DST - Preschool ceilidh classes in Aberdeen

Fiona McIver from RSCDS Aberdeen Branch started preschool and parent ceilidh classes in Aberdeen and they have been going from strength to strength.  Here Fiona tells us all about it...

Children’s Ceilidh Classes

The future of dancing is in our children and that is why we have children as young as 18 months joining in our preschool and parent ceilidh classes in Aberdeen Branch.  With some advice and support from Caroline of Ceilidh Kids in Edinburgh we have been running a preschool and parent ceilidh session every second Monday.  We have between 5 and 10 under 5’s and their parents/grandparents there enjoying simplified ceilidh dances, this is great for their physical, social, and emotional, cognitive and language development.  Once a month we have been running a family ceilidh session for families, this has been popular and last month we had about 30 adults and children enjoying the ceilidh dances.

Children led sessions

These classes are both child led sessions.  We are not forcing anyone to get up and dance.  Listening to, clapping, or singing along with the music still gets the children used to the rhythms and timing.  I regularly have my 8-month daughter in a baby carrier, and she already kicks her legs in time to the music.  We have a young boy who wears his flashing welly boots and last week spider man joined in the dancing at one point too. 

What the adults say

“Just wanted to say thanks for running the preschool dancing class. My granddaughter just loves it and asks (every day we have her) whether it's a "dancing day". We practice regularly in the kitchen and it's a great way to bring rhythm and physical activity into her day. As a grandparent you want to inspire your grandchildren, and this is a way to inspire the Scottish country dancers of the future.”

“Just wanted to write a wee bit to say how much we’ve enjoyed our 2 experiences of ceilidh dancing!  My daughter loves the music and although we can’t keep up with the speed when she’s down on the ground with her being quite slow with down syndrome, we do our own version and have a blast knowing it’s all very relaxed and about having fun.  With her having moderate hearing loss, I sign to her as much as I can, so she knows what to do although I’ve found she just loves watching and copying others around her. The people are lovely, its relaxed and its very affordable.  Its also a real workout!”

“As a child I myself enjoyed dancing and when I saw the poster thought it would be a fun thing to be able to do with my granddaughter.  I wasn't sure what to expect but the class was fantastic, I did not expect to be dancing proper dances albeit simplified for the children (and me!) I thought maybe some steps with a little bit of a dance not complete dances.” 

The main thing is that everyone is having fun and dancing.  We hope that we introduce ceilidh to them at a young age that they will then move onto Scottish Country dancing.  We hope that it will also encourage the adults to try some of our adults’ classes.