Dancing Achievement Assessments at Herts and Borders Branch

Herts and Borders RSCDS Branch recently completed the Dancing Achievement Assessments.  Six dancers took the Intermediate DAA.  They danced their socks off and all passed. Many congratulations to Anitha, Catherine, Douglas, Helen, Janina and Kathy.

We congratulate Emma Stewart who taught the course and thank Ian Stewart for admin and dancing and also Zoe Hill who joined at the last moment to dance as 4th woman.  We also thank Helen Russell and Heather Davies who travelled far to come and assess our group.  Two members of the group have kindly written reports on their experiences. Thank you, Janina and Helen.

Our group has enjoyed the course so much that several are asking if we are going to run the next level (advanced) next year.

This is what Janina said about the DAA Course:-

“ Highly recommended!!! I joined the DAA course despite my doubts and fears about my foot work, despite my worries about my mind going blank in the middle of the dance and concerns about not knowing anyone in the group. I knew that repetition, a deadline and having very supportive, excellent teachers like Emma and Ian Steward and Jane Rose, I will improve my dancing skills considerably and build wonderful memories at the same time. And I did!! Not only did I improve but I met beautiful people in the process. When I meet my fellow dancers now, we share this amazing smile between us which says it all: we went through some ups and downs together and we came through strong. The assessment went really quickly. It was a very supportive and positive environment. We even got to see the wonderful footwork of Helen Russel! After the assessment we all celebrated our hard work and achievements by having lunch together at our teacher’s place, it was the cherry on the cake. The course and the assessment was a challenge but I read that, “Challenge is life and life-giving”. 

Read Helen’s report on the DAA:

Rewinding to November 2024, when I first joined the South East Herts Scottish Country Dance Society class on a Tuesday in Hertford, I never imagined I’d be taking the Dancing Achievement Award at Intermediate Level some four months later!

It had been over a decade since I last danced as a Scottish Highland dancer but cheered on by my boss at work to prioritise a night in the week for me, I decided to go back to dancing which instantly became a joyous revelation! 

A lot of the memory came back regarding the footwork albeit with a bit of tweaking to get some of the right positioning for Scottish Country but trying to remember the dances was more of a challenge. Thankfully Emma and Ian invested their expertise, patience and encouragement to fast-track improvement in all aspects of technique and dance retention.

The eager participants started the first of six 3-hour workshops on a Sunday in mid-January and whilst not everyone could do the date of the assessment, we had a great level of enthusiasm for learning the nine dances of Reels, Jigs and Strathspeys and working on the technique, transitions and team working.

Fast forward to mid-March and nervous anticipation in the hall of St. Stephens Church in St. Albans on a Saturday morning.  We got warmed up, walked through all the dances and memory failure struck.  Sub-conscious nerves and panic rising, it was all going “Pete Tong!”  After a supportive group chat and lots of deep breathing we welcomed the Assessors who put us at ease explaining how the assessment would be conducted.

Settling into the first dance, Janina and Douglas did a great job and from thereon in, it all came together, and we could enjoy showcasing what we’d learnt.  Relief rapidly spread once all nine dances had gone without a hitch in the space of 35 minutes – given that it took the full 3 hours of the first workshop to get through them all – this was a marked improvement!

After a bit of a breather, Helen Russell, Lead Assessor gave us a demonstration of pas-de-basque to start the next part of the assessment which put us at ease once again and gave us a clear indicator as to what her and Heather Davies were looking for from the movements and formations. They put us through our paces but were supportive and encouraging which helped with the nerves.

Whilst the Assessors were completing the paperwork, we all breathed a collective sigh of relief and got ourselves ready for the celebratory lunch back at Ian and Emma’s.  To my fellow dancers: Anitha, Catherine, Janina, Douglas and Kathy – it was joyous dancing with you over the last couple of months and huge congratulations for our achievement!  To Barbara and Frances – we missed you on the day but enjoyed the journey and to Ian and Emma – the biggest thank you for your dedication, inspiration and encouragement in giving us all such a sense of achievement.