Dance on Mayne

The Christmas season sees a lot of activity; so we are suspending our Sunday dances until January 2, 2011.  We wish everyone a Joyous Noel, and a Happy Hogmanay.  Look for information about our Burns Night Ceilidh, Supper and Concert beginning in January; and reserve the night of January 22 2011 to attend the best party of the late winter season.

burns night 2011.pdf

We had another lovely dance session on Sunday; we were small in numbers but strong in enthusiasm.  It's great to see we are learning the dances without calling.  Well done, all.

Brian brought out a chestnut for us - the Braes of Dornoch.  No, that's not us in the video - it's a bit grainy, but fun to watch.

Last Sunday's session was a great one.  As one of the dancers commented: "that was great - we are starting to come together as a group".  It shows in the way we all enjoyed the dances.  This was especially true of our cross over dance, "The Duke is Welcome to Inverness".  It is a Scottish Country Dance, taken from the Caledonian Country Dances, circa 1754.  It's a stately strathspey, danced to the tune that Robert Burns also used for "a Man's A Man".  In the book, there was a wee footnote that read "also taught as English triple minor, improper." The alternate title, "Lady MacIntosh's Rant" belies the elegant nature of this lovely strathspey, which so readily becomes a lovely English Country Dance through a subtle change in beat emphasis.

I'm sure that all makes sense to the dancers out there.  It did to us!  This dance will appear often in our repertoire. 

This dance is called "the Wishing Well".  It is a nice example of the strathspey and how lovely it looks when all the in ballroom dance together.  

Well, here it is - our website for all those who love to dance, and love Mayne Island.  Please send in your photos, videos, news articles, contacts, -- anything and everything to help grow our blog.  I'm brand new at setting up a website, so if you have any tips or tricks to share, I am an eager student.  Spread the word to all your dance friends, here and in Vancouver and Victoria.  Our social networking will keep the dance alive.

Damian and Shamma are delighted to perform a concert for Mayne Island on January 22 2011 at our annual Burns Night, which will be an evening of food, fun, and frolic on the (dance) floor.  See the page entitled Burns Night Ceilidh for further details on this upcoming event.

This coming Sunday Nov. 14 we will meet as usual at 4 pm.  I'll be there at 3:30 for pattern practice; so come early if you can.  The pattern practice will not be strenuous - no dancing involved - it's meant to give you a firmer footing in theory, pattern, and style. 

For example, we are currently working on Shiftin Bobbins in Scottish Country Dance style:

Our Hallowe'en Contra Dance was a fabulous night of dancing to live music provided by the Sybaritic Strings of Vancouver.  With a fun array of costumes on the dance floor, conjure up an image of a Star Trek officer dancing with a Bollywood Star, or a pirate turning a step or two with a Roaring Twenties flapper.

For the next few weeks, we are focussing on style and substance, with special workshops at 3 pm to learn the details of pattern, deportment, and flair as appropriate to a given style.  So, if you ever wondered what "reel for 3 across" or "turn single" means, - join us at 3 on Sundays to find out.