RSCDS Breton Branch
I am a life member of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society (RSCDS), one of the world’s great international friendship organisations. Twenty thousand people dance Scottish across the world, although most of them are not paid-up members of the RSCDS. Japan alone has eighty Scottish Dance Clubs; UK, America, Canada, Australia…. have thousands! In the San Francisco Bay Area you can dance seven times per week with different groups. Even in Brittany, in NW France where I am writing from, there are French people dancing Scottish somewhere on most nights of the week.
Which is why we decided to create an RSCDS Breton Branch. Individual groups are invisible; an official Branch makes us all stronger and easier to find.
Créer une Branche de la RSCDS rend plus visible la danse ecossaise en Bretagne, ce qui devra renforcer tous les groups – qui garderont leur autonomie évidemment.
The idea arose in August 2018 when we were a dozen Bretons dancing at the RSCDS Summer School is St Andrews, Scotland. So we have created the Branch – at precisely the moment when no one can dance !!!! We have 27 Founder Members of whom 21 are new RSCDS members. Mind you, if none of us can dance all year, these new members may not remain RSCDS enthusiasts !!!!!
And we have an artistic Branch LOGO using local materials and the national flag:
Do check out our new pictures for the RSCDS Breton Branch: on the website of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society.
La page RSCDS Breton Branch est à jour et je vous invite à lui rendre visite. https://www.rscds.org/branches-and-groups/breton-branch
As well as dancing in our local groups, RSCDS Branch members meet regularly (like quarterly, or every 6 weeks, or …. with COVID not for the past nine months….) in the beautiful medieval city of Josselin, where our Branch President Penny Gibbs lives in a 17th century convent. No, it is not a convent now: it has become an elegant town house with space for Penny’s generous hospitality. We usually dance in one of the sports halls.
Central Brittany: le château de Josselin dans le centre de la Bretagne where we dance
Josselin is about one hour from most places where dancers live, and no one has to drive more than two hours to get there. We bring a picnic, and dance at a higher level than any of the individual groups can achieve, because we are all experienced dancers. Sometimes we teach a group of Josselin kids during the day, or visit an Elders’ group to demonstrate dancing. And every year we are available to provide dance ‘animations’ or even ‘demonstrations’ for specific activities like the Josselin British Week, or Europe Day in Lannion or Combourg.
DANCING – now or later
COVID has led to lots of new no-hands dances being created. You can find some on the internet, and many are witty. Of the various dances created for lock-down, the RSCDS Breton Branch Prize is awarded to Raphaëlle Orgeret and her team of Lyon dancers for THE TOILET ROLL REEL:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=165409294534676
Her prize of one toilet roll – signed by me – was mailed in November 2020.
Le PRIX d’Excellence pour la meilleure danse COVID est accordé à Raphaëlle Orgeret. Elle a reçu sa trophée qui a la forme et consistence d’un rouleau de PQ. Voir son génie et son humour au lien….
You can dance The Toilet Reel with any number of dancers, or you can dance alone with seven toilet rolls. Or with a partner: but since the Toilet Roll Reel ends with a poussette, if you dance it nose-to-nose with a partner (s)he must be a part of your “confinement bubble” - new vocabulary that we have all had to learn. Sigh!
I have known Raphaëlle since she was 12 years old, and I used to travel from Geneva to dance with her mother Christiane and the RSCDS Lyon Branch of which Raphaëlle is now the President. Je la connaissais dèjà à l’âge de 12 ans quand je dansais à Lyon.
Raphaëlle came to Brittany as the teacher for our last Ball at the end of June. The Annual Ball is organized by the Scots Bonnet dance group is St Quay Perros. We often receive international visitors and you are all welcome, dear readers. 2020 was to have been the 30th anniversary of Scots Bonnet (or which I am currently vice-president). Since we have lost a year to COVID, we will have to celebrate it next year.
VENEZ TOUS danser au Bal annuel des Scots Bonnet à St Quay Perros: fin juin.
Otherwise folks, if you are re-starting dancing in your groups, please avoid the poussette and other face-to-face movements, and try not to touch hands. A circle without hands is a great exercise to improve your technique.
J’ai terminé enfin ma pièce de réserve d’urgence.
A deep observation attributed to the legendary American "60 Minutes" commentator Andy Rooney (who probably never said it):
"Life is like a roll of toilet paper.
The closer to the end you get, the faster it goes."
La vie ressemble à un rouleau de papier: plus on se rapproche de la fin, plus vite elle finit.