DST - Southern Fling

RSCDS Sydney Branch hosted Southern Fling in October 2022. There were 20 dancers aged between 18 and 40, and 5 dancers in their 40s who attended and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We were very fortunate to have funding from the RSCDS Spring Fling Branch Grant and also locally from the Jay Family Fund. Morton & June Jay danced and taught in Sydney for many years and were passionate about teaching younger dancers, especially at university clubs. They both passed away in 2020 and their heirs were very generous in providing Sydney Branch with funds for youth projects. Over the course of the weekend we were treated to several dances devised by Morton Jay, the best known being The Immigrant Lass, book 39.

Accommodation was available at a local motel and commuters also attended the event.

The weekend kicked off with a social dance on Friday evening with music from the Black Bear Duo from Queensland (Iain Mckenzie & Emma Nixon) and MC’d by Rachel Goerke from Victoria. It was great to see everyone mixing so well and helping newer dancers along.

On Saturday morning Rachel taught the advanced class with Emma Nixon as the musician (fiddle), while Rebekah Johnson from Sydney taught the beginner/intermediate class with Iain Mckenzie (accordion). Both classes were well received and gave the dancers sufficient challenges for brains and bodies.

But as we know, Scottish Country Dancers love a challenge, so the afternoon session led by Diana Hastie (Sydney) featured a quiz plus dance rounds such as SCD musical statues and dances where the tune deliberately did not fit the dance. How would you fare dancing Mairi’s Wedding to the music for The Wee Cooper of Fife? The three teams did a great job and the scores were very close indeed.

On Saturday evening there was an open social MC’d by Rebekah, where we were joined by local dancers (of any age) to enjoy more music from the Black Bear Duo. We received many positive comments from our local dancers about the wonderful energy and enthusiasm of the young dancers who welcomed them to the event. SCD really is a hobby that can be shared by different generations. Rebekah was delighted to give a short speech about Morton & June Jay, as she had been taught by them. She thanked their son, Barry, who attended the social, for providing the funding which made the weekend so affordable for so many.

The final class was on Sunday morning, shared by all our staff members and attendees. The level of brain power required seemed to go up again, but maybe that was merely the effects of the after party!

Dancers travelled from all across Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and even New Zealand. Special mention should be made of a group of four who had only ever danced at ceilidhs. They were always smiling, were made to feel very welcome and did a marvellous job keeping up.

Thanks for sharing this good news story! If you would like to feature in an upcoming Dance Scottish Together, please email lyndsay.walker@rscds.org.