A new initiative for South East Herts SCDS
April 30, 2025
Building on the success of our annual Drewry Dances, we held a Drewry workshop this April. Smiles all round as there was strong interest and it was well attended. We ran two parallel workshops – Popular Drewry for our regular essential skills group and Challenging Drewry for more experienced dancers.
Popular Drewry had a strong focus on correct phrasing, handing and sociability and was led by Ian. We covered Mrs Macpherson of Inveran, The Byron Strathspey and Jennifer’s Jig, chosen because they include formations familiar to our beginners which regularly come up in dances. The new formation was Inveran reels which caused much merriment but we mastered them successfully!
Challenging Drewry was led by Emma and introduced dancers to a feast of Drewry including Bridge of Sighs, Kings Chapel, Twa Roguish Een and St. Nicholas Boat. The focus for this class was on familiar formations used in an unfamiliar way and linking them together well. The two strathspeys were particularly liked and will probably find their way on to local programmes in the future.
Following a break for refreshments and cake the two groups enjoyed dancing together, showcasing what they had learned and confirming that dancing well is the best fun of all.
Don’t just take our word for it! Here are some of the comments we had from the night:
“Lots of fun dancing some challenging and unusual Drewry dances”
“Definitely looking forward to next year!”
“I feel reinvigorated for the term ahead!”
“having such a versatile musician was a real bonus.”
“everyone was so friendly”
“It is an enjoyable way to keep active and giggles are guaranteed.”
A definite thumbs up to a successful workshop!
Happy dancing
South East Herts Scottish Country Dance Society (Affiliated Group)
