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 shall dance again !!!!  Nous allons danser! On Sunday June 13th in Josselin, in the centre of Brittany, the Scottish Dancers of the RSCDS Breton Branch will be dancing out of doors, in open-air safety with masks for some and clean hands for all. Here is our core group of RSCDS demonstration dancers at the Cours Josselin de Rohan in 2019. We last danced on 19th  Jan 2020. Sigh!

 

We will start dancing Sunday at 11am on the medieval tilting yard, now called La Promenade but traditionally known as the Cours de Josselin de Rohan, where the Dukes of Rohan organized their jousting from the 1100s until the late 1500s. This illustration is from de arte athletica in the 1540s:

                                Renaissance era illumination from Paulus Hector Mair (Wiki)

We are ATHLETICA people ourselves, for dancing is real sport: although I doubt if our muscles will function very precisely after 18 months without any jig, reel or strathspey. The fact that we will be dancing on hard earth, and not on a ballroom floor, will not matter much. I shall wear gym shoes, not dance ghillies, through which my feet would feel every pebble. Come and join us if you are near!

We hope everyone will soon be dancing again. Dancing in the open air has a long and happy tradition.

We will be dancing clothed. I will shake out my kilts and loosen my belt to allow space to accommodate my "Covid Bonus" of five or six pounds (I no longer trust my scales to tell me the truth), and drive over to the beautiful medieval city of #Josselin to renew my love of Scottish dance. Here is the castle.

 

 

Napoleon Bonaparte was an irredeemable racist, sexist, and despot - good that he died (200 years ago).

 NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, emperor and racist

May 5th 1821 Boney died: the world heaved a sigh of relief. 

Napoleon Bonaparte: “an irredeemable racist, sexist, and despot”

writes Professor Marlene L. Daut of UVA Charlottesville in her article for the New York Times.

  https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/18/opinion/france-year-of-napoleon.html

“La France est le seul pays qui avait réinstallé l’esclavage après l’avoir aboli.”

 France is the only country that ever re-introduced slavery after its abolition.

ALTHOUGH we should not forget that slavery continued in USA after abolition (and its effects still continue) ; nor that Britain and others supported apartheid in South Africa ; nor that French, British, Portuguese, Belgian and Spanish colonialism was a form of slavery, often including sexual abuse, war crimes and genocide ; nor that Arab nations today practice slavery in many different forms.

 So here are two very different men: Toussaint Louverture led the Haitian Revolution of 1791, then allied with Revolutionary France when the French abolished slavery in 1794; and who died in 1803 in a French prison after Bonaparte sent an army in 1802 to conquer Haiti and re-establish slavery. Boney is the one in the hat.

We do NOT celebrate Boney. Want a happy life?  Then you do not want another Bonaparte!

Everyone knows that Bonaparte was a general who crowned himself Emperor, eliminating the French Republic.

Why do French Republicans and democrats worship a man who made himself Emperor?

General Bonaparte made war on all his neighbors, selling Louisiana to Jefferson to pay for his warmongering in Europe. First the Russians beat him …. then finally Boney “met his Waterloo” in 1814.

Dr Daut writes: “As a Black woman of Haitian descent and a scholar of French colonialism, I find it particularly galling to see that France plans to celebrate the man who restored slavery to the French Caribbean, an architect of modern genocide, whose troops created gas chambers to kill my ancestors.”

Né esclave, c’est en tant qu’homme libre que Toussaint prend la tête en 1791 de la revolution haîtienne à St Domingue. En 1794 la Révolution française abolit l’esclavage et Toussaint Louverture embrasse la France. C’est Napoléon qui réimposera l’esclavage en 1802 en dont l’armée trahira Toussaint, qui mourra en 1803. Refusant de céder, Haïti obtiendra son indépendance en 1804. Pourquoi célébrer ce tyran français symbole d’oppression par les Blancs, qui trépassa le 5 mai 1821 en exil sur l’île St Heléna? Marlene déplore celui qui avait restoré l’esclavage aux Caraïbes, inventé le genocide et dont les soldats avaient créé des chambres à gaz pour tuer ses ancêtres haïtiens.

 

“In 1794, in the wake of the revolution that transformed France from a monarchy into a republic …. France declared slavery’s abolition throughout its territory. But in 1802, Napoleon …. reversed that decision, making France the only country to ever have brought back chattel slavery after abolishing it,” writes Daut. 

 

Let me tell you, folks:  Boney was a warmonger, a racist, and I am not supporting any celebration of his life. He also burned the flax crops in Brittany - where I am writing this blog post - in order to destroy the Breton economy and weaken resistance to Napoleonic domination. Do I like him? No! 

Beltaine is a Celtic Festival of Fire and Maypole dancing for the Merry Month of May.

 And so we celebrated Beltaine 2021 on the Friday night of April 30th, which was considered the Night of Beltaine when our ancestors considered that a day began at dusk. Of course, we our celebration was Covid-restricted: only 6 people allowed to meet, and no travel allowed after 7pm. So our friends Mikael Morice and Sylvie Le Moel welcomed us to their home, where they built a maypole for six ribbons, and fire to warm six people: who drank Beltaine champagne and ate Beltaine oysters. Yummy. 

I wore the kilt, but our dancing was limited to skipping around the Maypole and wrapping it in coloured ribbons. When pandemic restrictions ease, we hope to use it for children's entertainment and education.

Beltaine is one of the great Celtic events - taken over by the Catholic Church in Germany as Sankt Walpurgisnacht:  the nun St Walpurga was born in Devon, and she carried her English version of the gospel to convert Germanic heathens. No one in England has ever heard of her!  In France, the cleansing fires of Beltaine became the Feast of St Jean (John) on June 24th. We can still celebrate the Start of the Season of Light, the end of the 40 days of Nauruz (the Persian New Year that our Indo-European ancestors celebrated, starting with the Spring Equinox on March 21st). And so we did. 

We danced, we read poetry, we heard music (notably Gounod's "Faust") and we ate good food, washed down with a magnum of rosé wine. We would have wanted this to be a celebration for the Jumelage, the Town Twinning between Pordic, our Breton village, and the Cornish town of Hayle which we cannot visit because of the pandemic..... and we could not celebrate with the 40-odd French members of the Pordic-Hayle Jumelage. We celebrated with the president, our friend Claudine Mizzon, vice-president (my wife Michelle) and with our hosts who are also Jumelage Board Members. With their talented 15-year-old son Pierre. So I wish everyone a very joyful Merry Month of May. And next year maybe we can celebrate Beltaine like this, with 100 people.

 

Here are Breton Druids celebrating BENTAINE and the Season of Light 

deep in the Forêt de Brocéliande, a place that is filled with Arthurian legends
 

Remembering HRH Prince Philip and thinking of our RSCDS Patron Her Majesty The Queen

 Prince Philip died on April 9^th 2021. The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince and First Gentleman of the United Kingdom (the title that placed him hierarchically above the Prince of Wales) was an outstanding British personality, a great servant to the United Kingdom and to the Commonwealth. A remarkable innovator of British engineering and of charitable activities, he liked to say “a good business makes money, and a good charity needs money.” He was talking mainly about youth activities he launched including the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme; the Playing Fields Association and many others. We share everyone’s sorrow.

In a very early letter shared with author Betty Shew, the then Princess Elizabeth wrote “we both loved dancing.”  I have visited the ballroom at Balmoral Palace (and many other palaces) and imagined how wonderful it would be to dance there. But videos of balls suggest that aristocrats are mostly ‘reelers’ rather than RSCDS dancers. If some of us in the RSCDS are a wee bit snobbish about our dancing, there is only sincerity in our admiration and affection for the Royal Family.

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN !

 

Imagine dancing on grass in June 2021 - let's do it!

The best way to start dancing again, as soon as most people have been vaccinated, will be to dance outside in the Summer sunshine. Risks of passing a virus are reduced twenty-fold in the open air. 

 People dance outside all the time, often on grass. Grass is not great for perfect foot positions, but who is going to have perfect feet after a year of watching videos?  Above is a photo my dear late father watching Highland Dance on grass at the Chichester Festival. Thousands of dancers participate in such festivals each year. The painting below shows that our ancestors gaily danced in the open air.  In June 2021, dancing on grass is the way to restart the health and happiness of dancing....  so talk to your friends and tell them to get ready for dancing on the lawn !
 

What should we think about Harry and Meghan? Let's wish them to be happy, and to dance.

 

 

Their royal interview with Oprah Winfrey seen on March 8th 2021, revealed unhappiness and fear during Harry and Meghan's life in London. Since we know that the British tabloid press (led by the abominable, anti-royalist Rupert Murdoch) hounded Princess Diana to her death, Harry was quite right to remove his wife from their nauseous racist persecution. On March 9th the self-satisfied White ITV broadcaster Piers Morgan was called out on live television by his Brown colleague Alex Beresford for consistently 'trashing' Meghan Markle on television....and Morgan couldn’t take it. He walked out of the studio and out of his job presenting ITV's Good Morning Britain. We are well rid of him. This was a considerable victory for Meghan.

Well done Alex Beresford, who seems a very pleasant man.

Meghan in Britain had to endure day-to-day racism, micro-aggressions, hypocrisy, and double standards screaming at her from the vicious unstoppable internet and from the tabloids. “I thought they would be fair” said Meghan: but the British tabloids are never ‘fair’ in their peddling of prejudice. I am not surprised that she was unhappy.

Meghan is a victim of the shameful racism in British society. Her mental health was put under strain, and Harry took her away from the hatred. It is tragic that the British have lost this beautiful and talented woman. Her departure is Britain’s loss …. And the Brits have lost their popular and interesting Prince Harry as well.

While I am glad Meghan won her court case against the Sunday Mail - and I hope she and Harry will win their other legal cases - law courts are a very American response to the problem. They are not necessarily the best path for the Royal Family to follow. “The Firm” usually sticks with the advice of 19^th century prime minister Benjamin Disraeli about press coverage: “Never complain, Never explain.”

 

When I have been attacked in the press (very rarely), I have followed that rule and it served me well.

While it might seem smart to meet with Oprah Winfrey this week, I fear that the interview will haunt them repeatedly over the next 40 years. Let’s hope they will find peace and happiness. Perhaps their hoped-for success in USA will mean that one day they will be better appreciated by the British. They might then reintegrate British public life. I pray so. In the meantime I wish them every happiness and good luck in California.

My piece of advice to the young couple: Make sure that you DANCE together. Nothing is healthier, or more romantic.

Waltzing in the magnificent Spanish Ballroom .... or waltzing all by yourself

 

This picture shows Waltzing in the magnificent Spanish Ballroom at Glen Echo Park in Maryland, USA ..... happy memories of yesteryear, before the Covid-19 pandemic closed public spaces and blocked our dancing passion. This picture shows the amazing SWALLOWTAIL dance band. 

Wanna hear them?  TRY   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duUlgCvjNzE

GOOD NEWS:  you can dance to Waltz music, even if you are alone. Tu peux danser avec toi-même.

Grete Wiesenthal (1885-1970) was an Austrian dancer, actor, choreographer, and dance teacher who found ballet too static, the Court Opera too stiff, too removed from the feel of the music. Using the waltz music of Strauss and Chopin, Grete became a Modern Dance Innovator, transforming the Viennese Waltz of her home city from a ballroom staple into a wildly ecstatic solo dance form. Her dramatic choreography with "swirling, euphoric movement and suspended arches of the body" was described as “ecstatic.” The dancers swirled in a “spherical dance” bent backwards with unbound hair and swinging dresses."  Here is Grete performing her Blue Danube solo spherical dance. Wild Waltzing!

Grete trouvait le ballet trop rigide, négligeant les émotions exprimées par la musique. Elle a donc inventé sa propre choréographie qui transforma le WALTZ en danse solo dramatique provoquant une ‘extase’ avec ses mouvements tournoyants ….. Une danse moderne de son époque.

This choreography made Wiesenthal a leading figure in Austrian dance and when she visited New York in 1912, Americans loved her!   You can read more, and hear my choice of Waltz music, if you read my monthly letter of jokes and stories THE DANCING HIPPO.  

visit my website: https://robinpoulton.com         English and French ..... and see my books !

The correct response to Fascism is not compromise: QAnon and hate speech need to be attacked head-on

 

After the invasion of - and temporary suspension of - Congress, what is the correct response? As a peace maker, you might think I would opt for compromise, but that is not my position. A surgeon faced with a cancerous tumor does not wait until the tumor gets bigger: he cuts it out as soon as possible, and radiates the surrounding area to ensure the cancer does not grow back. QAnon is a cancer in the American body politic, and it needs to be treated like the Fascist Cancer it has become.

Gregory Stanton, founding president of Genocide Watch, explains: “QAnon’s conspiracy theory is copied from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a conspiracy theory promoted the Nazi party that helped Hitler come to power in Germany.

Stanton argues that QAnon is simply the Nazi cult rebranded. “Two definitions of a cult are: a relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister; and a misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular person or thing: a cult of personality surrounding the leaders. QAnon’s strange and sinister beliefs qualify it as a cult, as does QAnon’s misplaced admiration for Donald Trump.”

 

Washington Post journalists have studied the history and social media of Ashli Babbitt, the fanatical, over-hyped San Diego woman who was shot by police as she tried to break into the Speaker's Lobby during the insurrectionist riot that took over parts of the Capitol, Ashli's profile fits that of susceptible people who find themselves "at sea" in society, unable to cope in our overly complex and fast-moving world, and who develop feelings of alienation that suck them into a Cult like QAnon, with its lurid claims of child-trafficking paedophiles including - among others - Hillary Clinton, Hollywood stars, Jewish financiers and Democrat politicians, and even (as highlighted in the unbelievably awful 'Left Behind' books that have sold 50 million copies in the USA), a wicked United Nations Secretary-General with a Rumanian name who covertly helps the paedophiles and financial manipulators to rule the world. Only President Trump can bring them to justice with his secret plan that will deliver what QAnon’s disciples refer to as “The Storm” or “The Great Awakening”.

Wit is one of the medicines against extremism and excess. But wit is not a cure.

Robert Johnson, who helps moderate the Qanoncasualties site after watching a relative fall victim to the movement, warned anyone can fall down the QAnon rabbit hole.

“How fast someone can be sucked in? If they are susceptible, I’d say five days to start believing. If they have an underlying condition, they can reach mania in a week.”

The question is: What do you do with a Fascist Cult?  

The answer from historical experience seems that you need to crush the Fascism before it crushes you. You do not compromise. You do impeach Donald Trump. You do imprison all those people who invaded the Capitol, breaching and looting the Temple of American Democracy. You forcibly remove electoral gerrymandering through the creation of an Independent Electoral Commission in every U.S. State to supervise elections, electoral registration and redistricting. You clean out the Capitol Police who appear to have been complicit in the invasion of the Capitol. You implement radical police reforms in America: not 'defunding' the police (which is a silly slogan), but removing their military weapons which are inappropriate to policing. You  insist that the thousands of different and often mis-managed police forces throughout America adopt community policing standards in place of their bullying repressive culture. Swat teams and repressive functions should be restricted to State Police.

The new Attorney General must ensure that IMPARTIAL JUSTICE is offered to all the people of the United States of America. Better police standards. Better coordination with and between courts

But that is not all. The Internet needs to be regulated to promote freedom of expression without insult and abuse, without hatred and racism. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Google ..... all have been guilty of propagating - and indeed encouraging - hate speech. Their banning of Donald Trump AFTER the invasion of the Capitol is proof of their last-minute panic, once the Georgia Senate elections were decided in favor of the Democrats. Regulation is what keeps society safe. Corporations can never be trusted to make decisions that benefit society. They benefit only themselves. The First law of Capitalism is: "profit myself" and not society at large.

The biggest problems on the web seem to be anonymity and impunity. If people are traceable, accountable and prosecutable for their aggressivity - and if the hate-mongers are prosecuted - then we may be able to reduce to evils of the world wide web, return it to its primary purpose of promoting happiness. We must fight the Fascism major players have been promoting (unwittingly or knowingly). 

Many distinguished people have retired from public life because they no longer wish to face the threats and the insults. Civic discourse needs to be restored. Freedom of speech needs to be matched by the obligation to listen. Death threats should be unacceptable in any society:  people who make them should be forced into many hours of reconversion therapy in an institutional setting, + many days of anger management training at their own expense, + many months of community-service. 

No compromise. The Fascist Cancer needs to be vanquished.

The problem is complex and the solutions are complicated: so the sooner we start to attack the problem by outlawing hate speech and reforming those who promote it, the happier we shall be.

 

Dancing is precious: we shall dance in 2021 !

 

 Happy New Year  -  Bonne Année 2021 - aw sanbé sanbé  -  Frohes neues Jahr  - Bloavez Mad! 

Would you believe that?  My New Year gift (actually Xmas) is a TREADMILL. In British and American history, the treadmill's miserable history illustrates the awfulness of English values.

In 1817, millwright/engineer William Cubitt saw prisoners sitting idle. Instead of training or useful work,  he invented the tread-mill to “reform offenders by teaching them habits of industry.” 19th-century penal treadmills were wide wheels fitted with steps. Prisoners sentenced to “hard labour” would climb the steps repeatedly, causing the entire wheel to rotate. The penal treadmill was “the perfect punishment” by Victorian standards: useless but exhausting task that fitted with Victorian ideals about atonement achieved through hard work. Merciless hard work. The "Workhouses" used them as well, creating "work" for the "idle poor" ..... never wondering whether the wealthy were responsible for their poverty, the misery of rickets, the brutality of child labor. Some treadmills were used to grind corn. Others were simply a waking, walking hell. I once tried it in a museum. It was horrible.

Oscar Wilde walked a treadmill in Pentonville Prison as part of his 1895 hard labour sentence and it almost killed him. He left prison in 1897 and died just two years later, aged 46. The Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline called them a “preventative punishment” .... the priggish rich thought that no-one who experienced the treadmill would ever want to commit another crime. If they did - like stealing a loaf of bread to feed starving infants - then they were transported to Georgia or to Australia.

The ghastly penal treadmills were abolished in Britain in 1902. 

 And now I have bought a treadmill.  I prefer to call it a "skiing machine" but "a rose by any other name doth smell as sweet" write Shakespeare.

My wife thinks walking a treadmill will "serve me right" .... and if I a am able to lose some of my 'Covid Bonus' of 10 pounds, then she will be proved correct!  My kilt will tell me, whenever I am able to dance. SO LET US PRAY: for dancing and for losing some of those pounds.