DST - Un Dimanche de Danse

Liz Anderson, Secretary of Affiliated Group Scottish Country Dance Annecy tells us all about their Un Dimanche de Danse which took place on 14th November...

'Well, each of us has had their own experiences of Covid 19, bad for many – but, perhaps, good for some!

For Scottish country dancers it has been hard; there was no dancing and we really missed the opportunities of meeting up with our dancing friends.

In June 2021, the Annecy dancers started thinking about hosting the annual November event ‘Un Dimanche de Danse’ and decided to go ahead with plans, keeping fingers crossed that it wouldn’t have to be cancelled again.

Unfortunately, the teacher, who had been waiting for two years to come and teach, became unwell and couldn’t be with us. Let’s hope that Anne Dejean from ‘Le Chardon du Dauphiné’, will soon be fit and well, and able to dance again. Lovely Tom McKinlay from Paris kindly agreed to step into the breach; we needed to have a teacher who can teach in French.

November came and we are delighted to report that we did not have to cancel, our ‘Un Dimanche de Danse’ could go ahead as planned, hurray!

Due to Covid restrictions in place, each person entering had to produce a valid ‘Pass Sanitaire’. Masks had to be worn in corridors and changing rooms but were not obligatory in the dance studio. Some people chose to wear them for dancing, many opted to not.

The number of dancers in the room was restricted. There have been so few opportunities to dance that people were very keen to come, so some people who contacted us near the date were disappointed. It was so hard to refuse them but we had to keep to the numbers allowed.

We were lucky to have local musicians to play for us. They are experienced musicians, who are used to playing French folk music, and were really interested in playing music for our Scottish traditional dances.  Just because the right notes of a Scottish tune are played does not necessarily mean that it all sounds Scottish! 

However, they (thanks to Covid!) had plenty of time to practice.  Not only did they have a great deal of generous help and advice from Seonaid Lynn and Roddy Johnston in Scotland, but they also took advantage of the virtual RSCDS Summer School music course in 2020, which they would like to attend, in person, when possible. It’s so good for us to have local musicians.

The day is organised with a class in the morning and a ‘mini-ball’ in the afternoon. This means that people can arrive in the morning, spend the day dancing, then travel back to arrive home not too late in the evening.  So, who came? We were delighted to see dancers from Grenoble, Lyon, Méaudre dans le Vercors, Vaucluse, Geneva and Lausanne as well as our Annecy members. The ages ranged from children and teenagers to older folks like me!  Afternoon tea was provided at the end of the day, to fill a gap before driving home for dinner.

Let’s hope that all the Scottish country dance events can soon return to normality!'

Many thanks to Liz for the article and we are delighted to hear that you were able to hold your dance successfully this year.  Don't forget, if you would like to contribute to a future issue of Dance Scottish Together, email lyndsay.walker@rscds.org.