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.

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 !  

January 25th people all over the world will celebrate the 260th birthday of Scotland's national poet Robert Burns. They say that only Queen Victoria and Christopher Columbus have more statues in their honour, making Burns Number Three (since all those statues of Lenin and Stalin were pulled down, I suppose). I shall dance for Burns at the New York RSCDS party this coming Thursday. And Jan 29th I plan to dance in Edinburgh where I shall certainly drink to Burns' memory somewhere along the Royal Mile. Burns was an important product of the Scottish Enlightenment, alongside luminaries like Adam Smith, David Hume, Adam Ferguson ....  and Burns' contribution to Scottish music and dance is also considerable. In my book I Dance Therefore I Am, there is a whole chapter about Burns and his rival as Scotland's most famous poet: William MacGonagall. It is hilarious!

Robert Burns Born: January 25, 1759, Alloway, Ayrshire

Died: July 21, 1796, Dumfries RIP.

Snow stopped the dancing tonight: a great evening of WALTZ and CONTRA spoiled (more by fear than by weather, actually: Michelle says it only takes three snowflakes to close all the schools in Virginia!). But I have happy memories of contra last time I was in the famous Glen Echo Spanish Ballroom where we had a great party with the band Hot Coffee ( they were really hot!) and with caller Kappy Laning (she was really Kappy!). My book I DANCE THEREFORE I AM contains great stories about contra dancing, and ways to make your dancing better and promote happiness. We hate NOODLES and BULLIES on the contra dance floor; and we like women who are light dancers and who do not kill our backs!  For how not to be a noodle or a bully, read my book!

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.

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

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 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!