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.

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 !!!!!

RSCDS Breton Branch danced in Josselin on Sunday 13th June 2021 HURRAH!

 

WE DID DANCE AGAIN : RSCDS Breton Branch danced in Josselin on Sunday 13th June 2021

As soon as French government rules allowed outside gatherings, the Breton Branch members came together to dance in the beautiful medieval city of Josselin, where - as ever - Branch President Dr Penny Gibbs was a generous host.

Dance teacher Anne MacLennan provided a set of easy dances suitable for beginners with slow feet, and also for advanced dancers using their rusty feet undanced for the past 18 months. Dancing outside on an earth surface with small pebbles, we chose to wear sports shoes instead of ballet pumps or ghillies. This was a good surface for dancing.

 

 

 

 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.

 

 

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 !
 

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.
 

The Lawnmower Reel - a dance for confinement and for Carol Warner

This was the week that we were supposed to be organizing the annual Scots Bonnet bilingual St Quay Perros in Brittany. Instead of which, I am mowing my lawn. So I devised a Scottish dance that everyone can manage at home, dancing by yourself if needs be. I wrote it for Carol Warner's birthday, celebrating 30 years of her loyal service as treasurer of the Richmond Scottish Country Dancers.
Try it in  on the lawn in your own garden!

The Lawn Mower Reel March-June 2020   

written for Carol Warner's birthday June 24th  2020: "Happy Birthday CAROL" 

Devisor: Robin Edward Poulton of RSCDS-Breton Branch, also Richmond VA and Scots Bonnet St Quay

Reel   8 x 40 bars   2 Couple Repeat  4 Couple Set  Longwise Set  OR FOR ONE PERSON CONFINED

            Since dancing stopped, my physical activity has reduced to dancing with my lawn mower.

Music: Kingussie Flower (Book 21) works very well. Most 40-bar reels will do fine.

  1-8   1s cast down the outside and back again (mowing the edges of your lawn); 

  9-16 1s down the middle and back (mowing the centre of your lawn) 

17-24 1s down the middle for 4 bars and turn right hand  (mowing around a flower bed)

            2s step up on 23-24

25-32 1s dance back up to 2^nd place and turn left hand (another flower bed) remaining in the middle for

33-40  Poussette. 1s finish in 1^st place to begin again, since there are probably no 2s or 3s or 4s

            The Poussette is putting the lawn mower back in the garage to go off for a well-earned drink

This dance is part of the “Robern”  collection of satirical dances (Bern & Robin) that are huge fun but that no one will ever actually dance.

So France has begun a cautious deconfinement, while UK and USA blunder their way forward into more death and infection. But what I wanna know is WHEN can we DANCE again???? Here is an inspired vision by artist Janet McCrorie of "Pink Mist" (this is the Scottish concept of "Mist" and not the German meaning) where I can envision myself as the man in the kilt .... probably a Scottish waltz on an American dance floor with twirling and swirling. And who would be my partner?

This beautiful RSCDS card by talented artist Janet McCrorie is called "Roon aboot" and it appears to show two elegant couples dancing left hands across. Dancers are wearing red and green kilts, a red dress and a green dress. You can see the movement, feel the reel and the swirl. You can buy Janet's cards from the RSCDS bookshop: perfect for birthdays, for congratulations or for condolences.

I danced with Paris RSCDS at their 35th anniversary Ball. I had a good time, with some great dancing to music played by Parisians led by The Black Bear duet from Brisbane. What a great evening! Merci à nos amis de Paris. I met Antoine Rousseau for the first time, and he is a wonderful dancer! Even when I was young, I do not believe I danced as elegantly as Antoine. Antoine dancing the poussette with Emma was a dream come true! I must definitely return to Paris - where I used to dance in the 1970s with the parents of Patrick Chamoin, both of whom were rigorous RSCDS dance teachers..

Glorious Scottish music and dance

 One of Janet McCrorie's wonderful paintings: ROON ABOOT is the title.
Below is the author of this blog, Robin in specs and black tie chatting with musician extraordinaire and source of so many wonderful musical arrangements: cellist Ralph Gordon, in Washington D.C.

 Dancing has started again after the Summer break. Dancing with young people (even with very young people) is not only important, but lovely to do. My book (below) argues that dance teachers should commit to teaching children as well as adults, or they should not receive RSCDS certificates
because we are killing the dance culture that we love if we do not teach our kids. My children Edward and Catherine (shown on the book cover) dance very well. So should all our children.
This book is full of wisdom and dancing, stories and laughter: the perfect gift for your friends.

Demo-level dancing on a Tuesday night: what a treat !

We had such a GREAT dance evening in Richmond this Tuesday at The Dance Space with its beautiful wood floor - we produced a set of demonstration level dances with wonderful women dancers : Moira and Tina are two of the best dancers I have ever had the joy of seeing, as well as Julie, Susan, Rochelle, Elisabeth, Carol….. and there were five demo-level men dancing: Scott Morrison, John Thoburn, Malcolm Shealey, Bern Runk and the author of that now-famous dancing memoir I DANCE THEREFORE I AM.

Which we proved to be true this evening.  

Janet McCrorie's painting called CLASP illustrates perfectly the fun we had tonight.  

Buy Janet's greetings cards! They benefit the RSCDS and they are fine cards.

We danced some fun and tricky dances including Mrs MacPherson of Inveran; The Clumsy Lover (he was not present on the dance floor this evening, but he obviously liked to set-and-link); Jean Martin of Aberdeen (a lovely Strathspey for a lovely lady); Napier’s Index with its fun reels and 4-bar turns; and others.

The RSCDS Richmond Christmas dance program looks enticing..….. especially when you think who will be dancing there. Plan to be in Richmond VA on December 7th this year !  

Another beautiful dance painting BEFORE YOUR EYES by Janet McCrorie, whose art I am privileged to show you. Like my amusing book I DANCE THEREFORE I AM, sales of Janet McCrorie's paintings and elegant greetings cards benefit the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society of which we are proud members - in my own case, a Life Member since 1967 when I was still a student at St Andrews University dancing every week with the university's Celtic Society. I still send occasional donations to the Celtic Society, to encourage the art and practice and joy of DANCING among young people! I have a lifetime of pleasure on the dance floor.  My own children Catherine Leila and Edward can be seen dancing on the cover of my book: the perfect gift for a dance friend.

More beautiful Janet McCrorie dance pictures

"On your toes" and

and "Pink Mist" - sweet dance movements with whirl and swirl: thank you, Janet

I DANCE THEREFORE I AM -  it keeps me healthy and happy !

UK's Health Secretary supports DANCING for health

A new initiative launched by British Health Secretary Matt Hancock, doctors in the U.K. will soon be able to prescribe dance classes—along with art, music, sports, gardening and more—for patients suffering from conditions as various as dementia, lung problems and mental health issues.

In the Nov 2018 issue of Dance Magazine, reporter Lauren Wingenroth reported just how significant an impact movement can have as a form of treatment. For instance, when Mark Morris Dance Group's successful Dance for Parkinson's Disease program was profiled in the Journal of Neural Transmission in 2016, researchers found that patients who took 16 classes over eight weeks showed a 10.4 percent improvement in overall movement, a 26.7 percent improvement in walking and a 18.5 percent improvement in tremors. In 2010.

DANCE FIT AND HEALTHY is the theme of my blog; and my amusing book on this subject is called "I Dance Therefore I Am"  .... which you can buy on Amazon. 

teaching children to dance

Dance is an important part of our culture. Families and communities used to dance every week. We used to create our our entertainment with music and dance and stories. Now we consume, seated and lazy. It is the wonderful experience of dance that gets children moving and gives them the belief that they are beautiful, exciting physical people. Here we are dancing with kids in Josselin.

Thistle School has begun July 2019

Friends of mine are dancing in North Carolina at the famous Thistle School, now in its 39th and final year of existence. The great Mo Rutherford and Neil Copland (wonderful musicians celebrated in the Perth chapter of my book "I Dance Therefore I Am") are providing the music. Thistle School is world famous.  Let us salute Duard and Betty Lee for their dedication to dancing and for their many years of success in promoting "the greatest happiness of the greatest number" through Scottish dance. This banner hangs outside the dormitory building at Thistle School: