Great dancing requires great music - I describe both in my dance book

 

As we reach the end of the year 2024, it is time wish you all a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR and to remind my dancing friends about my book praising dance and beautiful dancing women. I also recount ghost stories about St Andrews, and tales of wonderful dancing in Virginia and Scotland and elsewhere. Oh yes, I also promote "the greatest happiness of the greatest number" - the excellent utilitarian philosophy of Scottish genius John Stuart Mill. 

There is good belly laugh on nearly every page, and the book also offers you a full Ball programme.

I have been lucky during my long life to dance with some exceptional women. You can meet them in my book.  To dance, is to become beautiful. Dance is also a team sport:  the joy of working together to produce a great result.  Start with a fabulous partner, fit the two of you into a team of six or eight dancers, and you create - together - a beautiful feeling of partnership with the musicians, producing a form of physical and spiritual perfection. 

Ah yes!  The musicians! There is no great dancing without great dance music.

Let me here pay tribute to some of the wonderful musicians who have paved my path : Dave  Wiesler, David Knight, Mara Shea, Hanneke Cassel, Liz Donaldson and Elke Baker at Scottish Weekend; Ralph Gordon and Dan Emery; John and Moira Turner with their generations of Jinkers;  Bobby Brown in Canada; Mo Rutherford and her husband Neil Copeland in Perth; Billy Anderson in my days at St Andrews; Robert Mackay and Muriel Johnstone at RSCDS Summer School; Ian Robertson visiting France and - most recently - the Paris Band which creates great dance music and great vibes for the younger generation of which they are all members.  

In must mention George Leila and the Brady Brothers - Luke and Adam who represent the best of the future of our precious RSCDS (beneficiary of profits from sales of my dance book). I have enjoyed many, many other musicians but these are the dance magicians to whom I feel personally most attached. 

I thank you all for the joy that your musical talent has brought me over the years.

A picture of my favorite 3Ds: Emery, Wiesler, and Knight - those grey stones look like St Andrews.

Hogmanay is a time when most of my friends across the word will be celebrating the New Year 2025 on the dance floor. Have fun!  Dance well ! I'll be thinking of thee ! and may the new year bring thee joy ! 

Wanna see me dance? Go here: https://www.scottish-country-dancing-dictionary.com/video/silver-thistle-ball.html

The Silver Thistle Ball is a beautiful strathspey, created by Moira Turner and Stella Fogg with Dave Wiesler's music.  Later Moira created a surprise dance for Stella, a wee lassie who was born in Gourock, and as you may well imagine when you see it, the dance took us a long time to master:

https://www.scottish-country-dancing-dictionary.com/video/wee-lassie-fae-gourock.html 

This WINTER I am keeping my BODY warm, not the whole house.

 

In Winter I wear wool and keep close to the fire. When I was a child, Winter mornings formed ice on the inside of my bedroom windows. The bedroom was freezing. The wintry 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 (long woollen stockings worn over short socks to protect the wool). My several layers of clothing include a woollen sweater. Sometimes two. In the evening I add a scarf to protect my neck, even indoors.

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. 

Until mid-November the temperatures were mild. Today is a true December day calling for 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!

Heating with a fuel or gas boiler (or a modern heat pump) 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 warm, pollute too much, spend too extravagantly. We can easily economize and live healthy if we focus on keeping our bodies warm instead of heating the whole house. Stay warm and healthy, my friends, and KEEP DANCING !

I only experienced this sort of snow when I lived in the mountains of Afghanistan. By then, in the 1970s, the adventure was exciting: we were working for UNICEF in a mountain village cut off for 6 months of the year by snow, with packs of wolves roaming around our mud house at night. 

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.