St Andrew's Scottish Country Dancing

[Chas]

My Scottish Country Dancing Club meets on a Wednesday and as last Wednesday was St Andrew's Day it was decided that we would have a tartan night.

I normally wear a kilt and some of the ladies wear tartan skirts. Some of us arrived early and dressed the hall.





Ella, our torturer, I mean instructor for the night, preparing the music.



Food and drink for later.



Everybody gearing up for the fray.



And then we were off.







More to come.

Regards

Chas

[Chas]

A short break in the dancing.



And pretty soon we were on the last dance of the night.



We settled down to a supper of Scottish cheeses, pickles, oatey biscuits and something delicious called a Border Tart.







Now the eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that there are no pictures of me. This is because I gave my second camera to another member with the instruction "Take pictures". At the end of the night, when I retrieved it and found that no picture were taken. "Sorry, I got distracted." Oh, well.

So I had to remedy that. This is how I started the night.



And after the first dance.



And finally how I spent the rest of the night.



That's all.

Regards

Chas

[Panache]

Thanks for the photos Chas!

It is always a pleasure to see other SCD classes in action. I envy that your temperatures are cool enough that all the gentlemen can dance with a tie.

Care to share any of your evenings program?

Cheers

Jamie

[McMurdo]

Great set of photos Chas it looks like a wonderful night. It really is nice to see other SCD groups around the globe. Thanks for posting them.

[KiltedDixon]

Thanks for pics. I really want to try SCD.

[cessna152towser]

Super pics Chas, looks like a thriving SCD group, and its good to see a few of the other chaps wearing kilts.

[Chas]

Hi Jamie,

Sorry this has taken so long, but I had to go back to Ella (our instructor) for the night, as I could not remember.

We usually do seven or eight dances in a two hour session, but because last Wednesday was a bit of a celebration we only had six.

CHERRYBANK GARDENS (S3x32) 3C set J Drewry Bankhead Bk 1
1- 8 1s+2s set & Petronella-in-tandem twice to end with 2s+1s on opposite sides having changed places
9-16 2s+1s set & 2s cross RH & 1s LH, 1L dances RH across with 2s & 1M with 3s
17-24 1s+3s Set+Link & circle 4H round to left
25-32 2s+3s+1s dance Grand Chain (2s crossing to commence)

EH3 7AF (J8x32) 3C (4C set) R Goldring RSCDS Bk 40
1- 8 1s lead down the middle & back to top
9-16 1s+2s+3s Promenade ending with 1s casting to 2nd place
17-24 1s pass by the right & turn 1st corners RH to end L between 2s & M between 3s, 1s pass by the right & turn 2nd corners RH to end between crnrs
25-32 1M dances RH across with 2s & 1L with 3s, 1L dances up between 2s & casts to 2nd place own side as 1M dances between 3s & casts up

GLASGOW FLOURISH (S8x32) 3C (4C set) RSCDS Bk 11
1- 8 1s+2s dance RH across & LH across back to places
9-16 1s+2s+3s dance RH across & LH back to places
17-24 1s lead down the middle & back to 2nd place
25-32 2s followed by 1s+3s lead down the middle & cast back to places

THE ROYAL DEESIDE RAILWAY (R8x32) 3C (4C set) R Arrowsmith RSCDS Bk 40
1- 8 1s cross down (no hands) below 3s, cast up 1 place opposite sides & dance in to face 2L, 1s+2L dance RH across
9-16 1s+2M dance LH across & end 1L (with partner behind her) in centre facing up, 1s dance up & cast 1 place on own sides & face 3M
17-24 1s+3M dance RH across, 1s+3L dance LH across & end 1L (with partner behind her) in centre facing down
25-32 1s dance down below 3s & cast up on own sides to 2nd place, 2s+1s+3s turn RH

ST ANDREW'S FAIR (J8x32) 3C (4C set) R Goldring 5 SCDs
1- 8 1s cross RH, cast 2 places, cross LH below 3s & cast up to 2nd place own sides
9-16 2s+1s+3s ½ turn RH retain hands & all set (M face down & L up) 2L leads Ladies across & down own side while 3M leads Men across & up
17-24 3s+1s+2s circle 6H round & back
25-32 3s+1s+2s ½ turn LH retain hands & all set (M face up & L down) 2L leads Ladies across & up own side while 3M leads Men across & down

MISS JOHNSTONE OF ARDROSSAN (R5x32) 5C set R Goldring 14 Social Dances
1- 8 1s set & cast 1 place, 1s followed by 3s dance up & cast - 1s to 3rd place & 3s to 2nd place
9-16 1s cross down & dance reflection reels of 3 with 4s+5s on opposite sides - 1s end in 3rd place opposite sides
17-24 1s cross up & dance reflection reels of 3 on own sides with 2s+3s - 1s ending in 3rd place own sides
25-32 1s set & cast down 1 place, 1s followed by 5s dance up between 4s & cast - 1s to 5th place & 5s to 4th place

The only one we had danced before in this term was EH3 7AF, which is the Post Code of the RSCDS in Edinburgh.

Regards

Chas

[creagdhubh]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing, Chas! Wish I could be there - dancing with everyone!

Cheers,

[Panache]

Chas,

Thanks for the descriptions! I hate to admit it but I am not very good with the diagrams and far prefer them.

It looks like a fun program. The only one that I am really familiar with is the THE ROYAL DEESIDE RAILWAY (which was part of a set our class demonstration team performed and is a fun little number).

Keep on Dancing!

Cheers

Jamie

[Chas]

Hi Jamie,

I too prefer the instructions written out - the little pictures seem to miss all the important information. Like what are you supposed to do next!

Do you use the "Minicribs"? That's where I got these from. There are 4,234 entries all on one Word document.

I am working my way through them and printing them out a page at a time. I then cut them up and laminate and cut again. The idea is that I will have all 4,234 dances on individual cards in a kind of ring binder. At the start of the night, I can extract the relevant cards and have them in a small ring in my sporran. Then it should be a simple matter of a quick read before each dance to refresh my memory.

Or at least that's the plan!

Regards

Chas