Tam's Tall Tales
Keeping Up To Time with the Reels
Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Dancers at "Scottish Homecoming" Edinburgh.
My wee piece on an effort to come up with some new Scottish country dances provoked quite a lot of reaction.
Wilma from Texas wrote:
I was quite amused by the article on country dancing. We have a very active group here in San Antonio called “The Bluebonnet Scottish Country Dancers” .
They meet for practice every Sunday afternoon and perform at various events such as the Folk Life Festival, Burns’ Nicht, Highland Games etc.
They are anything but “fusty”and seem to be having a good time when dancing.
On a different note(if you will pardon the pun) My younger daughter, who has taught Highland dance for about 35 years, has frequently used modern music when her girls-and boys performed.
One tune I remember is the Beatles “Hey Jude” for dancing the sword dance!
Incidentally, HER daughter has been teaching Highland dance now for about 10-12 years.
I guess I left a legacy.
Christine, from somewhere in the US, wrote:
This would be preposterous to even think about changing the Scottish dancing into break dance or anything else ...It is our country's national Scottish traditional Dance and should be left that way !
I am appalled one would even consider such a thing
I must admit that I have quite a lot of sympathy with the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society(RSCDS).
If this important part of our heriage is to flourish, it has to draw in a new generation, and in my experience teenage boys have been a hard sell for a number of years.
In any event, I really like RSCDS on YouTubes. Here is a link to demonstrations of my favourite dance, 'The Reel of the 51st', devised by Scottish soldeirs as they were being marched to a POW camp in Germany after the defeat at St Valery in 1940.
Royal Scottish Country Dance Society(RSCDS) Reel of the 51st Division
Please give me whatever feedback comes to mind via tamfromrampant@gmail.com.
Tam O'Ranter
November 2015Return to Tam O'Ranter Index
