DST - Memories of the Dances Through the Decades

In last month's Dance Scottish Together e-newsletter we asked for your memories of the dances selected for the new publication Dance Through the Decades CD.  We are delighted to share a few of these below, and a CD will be on its way to you. Congratulations!

Fiona, New Zealand

Ladies' Fancy

For me, my memories of Ladies' Fancy (Bk 13) are strongest.  When I started dancing in my early teens, the tutor at the Whangarei Club (NZ) was Graham Fleming and her favourite dance was Ladies' Fancy.   She took me under her wing and encouraged me to dance and to teach.  

Nearly 60 years later I am still dancing and teaching and I think of Graham every time we dance the dance. Her enthusiasm for Scottish country dancing lives on in so many of us. 

George, Dundee

Flowers of Edinburgh

Now may I start by saying I wasn't around in 1923 whatever people might think!  My first association with the dance 'Flowers of Edinburgh' goes back to 1953 in Edinburgh. I was 5, my three elder sisters were, 7,9 and 11. My big sisters had started dancing at Miss Cameron's dance class and one wet day (it must have been wet or I would have been out playing), they decided to practice a dance they had learned, 'The Flooers of Edinburgh' as it was always known as then. However, as there was only three of them, little brother suddenly became useful and was roped in to make up the numbers. Up until then, a little brother had seemed a pointless contribution to the family, Scamp our dog, was much more interesting.

In the 'Flowers', the third couple do not actually do anything but provide a suitable point for the dancing couple to go round, so two chairs were adopted for those positions. An old shellac 78., (I had better explain to the younger generations, a 12" disc made from beetle shells that spun round at 78rpm with a needle in the grooves that amazingly produced a sound), was placed on the turntable of the gramophone and off we went. Sheena and Elizabeth were first couple and I was instantly fascinated. Off they charged chasing each other round the chairs, wow! Then they did it again! Next they took off down the room at a rate and back up again, this looked good fun, but do I just stand here? Suddenly Margaret grabbed me and wheeched me through some sort of thingie. I couldn't think of any other way to describe a Pousette in those far off days. Then apparently it was our turn and I got to chase her, then she chased me and we took off down the room, it was great!

I was captivated and loved it, three big sisters could be fun after all. We must have danced it four times each until the record ended. By the time we finished I couldn't wait to join Miss Cameron's dance class. The 'Flowers of Edinburgh' has remained one of my favourite dances ever since, I never tire of it. There is not another dance that I'm so pleased to see on a dance programme even though nowadays I have dozens of favourite dances. 

Ann, North West England

Ladies' Fancy

In 1978, my husband and I went to Nigeria where we spent the next two years and it was there that my husband, who had never danced in his life before, discovered Scottish country dancing.  There was little in the way of entertainment in the town of Jos where we were based, but we were introduced to the well-established Caledonian Society by a couple of my husband’s colleagues whom we had befriended.  The Society’s Social Club was some distance away on the far side of the town and there, on a Wednesday evening, my husband would go to the club’s squash court with Fred and a couple of other colleagues whilst I went with Linda to the very popular country dancing classes. 

I was no stranger to this activity having grown up with it at family celebrations and I enjoyed renewing my acquaintance with it under the tutelage of a lovely lady from Dunfermline. Our friends, however, were due to return to the UK about 7 months before us, leaving my husband without a squash partner, just a few weeks before the Society’s St Andrews Ball.  My husband expressed an interest in attending the Ball but I told him he could only do this if he learned the dances which, to my amazement, he agreed to do.  The lovely Jean used the 6 weeks or so in the run-up to the Ball to practice the dances on the programme, one of which that year was ‘Ladies' Fancy’ - another was ‘Petronella’, but that’s another story! 

It turned out that he could dance most beautifully - and still does - which led us to a lifetime of dancing all over the world, becoming a part of various demonstration teams along the way and, for the last 20 years, running our local group in the North West of England.  Had it not been for this experience, we would not have found so many wonderful new friends in so many different places and got so much pleasure from one of the most enjoyable activities ever devised. 

Heather, Cape Town

Gothenburg’s Welcome

I am not sure where or when I first learnt Gothenburg’s Welcome but it remains one of my favourite dances. I can still remember the sense of achievement of our set mastering the 12 bars of Dance to Corners and set – ‘boomeranging’ into the centre and straight back out. A dancing friend refers to it as the dance with bat wings! It is a popular dance that is enjoyed both in Cape Town and Pretoria having featured on several ball programmes. I have happy memories of dancing it to the wonderful musical accompaniment of James Gray and George Meikle during the ‘Dancing in New Places Cape Town Ball’ in October 2017. I look forward to making more memories dancing it this year as part of the Society’s Centenary celebrations.