DST - International Branch Back on the road (train and plane!)

October 26, 2022

After a long period of anticipation and planning, the International Branch’s Italy 2022 event finally took place from 30 September to 9 October and can be put down as another great success! The combination of a dance weekend and touring week, each time in a different location, is very specific to our Branch and we are pleased to report that this one attracted 110 dancers from 16 different countries. After all these months of travel uncertainty following the pandemic, everyone was so relieved to get there and determined to have a good time - meeting old friends, making new ones and discovering La Marche - a beautiful region of Italy which the Italians seem to have kept to themselves - until now.

We were delighted to have with us Elke Baker on fiddle from East Coast USA, Andy Imbrie on piano from West Coast USA and Phill Jones on accordion from the UK. Together they provided a great sound that kept people on the dance floor right to the end of the evening programmes giving flight to our jigs and reels and depth to our strathspeys.

In the morning classes, we were kept on our toes by Antoine Rousseau from Paris, Zsófi József now in Bo’ness and Samuele Graziani from Bologna. They took us through an interesting selection of dances and by Monday morning, whilst our legs and feet might have been aching, our posture and smiles had definitely improved.

In the afternoons, we enjoyed excursions to Ancona and Riviera del Conero and discovered a wealth of history and geographical beauty in the area, as well as delicious ice cream :-)

Involving a local dance group is one of the aims in organising these events and we were pleased to have a good number of local dancers from Accademia Danze Ottocentesche in Ancona joining in the classes and evening dances. Their presentation of 18th century dances was a highlight of the ceilidh evening. Talking of the ceilidh, and thanks to the generosity of all participants, the raffle for the Susi Mayr Fund raised just under €800.

65 dancers then stayed on to enjoy a few days of tourism which included a visit to the wonderful mosaics in Ravenna en route to Bologna where we were based for five nights and from where we made excursions to Parma and Modena. Bologna is known as “La Grassa” (the fat) so you can imagine quite a bit of tasting of local delicacies was involved - parma ham, parmesan, lambrusco, balsamic vinegar, ragu sauce, mortadella, tortellini ... Some of us did manage to burn off some calories on Thursday evening when we joined the Northern Italy Branch class led by Alessia Branchi and Samuele Graziani.
The perfect ending to our week was attending the Youth Branch Weekend Away Ball in Bologna where 160 dancers took to the floor to the wonderful music of Keith Smith and Anne-Laure Latour who, for a good part of the evening, were also joined by Elke Baker. It was great to be able to time our event so we could join the Youth Branch, especially as we set up a Strategic Partnership with them in 2021 with the aim of encouraging YB members to join the IB once they are over 35. Thanks to Claire Cunin and the YB Committee for a great collaboration; we hope there will be other opportunities in the future for us to work together.

If dancing while you travel - or travelling while you dance - appeals to you, why not join the International Branch and get advance notice of our next event planned for 2024. You can find details on our website: www.rscds-ib.org.