustrate so perfectly the joys of dance! This one is called BIRLIN' BLUE ...... turning fast with your partner, in time to the music: fusing movement with motion with music.
We also teach children, of course. EVERY CHILD SHOULD LEARN TO DANCE! You can tell by the way people walk or slouch as they walk down the street, whether or not they are dancers. This is Janet’s BIRLY GIRLY painting. You can purchase her beautiful cards from the RSCDS in Edinburgh.
Dancing is good for the mind and for the spirit. The formations demand mental agility, concentration and focus. Physically, dancing challenges me to improve my balance, keep fit and maintain control of my leg muscles. My whole body has to move in harmony with the music.
We dance to lively jigs, dynamic reels and elegant, smooth and strong strathspeys. Each dance style calls for different skills and speeds, always with perfect poise and muscle control.
I have not been able to dance since early February. Nearly nine months of waiting. Almost as long as a pregnancy.
BUT EVERY WEDNESDAY, the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society (RSCDS in Edinburgh) provides an online ZOOM class where 1500 people from all across the world “meet” online to follow a “surprise teacher” and some fabulous music. We watch our friends sign in and send greetings; and we greet them. We warm up with the teacher’s stretching routine; we practice steps and one or two dances; we tell everyone how much fun we are having; we thank the musicians and teachers; and we try to keep our muscles in trim under the guidance of an expert. Last week the teacher was a Scot from the Borders - and we danced "Blue Bonnets Over the Border," to wonderful music. William Williamson, the teacher, is the newly-elected Chairman of the Society, and he had arranged for the accordionist George Meikle to play in a tent just outside his house, respecting confinement rules in a creative and amusing manner. Such small details keep us entertained, and build up our own determination to beat the virus.
The week before that we enjoyed instruction from Raphaëlle, a young RSCDS female teacher in France. During the past eight months we have had Canadian, American, Italian, Australia, Japanese Scottish dance teachers on the ZOOM call. This is truly a great international friendship society bound by a common passion for music and dance, and the weekly RSCDS dance meeting keeps us going.
Robin Edward Poulton
Secretary of the RSCDS Breton Branch (in France)
https://www.rscds.org/branches-and-groups/breton-branch?language=fr