| Volume 31 #2 | September/October 2014 | |
We all know the signs: the cottonwoods starting to lose their leaves; clear, crisp dawns with the blanket of mist over the lowlands; days starting to get a bit shorter -- yes, Parents, Kids, and Dancers know: it's back to school time, and classes are about to begin!
And like a little kid, I'm just so eager to get back to class and reunite with my dancing friends, many of whom I haven't seen since classes ended in June. I'm polishing my stockings and washing my ghillies, and getting everything "ship shape" in anticipation of the new class year. I've even started exercising! (It was summertime, and the livin' has been way too easy.)
So, check the Branch Calendar! Dance classes are starting up all over the place, and a couple are in new locations.
On Thursday the 4th, Liza's class starts at the
YMCA in Orchards. Then, the next week, on Tuesday the 9th
(and on 2
But wait -- there's more! Linda Mae's 1st and 3rd Tuesday "Classics" class at Columbia Dance Center begins on the 16th, while her Social SCD Class at the Columbia Dance Center starts Friday the 19th!
And don't forget the homework! Even before the classes start, there's a Fourth Tuesday Mixer Dance on August 26th, and a Fifth Tuesday Mixer Dance at the end of September. Yeehaw! Bring your friends -- share the "misery" of going back to class!
See you on the dance floor!
At first, when we learned the PHGA had moved our event indoors, I wasn't sure if the audience would comprehend the change. At 3:55 PM, with only a few arriving, when the doors "opened" I was less sure. Then at 4 PM, the room started to fill and indeed I was pleased to see so many interested in SCD.
Marge Van Nus started the first dance and everyone that was new lined up, happily joining the "regulars." I noticed all ages and genders. By the end of the first dance, smiles were on every face. The fun in pattern dancing was spreading around the room. By the end of the second dance, the dancers were intermingling and enjoying the social comradery of SCD.
Thanks to Marge and all of the organizers, and in spite of the heat, the groups danced solidly for over an hour. It was great seeing new faces enjoy SCD for the first, second or more times.
If the reader would like to see more, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYrwEUE2Wqw
Guess what, folks! Liza's Thursday night Scottish Country Dance class will now be held at the Clark County Family YMCA in the Orchards area.
The room is spacious, clean, and air-conditioned, with a sprung wooden floor. There is plenty of parking, and plenty of fun ahead.
Here is the information you need to know:
Time: Thursdays, 7:30-9:00 p.m., September through June
Level: Family class for all levels
Price: $5.00 per class. No registration or membership required. You can start any time of the year.
Address: 11324 NE 51st Circle, Vancouver (just off the intersection of I-205 and SR-500).
As always, no partner or special clothing are required. If you have questions, feel free to contact Liza at or 360-798-3388. Come on down and join the fun – get some exercise, make new friends, add some happy to your life!
More news! Linda Mae's Friday night Scottish Country Dance class will now be held at Columbia Dance Center in downtown Vancouver.
Here are the stats:
Time: 7:30-9:00 p.m., September through June
Level: Social class for all levels - preteen through adult
Price: $5.00 per class. No registration or membership required. You can start any time of the dancing year.
Address: 1700 Broadway, Vancouver
See you at the Kick-up-Your-Heels, End-of-the-Week Friday Fun Class!
Questions? Contact Linda Mae at or 360-609-0623.
These are the dates we will have class September through December...
September 19
September 26
October 3
October 10
October 24
October 31 (if people actually want to show up on Halloween)
November 14
November 21
November 28 (the annual Werk off Yer Turkey Dance!)
December 12
December 19
Hello everyone and welcome to a new year of Scottish dancing pleasure. I am beginning a second year as the Branch Secretary. The main responsibility is to document the affairs of the Branch and circulate to members. The Board has collaborated to organize the documents so interested persons can access them on the Branch website. We recently adopted the "Branch Board Notebook" that is the master index to the Branch's records. http://www.rscds-swws.org/notebook.htm The web page contains key information about the nonprofit corporation, links to the important Branch documents, and Guidelines and Procedures the Board uses to operate the Branch.
Some of the website document areas require a username and password. The "secure" area has documents that might contain personal information and we want to block web crawler applications from mining personal information like email addresses. None of the information is secret though, so any interested person is welcome to examine the documents. A few documents have been redacted before uploading to the website. The username is "cranberry" and the password is "tart". The current-membership-year member roster and newsletters require entering the current-membership-year username and password.
RSCDS members can similarly access communications from RSCDS headquarters. RSCDS has a goal to improve the connection with its branch members and hopefully grow the membership. RSCDS emails correspondence to branches approximately eight times a year, with a reminder to access the member webpage of branch mailings. The communications include information pertaining to Branch operation and news about RSCDS initiatives. Last year I forwarded the branch mailing emails to the Board and Teacher Committee. This year I would like to forward the branch mailings to everyone in the Branch members roster. We can visit the RSCDS website in order to access the branch mailings. https://www.rscds.org/article/branch-mailings
Please feel free to contact me with any feedback or questions at the Branch's public email at .
The crowd was cheerful and ready for action. The dancers brought it on.
This year’s sunny summer performance at the Clark County Fair on August 2nd featured the musical magic of Cynthia Soohoo on keyboard and Nathaniel Soohoo-Hui on fiddle. In his first time playing for us, David Stredwick of the Ft. Vancouver Pipe Band marched the dancers to the stage and also did a solo bagpipe performance in between dances.
Fancy footwork was offered by dancers Elisabeth and Lilyana Soohoo-Hui, Stephen Hui, Holly Gibson, Antonya Pickard, Beverly Klock (her first performance!), Rebecca Mintz, Lanette Pinard, Martin MacKenzie, John Shaw, and Tom and Liza Halpenny. Photos are courtesy of Hannah Soohoo-Hui. John gave an engaging and informative kilt talk. The final dance of the program, Fair Enough, had an enthusiastic response to its debut.
This year we performed on the first weekend of the Fair, rather than our usual second weekend. That meant that we drew the folks who would be attending the Credence Clearwater Revisited concert after our show, rather than Monster Trucks. Did this make a difference in the receptivity of our audience? It’s hard to know, but we do know that it was fun to perform for such a welcoming crowd. Perhaps the several folks who picked up class flyers afterward will be shiny new students in our September classes, and our good friends soon afterward.
To enjoy more photos, please visit https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.787696681252513.1073741829.141476192541235
Here's another motivation for packing your ghillies when you travel. As SCD is a world-wide phenomenon, often, in many major cities and towns, an SCD dance class or event can be found.
I was in Kennesaw, Georgia on a business trip recently and beforehand was reminded by Sally Palmer and Silvia Priest of the fact that there are still SCD classes running in Marietta through the summer months. I made arrangements through local dancers there and they kindly picked me up at the hotel I was staying and transported me to class.
As in other times such as this, though they really don't know me that well, after overcoming initial shyness, I was welcomed into their midst and proceeded to dance away the rest of the evening with this particular gaggle of fine and gentle people.
Though this may be incidental to the theme of this article generally, I would feel it remiss to not note the list of different dances that were done at last week's class just to highlight the some of the differences one can encounter at a different venue/class:
Bernie's Yellow Flyers A 8X32 Jig The Clumsy Lover A 8X32 Reel Trip to Gretna Green A 8X32 Jig The Dillsburg Jig A 8X32 Jig
As I'm from the west coast of the United States, my cultural background is a bit different from theirs, yet, one finds many commonalities. One of the common themes I've observed throughout my travels is the power that gentle social interaction through the vehicle of dance has to clear away the stresses and struggles people experience day to day. This you can see as the mood of participants changes during the evening and by the end, with very few exceptions there are smiles on most faces and at the minimum, the appearance of stress and worry decreases.
From my experiences, with a little flexibility and an open heart, one can have a great evening with folks, relieve some stress, exercise, and increase one's quota of joy in life. I would heartily recommend traveling with a set of ghillies in your luggage!
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