Social Dancing - Brief Only - Online

by Tom and Liza Halpenny

Dance list for eight programs

Liza and Tom sure have enjoyed visiting with many of you online during the past five months of COVID-19 pandemic. We have operated eight online Zoom meetings with Scottish dancing using the Social Dancing - Brief Only format with videos and cribs circulated ahead of time. The main purpose is to visit with our fellow dancers, and to share excellent Scottish dance music to accompany any level of participation that dancers desire.

Dances are mostly easy or well-known, and are selected from past SWWS Branch dance programs or the RSCDS Summer Celebration. Social Dancing programs repeat dances, so the eight programs, with nine dances each, have used a total of 36 distinct dances. Since we are not dancing in full sets, we generally do dances four times instead of eight times through. Some dancers just watch and listen to music, some dance each time as 1st couple, some dance from all positions, and some try the opposite gender role. (Dancers could even substitute their favorite jig, reel, or strathspey – and it wouldn’t mess up anyone!). Dancing by yourself or with one other person gives practice in imagining your position relative to the other dancers in the set. In between dances there is light conversation and jokes – a great opportunity to catch up with each other.

With COVID-19 restrictions continuing into the Fall, Social Dancing - Brief Only might be the only local Scottish dancing opportunity we have for a while. The plan is to continue with online dancing meetings as long as is practical, until we return to in-person dancing. We look forward to your company!