WE DID DANCE AGAIN : RSCDS Breton Branch danced in Josselin on Sunday 13th June 2021
As soon as French government rules allowed outside gatherings, the Breton Branch members came together to dance in the beautiful medieval city of Josselin, where - as ever - Branch President Dr Penny Gibbs was a generous host.
Dance teacher Anne MacLennan provided a set of easy dances suitable for beginners with slow feet, and also for advanced dancers using their rusty feet undanced for the past 18 months. Dancing outside on an earth surface with small pebbles, we chose to wear sports shoes instead of ballet pumps or ghillies. This was a good surface for dancing.
The surface in our magnificent, bucolic dance cathedral was fine for our feet: dry dust and not slippery all. Demonstrating Scottish dances at festivals around Brittany, we have often danced on much worse: long grass, uneven tarmac, wooden boards with uneven edges in the middle …. At one Breton Summer Festival where we danced, we were offered an open lorry as a stage: it was very narrow, very high and filled with sound equipment and electric wires for the band that was coming back to play after our dancing. We chose to dance below, on the open ground. None of the festivals compare with the magnificence of our Josselin terrain: this medieval tilt-yard and one-time archery butts in front of Josselin Castle offers a setting as noble as a dance-hall, as majestic as a basilica. We will wait out the Summer, and return to dance here in September.
As the sun moved behind the trees on this blazing June day, so did we. “Take your partners” became an invitation to First Couple to choose the deepest patch of shade, after everyone had sanitized hands between dances, in line with Covid regulations. As one wit observed, “I never could have imagined that my hands would consume more alcohol during 2020 than my mouth.” In this picture, a "Circle to the Left” for couples 1 and 3 shows (left to right) Penny Gibbs (Josselin), Mikaël Morice (Pordic), Pierre-Samuel Gréau (Rennes) and Odile Paraire (Morbihan). Behind them stands Second Lady, who is Françoise Gréau, leader of the Scottish dance group at the Cercle Celtique de Rennes.
Josselin has the advantage that it is central for all our separate Scottish dance groups: Rennes, Port-Louis, Vannes, Plouay, Guingamp, St Quay Perros, St Brieuc …… none of us has to drive more than 90 minutes to reach Josselin, which therefore makes a reasonable outing for a whole day of dancing and friendship. We had a very good time on June 13th, as we always do, and we plan to make this a regular monthly date once the Summer is over and Covid rules are relaxed. If any RSCDS member is traveling to or through Brittany, we encourage you to come and dance with us. Hospitality can be (and will be) provided. This elegant town house in Josselin, built in 1640 and once part of a convent filled with chanting nuns, is more often filled these days with Scottish cheer, French wine and excellent food. A French Bakery sits just out of this picture, and a wine bar lies just behind the photographer. What’s not to like?
