STRETCHING is good for keeping you fit and healthy during 2023 !

 I WISH YOU PEACE and HAPPINESS during 2023.

I stretch out several times each week to keep my body supple, and my back straight. Over Christmas, my grand daughter Emmy (aged four) joined in: “Yoga with Grandpa” is what Emmy called it. I call this specific workout “airplanes.” To keep flying, Emmy needs to grasp my feet with her bent knees …. a skill she has yet to perfect.

Health pages in newspapers and magazines frequently debate the benefits (or not) of stretching. Claims that “stretching does not help avoid strains and sprains,” refer to sports like jogging, where warming-up is included in the very act of starting to jog.

Stretching is definitely good before and after dancing. The Royal Scottish Country Dance Society has promoted warm-ups for 100 years. Founder Miss Jean Milligan was a sports teacher.

Anyone watching professional athletes before a match, will see them warming up to loosen their feet and ankles, stretching leg and arm and back muscles to reduce the risk of injury. Claims that stretching has no value, make little sense to me.

In any sport that requires your muscles to make sudden and unusual muscle movements – like dancing a pas de basque – it is beneficial to warm your muscles and joints beforehand. That is why we do RSCDS warm-up exercises before classes: we tune-up the feet and ankles, knees and hips, back and shoulders, calves and hamstrings ….. and then we start our evening with a gentle dance: maybe a waltz, or a reel where we start by walking and warm up to gentle dance steps.

DANCING IS GOOD FOR YOU ! STRETCHING IS GOOD TOO !

Dr Samantha Smith a specialist in clinical orthopaedics at the Yale School of Medicine, is in favor of the RSCDS style of stretching (even if Samantha herself has never heard of RSCDS !!!). In Hannah Seo’s end-of-year article in the New York Times, Dr Smith says stretching can loosen tight muscles. 

These days, if I do not stretch out before I go to bed, my evening of Scottish dancing will give me cramps in the night. In fact I sleep with woolen stockings after dancing to ensure my calf muscles do not seize up, and I wear  my warm Xmas slippers. So Happy Holidays: stretch to stay fit and healthy !

Teaching Children to dance on St Andrews Day !

 Happy St Andrews Day, folks !

St Andrew was crucified on a cross of this shape, and he became the Patron Saint of Scotland when the Greek missionary St Regulus landed in 345 A.D. on the East Coast of Fife with St Andrew's bones  in a bag. A whole series of miracles: firstly, that the Emperor Constatine decided to send a missionary to Alba. It was a miracle that St Andrews's bones were available; and that the Holy Roman Empire wanted to send them to Northern Europe. A miracle that St Regulus (also called St Rule) reached Scotland. A miracle that he decided (and was able) to sail past Arran, Mull, Skye and Orkney to reach Fife .... so many unlikely miracles that the city of St Andrews (where he landed) deserves its worldwide fame.  

If you can spin this yarn, the story should motivate children to listen .... and maybe to dance!  Kids live a bit of gore and torture. so offer them this Spanish Inquisition version of St Andrew's martyrdom. 

At the RSCDS Autumn Gathering on Nov 5th, there was a meeting of the Youth Committee which provided some helpful insights on teaching young people:  children will find it tough to attend a weekly class because they have so many other things going on. Young people will enjoy a day-school; a dance camp; a Ceilidh.with a bonfire ...  And they should also enjoy dancing with their families. That is how I learned dancing: dancing with my parents because dancing is a part of our Scottish culture.

In France, I link dance to English teaching. I visit school classrooms to tell them about Scotland and kilts and dancing. I use two songs with vocabulary useful for 9-year-olds: You canna shove yer Granny off the Bus and Ten Green Bottles Hanging on a Wall ....  taught with illustrations drawn on sheets of paper.  Other verses: You can shove you silly sister off the train. You can push your boring brother off his bike. You can throw your ugly uncle from a plane. All good vocabulary, with laughter.

The kids enjoy the songs and they love dancing! I start by dancing a circle using slip-step. We get the feel of reel-time music by clapping. Then we dance The Cumberland Reel. with pas chassé = the traveling step in reel time .... but I spend very little time on footwork. We must focus on The Joy Of Dance and Music.  To reinforce this, I move on to The Virginia Reel and Thread The Needle. Everyone enjoys those dances. 

Try it yourselves.

Dancing keeps you warm: and other ways to save energy this Winter.

Dancing keeps you warm.

This WINTER I shall focus on keeping my BODY warm, not the whole house.

When I dance, I am warm!

Then I wrap up warmly to protect my body heat and my dancing muscles.

When I was a child, Winter mornings formed ice on the inside of my bedroom windows. The bedroom was freezing. Parts of my childhood were focused on keeping myself warm. Woollen scarves, gloves, boots and duffel coats were vital. The lesson I offer for this Winter when heating bills are rising, is to focus on keeping your body warm. A warm house is a luxury. A warm body is a necessity.

I wear warm slippers indoors, with warm socks (mine are long woollen stockings worn over short socks to protect the wool). My several layers of clothing include a woollen sweater. I also need a scarf to protect my neck, even indoors. But the first priority for a dancer is keeping the leg muscles warm with woollen stockings.

 

The sun is setting as I write this, and I have just filled a hot water bottle for my wife. I have brought down our dressing gowns (towelling bathrobes) to keep in the warmth from our necks down to our calves. We are seated beside a fire, drinking hot tea and eating cookies: carbohydrate fuel to warm the body, a hot water bottle to warm the chest, and a towelling robe to keep the heat in. 

 

We are not yet heating the house. From June until mid-November the temperatures have been mild. Yesterday we had sunshine; today is a true November rainy day and it will soon be  time to implement Winter Measures to keep warm. To keep our bodies warm. 

My British childhood in the 1950s was chilly. We had the privilege of owning our own house after the war, with half an acre of garden. A detached house in a wintry garden means that the corner bedroom has at least two (in my case it was three) outside walls. A previous owner had added a room downstairs, big enough for his Freemason buddies to play snooker on two full-sized billiard tables, and my bedroom overlooked the huge flat roof of that snooker room. 

From the age of seven, I helped my father clear the snow off that roof with shovels: melted snow = water = heavy weight and the risk of a collapsed ceiling in the sitting room below. We had to sweep the roof of snow (and occasionally of rain water) to protect that flat roof. From the age of twelve I swept and shovelled that huge sitting-room roof alone, while my father was working overseas. I hated snow!

 The large room was a sitting room only in Summer: a happy space in sunshine, with glass French windows leading directly into the garden. But this one-time snooker room had long three walls whipped by the Winter winds. It was so cold, it was closed for six months of the year. During Winter, our family ate and sat and lived around the kitchen table, next to the hot-water boiler. That boiler consumed a coal product known as anthracite, that I had to carry in from a bunker beside the house. Every night, I would “stoke the boiler” with anthracite, rake the ashes, and pray that the boiler’s embers would still be burning at breakfast time. 

The boiler gave us hot water for evening baths (so the bathroom became steamy and cosy for a hour) but only the kitchen was heated. Bedrooms were cold. For sleep we huddled under blankets with hot water bottles. I had two bottles: a “stone” (actually ceramic) bottle to warm the end of the bed, wrapped in a towel to avoid scalding my feet; and a rubber hot water bottle hugging my chest. 

Another way to stay warm in Winter is to cuddle up with one of these gorgeous models.  I am - of course - looking at the warm woollen sweaters, and not at the ladies who are wearing them.  If only .....

 FOCUS ON YOUR BODY HEAT rather than the whole house

 Modern heating with a fuel or gas boiler certainly provides a comfortable environment, but my childhood reminds me that central heating is a modern luxury that we do not NEED. We live too well, we pollute too much, we spend too extravagantly. I try to stop my wife leaving windows open in mid-Winter, uselessly warming the street outside. We can economize heat and money if we focus on keeping our bodies warm instead of heating the whole house.

Wear Scottish woollens (knitted scarves, sweaters, stockings), use hot water bottles, and stay warm !

Nicola Benedetti and music in Scotland

 

Scottish Music and Nicola Benedetti

 

Nicola Benedetti is a charming genius. She began playing music aged 4, and she told the BBC  programme The Cultural Life that she first learned violin using a Suzuki Method, while a child living in Ayrshire.  With Suzuki, you learn to play a tune immediately: so you begin with MUSIC and not with sterile scales. Since the violin can be rather screechy, learning a tune is important.

 

 

Personally, I was given musical scales to practise at school, aged 10. I learned nothing about music, and my piano lessons ended within 6 months. My kids learned piano using the Suzuki Method, and they can still play tunes even though they no longer play the piano. Thank you, Mrs Atwood!  Of course I am NOT comparing my children with Nicola Benedetti, who is one of the world’s greatest violinists.  At age ten, she went to the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey, in southern England – tough to be sent so young to a “boarding school” .... even if the musicality of Menuhin and their shared passion of music carried her through.  Menuhin was possibly the greatest violinist, and the greatest music teacher, of the 20th century.

 

Benedetti led the National Children's Orchestra of Great Britain at the age of eight; she had passed eight years of musical examinations a year later.

 

With my friends Alan and Margery Falconer, I went to hear a Nicola concert in Glasgow, playing Vivaldi with some of the Scottish string musicians who are playing in this version of Vivaldi: a delightful short recording (even worth seeing for her very spectacular dress).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpbpaivtKas

 

Here is Nicola Benedetti playing Loch Lomond at the spectacular opening of the 2021 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYn61MHU_QY

 

Like Nicola, I am very interested in music (and dance) education. Every child should play an instrument. If they can do it in Venezuela (and they do), they could do it also in Europe.

 

And every child should learn to dance.

Dance is a physical expression of music.

 

Nicola's motto is "Enhance your own ability, be the best you can be – but don’t keep that for yourself. Share it, expose it, give it and try to enrich other people with what you have managed to achieve."  That is exactly how I consider my modest ability to dance. I try to dance MORE and BETTER, and I try to share with others – and especially with children - the joy of dance and music.

 

        Nicola Benedetti was awarded the distinguished C.B.E. medal by Her Majesty The Queen.
 

 

Nicola Benedetti’s most famous recent recording (Grammy Award) came from her collaboration with the modern composer Wynton Marsalis.  Try out this visit to Dallas, Texas:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl5baizlykA

and then this Violin Concerto in D Major by Wynton Marsalis: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTsAkAHMvf4  

 

Wynton Marsalis is both composer and trumpeter: with fiddler Nicola Benedetti.

Nicola's fiddle is a Stradivarius said to be worth $5 million: a gift from a banker.

The US Supreme Court Ayatollahs dance with Death

 

 

A SUPREME COURT OF AYATOLLAHs

Male dominance rules once again

On June 24^th 2022 the Supreme Court of the USA showed again how similar it is to the Supreme Guidance Council of Iran: a small group of elderly, unelected religious extremists decides what is good for everyone else and tries to re-establish a Golden Age of conservatism that never really existed.

 

On June 24^th 2022 Roe versus Wade was reversed after 50 years. A group of Four Elderly White Males + Justice Thomas (supported by one Catholic woman) has decided that American Women shall no longer control their own sexuality. No woman wants to have an abortion. Abortions takes place only when a woman (for whatever reason) cannot bear a child she is carrying. Health? Rape? Incest? whatever the reason for a woman to want an abortion, there is tragedy in the decision. Women need support and compassion; and compassion is not a strong part of American culture. 

Abortion is a messy business. Each pregnant woman should have the right to decide on her own fate: and if the tragedy of an abortion is needed, it should be carried out painlessly and under competent medical supervision. Elderly Men and religious intolerants want to forbid abortion, but they will be disappointed. We wish that no one gets sick, that no one is ever nasty, that incest will disappear, that no woman’s health will be threatened by pregnancy, that no man will ever rape a woman. 

We wish….

We wish for American politicians, religious leaders and judges to show compassion to women. 

We wish....

In the case of Iran, at least the Ayatollahs are all Shia Muslims like most Iranians. They impose their conservative vision of the Muslim religion that most Iranians profess. In the case of the USA, six of the nine Justices are Roman Catholics. Their very specific theological view concerning the definition of “life” - a view supported by and imposed by this 6-3 vote - is not shared by most Americans. 78% of Americans are not Catholics; 22% of USA citizens are Catholics.  Just like the Iranian Guardianship Council, US Supreme Court Justices are not elected. American ‘democracy’ is not working. Especially, it is not working for women.

 

 

Let me quote Jennifer Rubin, intelligent opinion writer in the Washington Post:

The dissent (by Justices Stephen G. Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor) made clear, the majority opinion is as radical as any in its history. [….] It underscores the enormous damage to women’s self-determination, autonomy and equal status as persons. And it rightly attacks the garbled history in the majority opinion, noting that the Constitution was ratified before women had the vote. In essence, the court elevates male dominance to a constitutional imperative in the 21st century.

The hypocrisy and intellectual dishonesty of the court’s right-wing justices lead to the conclusion that they have simply appointed themselves super-legislators free to impose a view of the United States as a White, Christian and male-dominated society despite the values, beliefs and choices of a majority of 330 million modern Americans.

journalism under threat : if Julian Assange goes to USA, we can say "goodbye" to investigative journalism

 6th June 2022 : we need to fight for the Freedom of the Press.

 

journalism under threat : if Julian Assange goes to USA, say "goodbye" to investigative journalism

TMS:  Journalists for Assange

JournalistsSpeakUpForAssange – TRANSCEND Media Service

24 May 2022 – Full page ad in today’s Guardian: 1800 Journalists from around the world urge the British government to block the extradition of Julian Assange. The case against him is a threat to journalists everywhere.

 

 

I had a wonderful weekend dancing in Josselin with the Breton Branch of the RSCDS, , but this subject is more important:

 

If Julian Assange goes to USA, we can say "goodbye" to investigative journalism

 

Check out the article.

https://www.transcend.org/tms/2022/06/journalists-for-assange

 

What Julian Assange did on WIKILEAKS is exactly what The Guardian, Mediapart, Le Canard Enchainé, Private Eye, the New York Times and the Washington Post ….. reveal corruption, uncover war crimes, keep tabs on government abuse. 

 

The difference: Assange and Chelsea Manning revealed AMERICAN WAR CRIMES. Other c0untries are criticized when they commit war crimes, but we are never allowed to criticize Americans. Assange and Manning revealed American hypocrisy.

 

That is their crime !   That is why they have been persecuted for 20 years by British and American officials. 

 

Assange is still wasting away in Britain’s Belmarsh prison. British and American “justice” is shamed by the Assange affair.

 

PRESIDENT BIDEN:  PLEASE RELEASE ASSANGE, withdraw the charges, stand up for Journalism, and pardon Manning as well. When war crimes are committed, it means that soldiers are out of control and whistle-blowers provide a public service. 

            Admire them !   

                                            Protect them !

 

           BE HAPPY !   DANCE FOR JOY !

Soyons heureux! Exprimez votre joie par la danse!

I have always told my children: “Scottish dancing is the summit of traditional country dance. For great dances: choose Scotland.  But the Irish have the best parties.”

The Irish know how to enjoy themselves and create joy (which is part of ‘enjoy’)!

Les Ecossais ont les meilleures danses; mais les Irlandais organisent les meilleures fêtes.

Les Celtes savent créer de la Joie. Les Américains sont en mal de Bonheur.

 

The New York Times tells us that Americans are joyless: Tish Harrison Warren (April 25^th) reports a 2020 survey showing ‘happiness’ at an all-time low. Stress, competition, ambition and aggression dominate American society, leaving little space for Joy. After 30 days fasting during month of Ramadan, ending with Eid-el-Fitr, Muslims should be feeling Joyful in early May. Ramadan is a time of reflection, of generosity and solidarity with family, neighbors and the poor. Ramadan coïncided this year with Easter, and Joy should be infusing Christians too. Ms Warren (an Anglican priest) describes Easter as 50-days of joyful celebration leading up to Pentecost. “Now celebrate, she says: Now begin to notice what there is to be joyful about. Now pay attention to goodness.”

 

                                                 An expression of pure joy, and of exquisite grace.

 

Le mois de Ramadan musulman et la fête d’Eid, tout comme les 50 jours de Pâcques pour les Chrétiens, sont sources de joie pour les croyants. En Afrique la joie s’exprime par la danse. Mais dans les mosquées et les églises aux USA, je trouve la JOIE trop souvent remplacée par des jugements négatifs et la condamnation des autres. Le Parti Républicain - en principe imbu du christianisme - manque cruellement de joie! On y trouve plus de haine que de generosité ou d’amour.

I have spent much of my life working in Africa, where dance is an expression of Joy. I have also spent a lot of time in American churches and mosques, where I seldom see much expression of ‘JOY’ – indeed a lot of American religion has become dour and censorious. The Republican Party claims Christian ideals, but where is the Joy in their politics? There is more hatred, than love or generosity. But Dance = Joy. Since I believe in promoting “the greatest happiness of the greatest number,” I preach dance.

 

Pour trouver la JOIE, il n’y a pas mieux que la danse. Une stratégie pour promouvoir “le plus grand Bonheur du plus grand nombre” est prêcher la danse. Si je souris tout le temps quand je danse, c’est parce que la musique et les mouvements me transportent aux Cieux.

 

I urge you to dance! My friend Roland Telle was telling the dancers in his RSCDS class to smile when they dance; “I don’t mean you, Robin: you smile all the time!” He’s right, and that is because music leads me to dancing, and the combination transports me to a state of heavenly joy. Give me beautiful music, a good partner and a decent set of dancers, and dance movements lift me to Paradise. As I dance, I lose Mass, like an Angel. My wife says I’m a wee bit overweight (all wives say the same), but I am weightless when I dance. I have no need of a Jeff Bezos rocket; all I need is Strathspey music or a beautiful Waltz …. and a beautiful partner to dance with, of course. When they dance well, all women become beautiful. Dancers are Angels.

Teaching our Chrildren to Dance keeps them healthy and anchored in their culture.

 

 

This delightful picture from the website of the CLUARAN website (the Scottish dance group in St Louis, on the Golfe de Morbihan in Southern Brittany) shows both the joy of dancing, and my passion for teaching children to dance. Dance brings children great fun, joyful laughter, a sense of achievement, good body posture and healthy exercise. What's not to like?  Dancing has been enhanced by the success of TV programs like Dancing with the Stars (USA) and Strictly Come Dancing (in UK) and films like Billy Elliot about a boy who wanted to dance .... and maybe by huge stage successes like Hamilton, The Lion King and West Side Story that include dancing as an integral part of their whole story. Even boys!

 

We have forgotten the cultural importance of dancing - which was traditionally linked to the masculine skills of fencing -  in European life. In Africa dancing is an integral part of daily life. This used to be true in Europe. Entertainment was poetry and music, song and dance. Now we consume entertainment on a box, while sinking unhealthily into our armchairs. In the New Year : teach children to dance! 

Here is an RSCDS picture of The Triumph danced around 1841. Our heritage!
 

 

 

we are dancing all over Brittany - most nights of the week there is Scottish dancing somewhere !

Last Sunday I danced on the coast of the Côtes d'Armor. This next Sunday I shall be dancing in Josselin, in the centre of Brittany, where the RSCDS Breton Branch will have its monthly dance : easy dances from 10am and more complex dances in the afternoon. Friday I danced in Lannion; Tuesdays I dance in Guingamp or in St Quay Perros; Mondays I sometimes dance in Rennes .... and we have a monthly Ceilidh (on the Last Sunday of every month) in Pordic, near St Brieuc. naturally, our whole approach seeks to place Scottish culture in Europe, even if the English prefer their Brexit.

Dancing is good for you.

Dancing is the most complete exercise for the body and the brain; and to these physical assets, the music brings psychological soothing while the dance groups provide social health and conviviality.  Scottish dance improves balance, while the teamwork involved in dancing the formations together contributes a different type of balance and adds very beneficial social interactions. 

Researchers have proved than DANCING IS GOOD FOR YOU !!!!!

 IT IS TIME FOR A JOKE or two

Fit and Healthy from Laughing !

A Parisian attorney representing a wealthy art collector called and asked to speak to his client, “Paul, I have some good news and, I have some bad news.”

The art collector replied, “I’ve had an awful day; let’s hear the good news first.”

The lawyer said, “Well, I met with your wife today, and she informed me that she invested $5,000 in two pictures that she thinks will bring a minimum of $15-20 million.  I think she could be right.”

Paul replied enthusiastically, “Well done!  My wife is a brilliant businesswoman!  You’ve just made my day.  Now I know I can handle the bad news.  What is it?”

The lawyer replied, “The pictures are of you with your secretary.”

   [les deux images que sa femme pense pourront lui amener $15 millions, montrent le riche PDG avec sa secrétaire]

 Paul's blonde secretary was called Nicole, and she attended evening classes for blonde girls. Teacher: "Who can show us America on the world map?"  Nicole gets up and proudly points to the U.S.A.

"Very good," says the Teacher. "And now, who discovered America?" 

All the other blonde girls shout out in unison: "It was Nicole."