Scottish fiddler Nicola Benedetti honoured

This New Year 2019 let us salute Ayrshire violinist Nicola Benedetti CBE, who is as good on the Scottish fiddle as she is on the classical violin. Nicola makes classical music modern and fun.

The New Year Honours List is a part of British tradition. It is probably harmless, possibly meaningless: if you know someone, they can recommend you. If not, nothing. Chance and favouritism are the two main motors for honours. Talent too, of course. While it rewards political hacks and wheeler-dealers, the New Year Honours List also allows lowly-but-worthy national servants of the police force, nursing, post office and many other professions to find recognition, as well as stars of music and dance, cricketers, footballers and television stars who regularly feature.

When someone as talented and as interesting as Nicola Benedetti becomes a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (which is higher than MBE or OBE, but not as high as a Dame DBE), it seems to make the honours system worthwhile.

Not only Celts have reverence for the Winter Solstice

 Dancers are naturally attracted to the Solstice. Celtic dancers are drawn to the Solstice even more strongly.

IN PRAISE OF THE WINTER SOLSTICE  by William Rivers Pitt

The kindergarten teachers I know each tell the same story: Roundabout the middle of December, all the kids who celebrate Christmas transform into voracious little three-foot monsters bereft of morality or self-control. All the behaviors parents worked so diligently to instill in them collapse under the long duress of waiting for Santa.

Alas, my own daughter fell victim to the phenomenon this year. It was a jarring revelation to watch my sweet, caring, sharing, loving little girl decompensate into this ruthless feral capitalist, a frothing cauldron of I want who sees herself as the only being in all of existence. Matters did not improve at school; as it turned out, putting 15 feral capitalists in a room where they could spend all day rubbing their I want woes together exacerbated the situation dramatically. My wife and I eventually got her past this crisis of materialism, but it was remarkable nonetheless. It was as if a virus got passed from kid to kid to kid until they were all infected with an insatiable lust for more stuff.

Neither of us blamed our daughter for her behavior. In retrospect, it was thoroughly unsurprising: Here is this wee child, possessed of a moral code still in formation, gripping the live wire of Maximum Capitalism that was engineered specifically for people in her age group.

The Roman Emperor Constantine co-opted a wide variety of ancient pagan holidays in the name of Christianity in order to cement his rule, and the winter solstice celebration was foremost among them.

Today is Christmas and the solstice has passed, but amid the consumerist Christmas that corporations are pushing upon us, we can still step back and reach for the spiritual renewal at the center of the ancient solstice holiday. The wonder of the turning Earth and the life-giving sun is still with us today. Christmas consumerism may have paved it over and smothered it in advertisements, but the solstice is still there, bright green and gold, waiting to be bathed in the coming dawn.

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THIS BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN PIECE is extracted (with permission) from a longer article by Truthout senior editor William Rivers Pitt, called BEFORE CHRISTMAS THERE WAS THE SOLSTICE AND HOPE, published on Christmas Day 2018.  If you enjoyed his eloquent writing, please read more at https://truthout.org/articles/before-there-was-christmas-there-was-the-solstice-and-hope/

And please contribute to this source of independent, skeptical journalism.

Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas

NONSENCE JOKES for Christmas

1. What did Adam say the day before Christmas? It's Christmas, Eve!

This joke ignores the fact that the Garden of Eden story predates the Christmas story by around 3,700 years. Even if some pedantic Evangelical theologian wants to challenge this date estimate, surely no one doubts that the Old Testament predates the New Testament.

2. What falls at the North Pole without getting hurt? Snow.

This joke ignores global warming, which means that soon there will be no more snow and no more North Pole …. Just a ozoneless vacuous space around the planet formerly known as Earth.

3. What never eats at Christmas dinner? The turkey – it’s already stuffed.

This joke ignores the fact that our family is eating duck this Christmas, so there will be no turkey.

4. Where does Santa stay when he is on holiday? At a Ho-ho-ho-tel.

This joke ignores the fact that there has never, ever been any suggestion that Santa takes a holiday, nor is there any scientific research showing that Santa has a stammer or other speech impediment.

Music recommended for your Christmas music party

Let me tell you my top recommendation for the Christmas season would be to watch the wonderful Dutch musical impresario André Rieu making joyous music on YouTube. Rieu is such a great showman, such a great musician and so much fun!  You can start with his Christmas concert in London

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gO67YCECe4

Then go for some of his wonderful waltzes

 Then explore some videos of his “musical discoveries” like the three-year-old violist 

Akim Camara (a Malian boy) who plays solo with an orchestra and with delight, 

completely free of fear

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG5gS4Ry6RA

and Amira Willighagen the unbelievable opera singer from Netherlands aged 7

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19zrp6r3S4o with orchestra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PJWRKkMpHM with pipes aged 12

Then finish off with André's Scottish suite in Australia playing Amazing Grace

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHTdDf7DU6A

Can’t sleep? Listen to one of Rieu’s compilations of soft music for relaxation.

Waltzes are relaxing: a perfect end to your Christmas music party.

Watch Rieu's selection of YouTube music videos, and make your choice

Scotland is so beautiful: the perfect Skye sky!

Scotland is so beautiful.   Les beautés de l'Ecosse dépassent l'imagination.
Rainbow on Skye.           Arc-en-ciel sur l'Ile de Skye.
Thank you to my friend Pam Voss for this beautiful photo from Scotland.

My friend and dance teacher Moira Turner, who at this moment is running with her husband John, the champion Scottish fiddler, the Jink and Diddle fiddle school, found this piece of embroidered wisdom in a log cabin in North Carolina: "When you stumble, make it part of the dance."
That is true for dancing as it is true for life!
I often tell intermediate dancers that I make plenty of mistakes when I dance; but because I am very experienced, I am skillful in converting my stumbles into the dance. I remember one demonstration led by Moira in Richmond, where I made an error that even Moira did not notice. To err is human; covering up your stumbles elegantly demands real dancing skills!  

Scottish women are strong ... and ruthless

We are in Glasgow. A woman comes home, screeches her car to a stop in front of the house, and runs inside.

She slams the door and shouts at the top of her lungs, 'Hamish, pack your bags. I just won the Christmas lottery!'

Hamish the husband replies, 'Oh my God! That's wonderful !  Should I pack my golf clubs? Or beach stuff? Where are we going?'

'Doesn't matter where you go,' cries his wife. 'Just pack your bags and get out.'   

[Thank you to my brother Rory for this cheery Christmas tale.]

Scottish dancing is thriving in France

I DANCE THEREFORE I AM fit and healthy and happy, wherever I am dancing !  Dancing keeps me fit: mentally fit, physically fit, and spiritually fit. Scottish Dance provides a full cultural work-out.

Right now I am dancing with the RSCDS and the Scotia Dancers in New York, while supporting my dancing daughter Catherine Leïla and her new baby Emmy. I plan to celebrate Hogmanay (the last dance of 2018, followed by the first dance of 2019) with dancing friends in the Delaware Valley. In January 2019 I shall dance with my Richmond group in Virginia. In the Spring I shall be back in France, where people dance all over. I will resume dancing with the RSCDS Scots Bonnet group in St Quai Perros, and also with the less formal group Breizh Merry Dancers in Lannion. Here are these merry folk celebrating the 89th birthday of Vefa (short for Geneviève) and the 2018 Christmas Season.   Joyeux Noël à tous !!!!!

Bon anniversaire à notre Doyenne!

NAACP CALLS FOR A FACEBOOK BOYCOTT

NAACP CALLS FOR A FACEBOOK BOYCOTT

The revelations in two Senate reports about Russian subversion of Facebook and Instagram, have led the NAACP to call for a one-week boycott of Facebook. I shall therefore switch off my Facebook page until after Christmas. The reports reveal (NYT of 18Dec page A14) that the Russians’ Internet Research Agency had 1.4 million followers on its right-wing extremist pages whipping up white supremacist racial hatred and supporting Trump; and 1.2 million followers on false pages targeting Africa Americans, promoting absurd messages like “KKK gave $20m to Hillary Clinton” and seeking to depress voting by Clinton supporters. There were 77 million engagements on Facebook and 187 million on Instagram (owned by Facebook). Virtually all internet platforms were subverted by the IRA in St Petersburg, but Facebook had the largest influence and apparently the least concern. Zuckerberg and his team have been irresponsible. Since Trump “won” by 88,000 votes across three states, it is difficult to believe that the Russians did not swing the election.  What can I do? I can support the NAACP call for a Facebook boycott. 

My BLOGs will still be open  https://dancefitandhealthyat70.blogspot.com/ 

And virginiafriendsofmali.blogspot.com

Yesterday our lovely daughter Catherine Leila became a mother. 30 years ago she was dancing The Dashing White Sergeant with her uncle Rory and aunt Maureen in a family ceilidh. How time passes, and how the precious memories remain.

a new dancer was born today

My new grand daughter Emmanuelle Poulton Tamer - a future dancer - was born in New York this afternoon 16 Dec 2018. Hoorah!  A blessing:  "May the road always rise to meet her, may the wind be always in her back and with the sound of the pipes in her ears."

and welcome to your very first Christmas, Emmy !

Keep good posture by dancing

Talking of protecting good posture, here is a story about strong Scottish women:

Our lawn mower broke and my wife kept wanting me to get it fixed. Somehow I always a higher priority, like dancing or playing golf.  Finally she thought of a clever way to make her point.
I came back from golf to find her in the long grass, snipping away with a pair of scissors. I went into the house, and came out with a toothbrush saying, "When you have finished cutting the grass, you might as well sweep the driveway."
I thought that was witty.

The doctors say I will walk again, but I will never be straight and I will always have a limp.

still talking about good posture

A beautiful woman has good posture. The ones who turn our heads are the women who carry themselves like a princess. Girls who slouch look bad. One day I told three young Cambridge dancers: "When you dance, you are all fabulous. But when you stand in the set line, only one of you looks beautiful: I have noticed the other two slouch your shoulders and your allure is gone! Not only that, slouching is bad for your back." 

Back problems are ubiquitous. To avoid back pain in later life, work on your posture when you are still young. The Pilates system (invented by a ballet dancer for other dancers) teaches that the diaphragm and stomach muscles act as a "second backbone" and they help support the back. Standing strong and exercising your stomach muscles simply by holding them in while you stand, will keep your posture good and your back healthy. Here are two young men with good posture and with beautiful dancing partners: Robin and Philip with their lovely wives. Even when we are older, our posture will stay good if we remain conscious of its importance all through our dancing lives.

I Danced in New York last night

Good dancing and good teaching at the RSCDS New York Branch Thursday: thanks for your hospitality guys! Most of my partners had good posture: since that is my obsession of the week. As I say in my book: a good posterior is nothing without good posture. Here are some artistic photos of my dance evening in Manhattan.

Mother loved a man with good posture

My Mother used to say (where have you heard that before?) that SHE LOVED MEN WITH GREAT POSTURE. So pull those shoulders back, keep your chin up and keep your butt in: just as you do when you are standing in the set lines for a Scottish dance and smiling at your elegant partner. Military training is not good for peace, but it is good for posture.

A lovely review of my dance book

I just received a lovely message - A BOOK REVIEW - from Katja, one of my former peace building assistants, a talented pianist and brilliant linguist who is now hiding away in Rome with her beautiful new baby boy (he is beautiful if he looks anything like Katja): "The book is really amazing and so sweet, and I am already sad thinking it will be over soon. You should write more of this kind, I wish every grandfather did it for their grandchildren really! Your stories of childhood and life allover the globe are super interesting and the way you describe them, it's just so much fun!! I really miss you, and miss laughing with you."
ONLY $15 for the paperback from Amazon: the perfect witty and quotable Christmas gift.  BUY NOW!

They are dancing in Annecy and Grenoble

My friend Michel Monfroy sent me this picture of his Scottish Dance Demo Team who performed at a Christmas 2018 dance festival in Annecy, beside a French lake near Geneva. Dancing is international. Michel is the handsome guy with a beard - he looks a bit like me, it seems. I believe all our RSCDS dance groups should do more dance and ceilidh demonstrations, choosing in places where children and families can see us. I danced last night in a delightful ceilidh with the Scotia Dancers of New York. My grand daughter will be born this coming weekend. I shall dance for her!

December 10th is International Human Rights Day (a nod to the great work of Eleanor Roosevelt who was largely responsible for drafting and passing this important international agreement) and it is also teh day that I shall cross Manhattan to dance with the Scotia Dancers, Hurrah! Dance and keep fit; keep fit to dance; dance and be HAPPY !

This is a picture my son (white stockings) and me (black stockings) dancing The Reel of the 51st Division at the Chichester Festival in 1996. Thank you Elizabeth Dean for this lovely memory!

Let it snow and let us DANCE!

Snow in Virginia: it is pretty and the best way to enjoy it is to keep dancing! Dance keeps the blood flowing, but remember to stretch before dancing, and again before sleeping so as to avoid cramps. Have leg cramps? Drink water; eat a banana; swallow a multi-vitamin pill; stretch those muscles before sleeping and keep them warm!  I often sleep after dancing with woollen stockings pulled up over my kneecaps, to make sure leg muscles stay warm and flexible during the night. Sleep tight!

If your cup is only half full ......

in one chapter of my book "I DANCE THEREFORE I AM" I say that the Optimist sees a cup that is half full; a Pessimist sees a cup that is half empty; and an Engineer sees a cup that is twice as big as it needs to be. Here in Brooklyn, New York there is a shop down the road with a different interpretation of the same parable:

I took a trip to the New York Times building to ask them to review my book. A long shot, but you never know!  Anyone have friends in the book review business, who might enjoy reading and reviewing my book I DANCE THEREFORE I AM?

Every day that I am not dancing, I am thinking about dancing!  Scottish, Contra, English, Rennaissance .... Swing dance or Cajun, Spanish or German dancing .... and I celebrate them all - as well as many of my favourite dancing partners - in my book I DANCE THEREFORE I AM.  Buy one for Christmas !  

Keeping fit a my age ... by dancing

Men over 50 often ask me : "How do you keep so fit?"  Motivation is No 1: I NEED to keep fit and supple to dance well. I exercise four or five times per week on a yoga mat, as well as walking lots.
A second motivation: where else can I hold hands with dozens of beautiful and talented women, if not on the dance floor?  SO I MUST KEEP FIT to dance.
Third motivation: dancers are often original and exciting friends, even crazy like my mate Allan.

Here is Queen Elizabeth I with her favourite courtier, Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester, her childhood friend whom she always called her "Dear Robin"
and so it continues!

Hey, the EU requires this notice, so here it is folks! An much may you enjoy reading it.

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Rennaissance at the Court of Queen Elizabeth

Last night November 30th we presented Renaissance dances of England, France and Italy as members of the court of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth I, played by our wonderful dance mistress Lind MacDonald. She is a distinguished dance historian. It was a great show !