Northern Virginia Branch Walk Scottish

A few weeks ago, our branch hosted a novel event: Walk Scottish, an afternoon of low-impact dancing to live music with a selection of many familiar and favourite dances. The event devisor, Ellie Briscoe, succeeded in her aim to boost attendance by dancers who had stopped attending dances: about 20% of attendees rarely dance or were returning after a long break. 

The event flyer made it clear that the primary goal was the enjoyment of moving to music and reconnecting with old dance friends: 

Walk gently or dance all-out at this low-impact party! Walking to music is still dancing. Knees or feet bothering you? Don’t want to do a lot of pas de basque? Not dancing regularly because it’s just too much? Or do you just want to have fun with some stress-free dancing? Come enjoy some old favourite dances and chat with the group! Think of it as a reunion…

Over my 20+ years dancing, I have adapted my performance of figures to accommodate various joint injuries or had to adjust the intensity of my dancing when I had cancer. Communicating these challenges to partners can be a burden. For this reason, I am appreciative of the Walk Scottish event’s open acceptance and encouragement of accommodations. The cribs were edited to include light changes for walkers, and the format of this dance event made the need to discuss adjustments with your partners commonplace. 

By giving dancers license to focus on the enjoyment of walking/dancing to the music, it encouraged people to come who had previously stayed away because they felt their limitations detracted from others’ enjoyment. It didn’t. Additionally, I believe some of our newer dancers were having a particularly good time, as the “stress-free” dancing enabled them to focus less on footwork and more on the geography of the dance and other dancers.

It was a real pleasure to dance and socialize with old and new friends earlier this month. I have observed an emphasis from the Society on bringing in new dancers, but it’s important not to forget about our veteran dancers. The attached collage of the event flyer and photos taken by Nicholas Prosini, illustrate the age span of the dancers and the differing height of footwork achieved simultaneously to the same great music. 

When developing plans for this event, Ellie had assistance from two other teachers, Jayne Riddet and Hazel Fish, and I understand that she has shared some gleanings from the event with other RSCDS teachers and the International Branch newsletter. I am also taking this opportunity to share my view, as a (currently) enthusiastic and energetic dancer. The Walk Scottish event was greatly enjoyed. I hope that this model of a low-impact, afternoon event will be repeated and perhaps modelled in other dance communities.

Marla Bright, Member, Northern Virginia Branch of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society