St Andrews Day, Nov 30th: since we cannot dance, let us celebrate with this portrait of Bonny Prince Charlie, leader of the 1745 rebellion against England's imported German kings from Hanover. Prince Charles Edward Stuart is kissing the hand of Flora MacDonald .... the lady who helped the prince escape Over The Sea To Skye after his defeat by "Butcher Cumberland" (son of George II) at the Battle of Culloden on 15th April 1746. That was the end of the Stuart challenge. Bonny Prince Charlie lived the rest of his life in France, and is buried in the chapel of the Scottish College, beside the Sorbonne.
 

Dancing Hippos, my hilarious monthly Blogging Letter

Dancing Hippos is the name of my Blog Newsletter. If you are not on the mailing list, then write to DancingHipposNewsletter@gmail.com and we will put you on the mailing list. And if you do receive it already, then please share it with friends. A lot of people have told me it cheers them up at this difficult time of isolation, confinement and worry about viral infection. Dancing Hippos are not as elegant as Dancing Scotsmen, but they reflect my dancing and the happiness of my life in Africa.

Two joyful portraits to raise your confined spirits

REP visiting RSCDS Edinburgh in 2019; and my son's portrait of me in 1980 when I looked fresher and young Edward was four years old at French pre-school. He might have been a Picasso, but he neglected his artistic talent - and even his Highland Dancing medals - to become a lawyer.

Highland Dance is strong and elegant, and quite different from the country dances I most enjoy. I used to enjoy Highland when I still had a youthful spring in my step. Now that I can only lift myself one inch off the ground, I have established the rule that I will demonstrate Highland only to people sitting in wheelchairs. When we raise our arms in Highland, we are imitating the antlers of a great stag - from which it become obvious that this was a male hunters' style of dancing. In this painting, Janet McCrorie shows very well the youth as well as the strength of the dancers. Who are female. In my book I DANCE THEREFORE I AM, you will meet many great female dancers including some who teach Highland and Ladies' Step Dancing which a related genre. So much fun !

Dancing and Dementia

Dancing reverses signs of an aging brain

Crosswords are fine; Yoga is good for you; but research shows that DANCING is most successful in stimulating the mind and the body, balance, memory and focus.  Dance to stay fit & healthy!

As we grow older we suffer a decline in mental and physical fitness, which can be made worse by conditions like Alzheimer's disease. A new study, published in the open-access journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, shows that older people who routinely partake in physical exercise can reverse the signs of aging in the brain, and dancing has the most profound effect.

"Exercise has the beneficial effect of slowing down or even counteracting age-related decline in mental and physical capacity," says Dr Kathrin Rehfeld, lead author of the study, based at the German center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Magdeburg, Germany. "In this study, we show that two different types of physical exercise (dancing and endurance training) both increase the area of the brain that declines with age. In comparison, it was only dancing that led to noticeable behavioral changes in terms of improved balance."

Elderly volunteers, with an average age of 68, were recruited to the study and assigned either an eighteen-month weekly course of learning dance routines, or endurance and flexibility training. Both groups showed an increase in the hippocampus region of the brain. This is important because this area can be prone to age-related decline and is affected by diseases like Alzheimer's. It also plays a key role in memory and learning, as well as keeping one's balance.
While previous research has shown that physical exercise can combat age-related brain decline, it is not known if one type of exercise can be better than another. To assess this, the exercise routines given to the volunteers differed. The traditional fitness training program conducted mainly repetitive exercises, such as cycling or Nordic walking, but the dance group were challenged with something new each week.

Dr Rehfeld explains, "We tried to provide our seniors in the dance group with constantly changing dance routines of different genres (Jazz, Square, Latin-American and Line Dance). Steps, arm-patterns, formations, speed and rhythms were changed every second week to keep them in a constant learning process. The most challenging aspect for them was to recall the routines under the pressure of time and without any cues from the instructor."
These extra challenges are thought to account for the noticeable difference in balance displayed by those participants in dancing group. Dr Rehfeld and her colleagues are building on this research to trial new fitness programs that have the potential of maximizing anti-aging effects on the brain.

"Right now, we are evaluating a new system called "Jymmin" (jamming and gymnastic). This is a sensor-based system which generates sounds (melodies, rhythm) based on physical activity. We know that dementia patients react strongly when listening to music. We want to combine the promising aspects of physical activity and active music making in a feasibility study with dementia patients."

Dr Rehfeld concludes with advice that could get us up out of our seats and dancing to our favorite beat.
"I believe that everybody would like to live an independent and healthy life, for as long as possible. Physical activity is one of the lifestyle factors that can contribute to this, counteracting several risk factors and slowing down age-related decline. I think dancing is a powerful tool to set new challenges for body and mind, especially in older age."
This study falls into a broader collection of research investigating the cognitive and neural effects of physical and cognitive activity across the lifespan.

Source for this information: Kathrin Rehfeld et al, Dancing or Fitness Sport? The Effects of Two Training Programs on Hippocampal Plasticity and Balance Abilities in Healthy Seniors, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (2017). DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00305

Journal information: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

Scottish country and highland from #Janet McCrorie

Two more beautiful pictures from my favourite dance painter, sold to support #RSCDS.