I had a bad dance experience in New York where I was agressed by a young woman contra dancer because I was wearing the kilt. Or simply because I was a man? This was an evening where we were called Larks & Ravens instead of Men and Women. Weird. and I felt I was being bullied. I am a man (by birth, not by choice) and now I have to be a LARK? A song bird? I claim my own freedom of speech to say that imposing Larks&Ravens is an aggression. Ravens are predators and scavengers. They feed on corpses. They pick at stinking cadavers with their pointy beaks. I do not see women as ravens. I do not see dancers as ravens. Ravens are predators without charm. Dance is charming, or it is nothing.

I protest. Some of my American women friends refuse to dance in “Lark&Raven” dance groups and several have encouraged me to write about it. So I shall become a vocal opponent of Larks&Ravens. It is equally as absurd to see the simple descriptive words  “Leaders and Followers” - or “Men and Women” - as markers of social discrimination ... as to claim that “driver” and “passenger” are discriminatory terms for users of a motor vehicle. Some of us are men and some of us are women. I can dance on the women's side of the dance, and I can dance "as a woman" without losing my identity. In contra dance, plenty of men wear skirts. It is a happy atmosphere, free of bullying disguised as political correctness. In Scottish dance, it is not even a question .... thank goodness. Men can dance with men, and women often dance with women because there are not enough male dancers. 
Larks&Ravens? Phooey! Leave people in peace to enjoy their dancing!

 

William in Edinburgh just wrote a wonderful review of my book

I am glad you enjoyed it, Will - and it was also a great idea to order a second copy from Amazon for your girlfriend.

My wife sat down next to me as I was zapping through the channels.
She asked, "What's on TV?"
I said, "Dust."
That’s when the fight started. One week later, I am still not able to talk properly.

FEET. The most beautiful part of a woman is her feet (if she is a dancer) and after her feet, I look at her eyes. If both feet and both eyes are beautiful, I WANT TO DANCE with her !!!!   The rest of her body simply joins her eyes to her feet. That is what my book is mostly about: beautiful women with elegant feet and bewitching eyes. Men can also have good dancing feet - like me!

Keeping your leg muscles healthy

After dancing, I stretch out my back and shoulders, my leg muscles and my feet and - in winter at least - I wear the woolen stockings in bed in order to keep my leg muscles warm and avoid night-time cramps in my calves and thighs. It was not necessary when I was younger, but it useful these days.

What is the most beautiful part of a woman's body?

If you are a dancer, it is the feet - obviously ... followed by the smiling eyes.  So look after your feet: wooden sprung floors, gentle stretching before and after dancing, and cool them off in cold water.

Spring is here, and April 1st is no fool's day if you are a dancer. Dancing sets everything to rights, keeps your head straight and builds strong healthy muscles. Make sure you warm up those muscles with gentle movements before you dance, and "warm down" again afterwards with some good stretching - especially of the calves and back muscles, the feet and ankles. Muscles like to be kept warm (hot shower) ....   but if you have had a good dancing work-out then your feet and ankle ligaments will appreciate a cold soak (cold water in the hand basin, or even in an ice bucket) before you take that hot shower.

Happy April.   Happy Dancing. I Dance Therefore I Am.

I am going off to dance near Vannes this weekend, in Séné on the beautiful southern coast of Brittany where I shall see several of the ladies who star in my book I DANCE THEREFORE I AM -  some of whom were also my very kind readers. It will be relaxed and friendly, as Scottish dances always are. Here is a memory of Burns Night in Séné. All these kilted figures are French and Breton. Is this not a wonderful tribute to the joys of dancing, to the strength of Scottish culture and the RSCDS?

I must start reminding people to buy the book I DANCE, THEREFORE I AM. Advertising is beginning this month in the country dance journals. Please tell your networks that it is amusing and filled with wisdom about life, as well as about dancing.

I have been away in Mali, and now I am back to DANCING!  In Mali I was promoting peace and development through the SISTER CITY relationship that links Richmond VA with Ségou on the Niger River. Here are two pictures from that trip. The first shows me representing Mayor Stoney of Richmond and standing with Nouhoun Diarra, the Mayor of Ségou who created the scarves and caps with the two mayors' faces on them. The second shows a beautiful sunset over the Niger River in Ségou, who a fisherman in the foreground. If you like the pictures, come to Africa next year!