past events: 2002-03 (summer)
Summer Dems | Dunedin Festival | Germany Trip | New Scotland BBQ | Summer Dance | Dunedin Summer Dance | Dancing in the Gardens | Edinburgh Competition Festival | Red Cross Ceilidh | Castle Ceilidh | Aberdeen University Dance | Dundee University Ball
Summer Dems
by Joel
To raise money for trips and other expenses and to promote Scottish dancing, New Scotland demostrates at various events, many of which fall in the summer holiday months. Often they are for foreign visitors and usually involve ceilidh dancing interspersed with demonstrations of Country and Highland dancing.
One of the best series of 'dems' this year was the American Highschool
Festivla Theatre dems, which were for a large group of American students
who came over here to perform in the festival. These were held in Pollock
halls and, as is always the case with the American Highschool Festival
Theatre students, there was no lack
of enthusiasm! There was a good turn out by New Scotland as well with
plenty of dancers and enthusiasm. Everyone had a good time!
The other most notable series of dems was at the Hilton hotel in Haymarket, very classy! These were for groups of students laguage students from IALS (Edinburgh University Institute for Applied Language Studies) Therefore, unsurprisingly there were few antive English speakers but despite some confusions with the English they all danced with great enthusiasm. There was also a haggis dinner provided which went down very well with the demmers as well as (most of?!) the students.
What I found to be the best thing about all of the summer dems was the
fact that it was an oppertunity to dance when there weren't many other
events going on, which was very welcome!
Dunedin Dancers 17th International Folk Dance Festival, Edinburgh
by Jan, Marie, Martina & Rachel
Lots of photos from the festival! Note that these photos have been uploaded at low resolution (96 dpi) to save space in the photo alumn. They are not high enough resolution to get a good print; so if you would like to print any of the photos please feel free to contact me (Rachel) via nscds@ed.ac.uk and I can send you a higher resolution (300 dpi) copy.
This year, for the first time, New Scotland officially took part in the Dunedin Festival. In return for help in financing the festival, we officially invited a group of our choice. We also got involved in the performances and organisation and rotas, but which of those activities fell on the 'payment' side and which on the 'benefits' side is probably a matter of personal opinion! Our main orgainsing role as a society was to run the ceildh after the Burns Dinner on the Tuesday night - which Gary and Michael did wonderfully! In all New Scotland was well and truely 'involved' in Dunedin Dancers 17th International Folk Dance Festival and we had a great time!!
The dance group officially invited on behalf of New Scotland was the Polish group, Lubuski, whose festival we attended in Zielona Góra in Summer 2002 and it was lovely to see them again. The other two groups this year were Kud Orton Župancic Artice from Slovenia, and Alkartasuna Euskal Dantza Taldea from The Basque Country - i.e. the Basques we met in Zielona Góra - er well yes actually New Scotland might have influenced that choice just a little bit!
The festival kicked off on Saturday 19th July with a busy day preparing George Watson's college to be the main festival venue, and the arrival of all the groups by various routes. The first evening was rounded off with a buffet meal in college, a short informal performance by each group as an introduction and the first of many opportunities for social dancing, before our guests retired for their first night with their host families.
The first big performance of the festival took place on Sunday 20th at Falkland Palace, once the hunting lodge of the Stuart Kings and Queens of Scotland. When we assembled at the college before leaving, the weather looked anything but promising. Nevertheless, we left for Fife and could admire (or fear) heavy black clouds over the coastline. On our arrival at Falkland, we headed straight to the Palace orchard for a picnic lunch. The whole performance started with a parade, which looked pretty impressive. Mind you, we had seven pipers, which is quite a lot for a small place like Falkland. Moreover, the weather started to look better during the parade! All the performances went down very well, but we were a little bit sorry for the grass we were dancing on, since it looked slightly vandalised at the end! Since we had a couple of hours left, there was time to do some sightseeing. The palace gardens are nice and we could also have a look at one of the oldest tennis courts in the world. And since the sun was scorching by this time, we were grateful for a good ice-cream to finish the day!
Monday started bright and early with two workshops - one run by Dunedin and one by Alkartasuna. The whole day was a great oportunity to get to know people from the other dance groups. The workshops were followed by a treasure hunt in mixed groups round Princes Street Gardens and the Old Town, an opportunity to swim in the college (although after a picnic inside due to the rain and an experience of true Scottish down-pour at the end of the treasure hunt, it was touch and go whether the people who went swimming were any wetter than those who didn't!) and the Festival Dance - performaces in costume by each group which host families, especially those unable to attend other performances, were encouraged to attend. It was really good fun mixing with people from different cultures and seeing all the wonderful costumes. Another highlight of the week was the impromptu crêche - 'Dunedin Toddles'!
Tuesday was our trip to Dunfirmaline where unfortunately it rained so we were not able to parade. Luckily there was a suitable indoor venue for dancing, althougth our audience was disappointingly small due to the bad weather. The rain eased off later allowing the Basques and Slovenians a dry tour of Dunfermiline and its wonderful Abbey, and the Poles a trip to Aberdour Beach for a picnic, before we returned to George Watsons for a workshop run by Lubuski. Tuesday evening was the Burns Dinner with traditional haggis, neeps and tatties. There was also entertainment during the meal with singing, music (including lots of pipers!!) and step dancing. The after dinner ceilidh went down very well - with many thanks to the New Scotland MCs Gary and Michael - we had lots of favourable comments despite including Shetland Strip the Willow which we are assured Dunedin doesn't like at all! :)
Wednesday was a day off, where each group could choose what they wanted to do. Funnily enough they all went for the distillery tour option! The Poles opted for a 'local' distillery and time to tour round Edinburgh. The Slovinians and Basques opted for more northerly distilleries and a visit to the southern Highlands around Loch Tay, including the Crannog centre where the challange of fire-making proved highly entertaining. Unfortuantely the weather was against us again, and the veiws were somewhat less than spectacular; but all the visitors seemed to enjoy themselves (and many of the Basques stayed on several days after the festival to tour the Highlands more thoroughly, so they obviously weren't put off by a bit of rain!)
Thursday started with a workshop run by Kud Orton Župancic, which was followed by the main performance event of the Dunedin Festival - the evening performance in the Church Hill Theatre. Since this is the most important performance (and people actually pay for the evening) there was a rehearsal in the afternoon. The theatre stage is quite restrictive for dancing and you must take into account what the audience is going to see (and the slightly scary drop down at the front). Even though we ran late during the rehearsal (I have yet to see a rehearsal finishing on time!), everything was ready for the 7:30pm start. By this time, the theatre was fully packed. As to the performance itself - the problem with dancing in a venue like Church Hill Theatre is that you don't see the other groups and just wait in the changing room (or outside) for your spot. At least our dem seemed quite OK to us, with one 'interesting recovery'. But the audience really liked all the performances, so they must have been good! To sum up - very interesting and great experience not to be missed.
Friday dawned a bit grey and wet and our trip to Peebles looked as though it could be on the soggy side. However, during our free time sightseeing round the town, with particular attention to the pubs (the Poles found a new fan in the barman who ended up joining in the hand actions for their silly songs, much to the bemusement of the other locals!), the weather decided to clear up and it was all go for our performances on Tweed Green. We paraded along the High Street through the town from the Drill Hall to Tweed Green and had a healthy audience turn-out to watch our performances. The performances all went well, on Dunedin's part thanks to some good in-set calling for those who found they were dancing from a position they were not expecting -don't panic!- and despite the golf holes which were there to trip the unwary. Then it was back to the Drill Hall for a chippy supper (a great favourite with our guests!) and a ceilidh with some guest Rapper dancers and informal performances by the groups.
As usual, (and thanks to the support of Historic Scotland) Stirling Castle was the venue for the last performance of the festival, which took place on Saturday 26th July. By the time we arrived in Stirling we knew there would be lots of spectators - the car park was fully packed (well, it was a really nice day!). Wearing our costumes, we soon proved to be a popular tourist attraction. Everybody (especially the Americans) wanted a photo with "real" Scots, wearing traditional dress. Also for this reason our parade through the castle grounds took ages, but at the end we managed to get to the gardens. As in Falkland, also here we danced on grass, this time with a little twist: normally, castle visitors are not allowed to walk on the grass, not to mention dancing there! Once there, all the groups showed their best and won much applause from the crowd. A good thing about performing at the festival is that you get to visit some of Scotland's most popular tourist attractions for free. Even people who have already been to Stirling Castle used the remaining time to admire the newly reconstructed Great Hall with a nice timber roof and the Kings Quarters. Altogether (together with the evening dinner) arguably the best day of the festival.
After the performance at Stirling we returned to George Watsons college for the Festival Dinner (in costume), present exchange, and the final party/ceilidh. Costume swapping was very popular and some took it further by attempting the dances appropriate to their new costuems - Nic and Christine bravely tried the balancing-a-glass-of-wine-on-your-forehead-while-dancing routine with much applauded success, and the Basque men did a great rendition of one of the Basque 'girlie' dances. The band for that one looked somewhat odd too - one of them defineitly had white dress and a hariy chest! Then it was time for many sad good-byes for new and re-made friends as the groups left in the early and somewhat later hours of Sunday.
A wonderful festival! With many thanks to everyone who took part and made it possible - we hope there are many more to come!!
Germany Trip - Danetzare 2003 in Erfurt
by Rachel
On the 10th July 2003 twenty-eight New Scotland dancers and musicians arrived by various routes (including a 4:30am meet-up at Edinburgh airport for some of us!) for the 4th Internationales Folklorefestival 'Danetzare '03' in Erfurt, Germany. We were all staying in a very nice hotel, the town was very beautiful, the weather gorgeous, and we were all set to… drink beer in a nice beer garden while watching everyone else dance? - well yes we did that too but we also danced of course, and thankfully our short opening performance, on the large stage set up in the Plateau Petersberg (the central area of the 'castle') went to plan - so we could enjoy the rest of the evening with a clear conscience!
The following day was the most busy of a very busy long weekend, full of parades (we were quickly promoted to leading group - because they thought our pipers would clear the traffic away nicely? or perhaps so we didn't drown out everyone else?), performances at a number of venues throughout the town, and the mysterious 'animations' - which turned out to be performances in the street. Our longest performance was early on and was rather a panic - especially the costume changes (perhaps we shouldn't have spent so long in the pub before hand?!) but our later performances got better and better. Our only indoor performance and our final Gala performance went particularly well (hurrah!).
There were also lots of opportunities to see the other groups performing (not always the case at such a large festival - there were 12 visiting groups!). One of the best opportunities was after our indoor performance, where the Mexican group and the Ukrainian dancers from Canada (don't ask!) were superb! That performance was followed by a disco where we had the opportunity to socialise with the other groups - some people made particular efforts with particular people ( Ross? Samantha? Lorna?)! Some also made their mark with memorable dance routines on stage (what colour was the underwear again Sylvia?!).The night was also memorable for James we think….
The final Gala performance was in the beautiful and famous botanical gardens at the edge of Erfurt in a huge open-air stadium. The bouncy floor proved interesting for sword dancing(!); but we were clapped all through the last dance of our final medley, and some former New Scotland members now living in Germany also came to watch us which was very nice.
The last official evening of the festival looked as though it might be a quiet affair, with the stage at the Plateau Petersberg half dismantled and some groups already on their way home. However the stage crew (a.k.a. the host German dance group) and New Scotland had other ideas and with generously provided free beer and later schnapps (many thanks to Ralf for his generous tuition in how to drink this latter without hands!), a CD of New Scotland's ceilidh music and then Martin's excellent piping, we were soon leading an impromptu ceilidh. Other groups quickly got the idea and I know I soon lost track of which nationality's dances we were dancing and whose music we were dancing them to!
Our last day in Erfurt was a much appreciated opportunity to relax and look around the town. Our German group guides very kindly arranged a medieval banquet for us in the evening, which turned into a ceilidh of course - this time we even had music and song interludes as well as dancing. Many of the German dance group also turned up to join in - a sure sign that we'd made good friends!
With many thanks to our hosts the Thüringer Folklore Ensemble and
the Erfurt Puff Bean. We had a wonderful time!
New Scotland BBQ 2003
by Heather
To round off the weekend after the Summer Dance, New Scotland had its barbecue on Sunday 15 June on Portobello beach. For once the weather turned up trumps and we had a gloriously sunny day for it. In a true display of (feminine) efficiency, the (female) committee members got the barbecues going in record time before anyone else had turned up (not that we're knocking male efficiency at lighting barbecues or anything.....). The day was lovely - we had lots of food (and lots of barbecues too), including toasted marshmallows and chocolate bananas, and lots of fun sitting and chatting, juggling, digging holes, making sandcastles, sand turtles, sand fish.....
Other "fun" (ok some people (ie the victims) may dispute this)
included a number of people being buried in the sand (Joel, Niall, Gilbert,
Jen) or "going swimming" (ie were dumped in the sea). Lorna
held the record for this activity - 3 times soaked; Ralf held the record
for most successful resistance - 2 failed attempts and only ended up in
the sea through sneaky trickery. And this was against stiff competition
from at least 8 others who joined in the 'swimming'! (see photos)
New Scotland Summer Dance 2003
by Heather
Photos from the Summer Dance 2003
New Scotland held its ever-excellent Summer Dance in Lutton Place on Saturday 14 June. Once again thanks go to Rachel for arranging the floral hall decorations and to her parents' garden for providing the material for the decorations!
David Anderson was in excellent form playing for a lot of lively dances
in a programme made up by Alison and Yoshimi, which was not for the faint
hearted. Lots of very good dances, but a lot of us were nearly dead on
our
feet by the middle of the second half - and then Seoanid put in 'The Weathercock'
as an extra just to make sure we were definitely dead!
At the interval, lots of people turned the buffet into a picnic on the grass outside (well, it was nice, warm weather to laze around outside eating). Only problem was that they then had to be enticed/coerced back in for the second half.
Afterwards, we all headed off to the traditional after-dance party, which
went on into the wee small hours...
Dunedin Summer Dance 2003
by Martina and Jan
This year's Dunedin Summer Assembly took place as usually at the beginning of June (7th to be precise) and at the usual venue - The Upper Hall at Cluny Church Centre. But at this dance there was one thing very unusual - there were more men than ladies! (Well, definitely on the part of the New Scotland contingent). Obviously, many New Scotland women were attending some other events at the same time (do we want to know what?!); but those who came to the dance had a great time!
The music of Lindsay Weir and her band was, as usual, lively, fast and
and wonderful to dance to. Combine that with Seonaid's excellent programme
(which turned out to be a good practice for Dunedin Festival later in
the summer!) and you have the recipe for an excellent evening. And if
you were not there, I have to add that you also missed excellent strawberries
in chocolate :)
New Scotland dems Dancing in the Gardens 2003
by Joel
Photos of New Scotland demming
What better way to enjoy the scenic surroundings of Princes street gardens in the summer time than to do some country dancing! The event takes place twice a week throughout June, with a different dancing society choosing the dances and demonstrating them each time.
The 3rd of June was New Scotland's evening this year so we got a team
together and a nice programme. The weather just about held out for us,
a few drops of rain during a couple of the dems. The demonstrations were
practiced in quite a rushed fasion beforehand which caused the odd mistake
but nothing that would take away from the fun of the evening.
Edinburgh Competition Festival 2003
by Marie
Early in the morning of Saturday 24th May a large group of New Scotland made their way down to the Edinburgh Academy to compete in the Edinburgh Festival Competition. On arrival, we found we were expected to share a changing room with about ten groups of children! We swiftly decided that changing on a cramped balcony was infinitely preferable.Once changed, we went out to the playground for a few calamitous walkthroughs, which almost had Margo in despair!
All the teams performed excellently, and Margo (as well as the team!)
was thrilled when we won the Display section. After a lengthy photo-shoot
we headed back up to Pizza Express on North Bridge for a celebration tea,
then went to the RSCDS post-competition dance, organised this year for
the first time. This was not too taxing and good fun, particularly watching
tall New Scotland men dancing with tiny five year olds! After that we
headed off to Niall's Eurovision party for a welcome sit down.
Now let's see if we can do even better next year!
Red Cross Week Ceilidh
by Marie
On Monday 5th May, during Red Cross Week, New Scotland held a joint fundraising ceilidh in association with the Red Cross. This was very successful and raised lots of money, as well as being great fun, so thanks to everyone who came. The Red Cross had got hold of lots of raffle prizes so lots of us won prizes as well. The music, provided by Andy Kain was wonderfully lively, and the friendly atmosphere definitely made this one of our best ceilidhs this year.
St Andrews Castle Ceilidh 2003
by Joel
Photos from the Castle Ceilidh
Each year in the spring St. Andrews university hosts an outdoor ceilidh, in the ruins of an old castle on the cliff top. This is a fairly rare oppertunity to do some ceilidh dancing outdoors on grass.This year (4th May) the event went brilliantly, as the setting with the beautiful sea view went totally unspoilt by the weather, with only a slight breeze to cool us all down between dances.
A coach-load of New Scotland members attended, and dancing went on into
the twilight. Once night fell, we all took up flaming torches and wandered
down the hill and along the peer in a really nice atmosphere. All in all
it was well worth the trip!
Aberdeen University Dance 2003
by Heather
Photos from the Aberdeen Dance
This year saw Aberdeen University SCD group making a welcome return to
the dance circuit with its resurrected Spring Dance. Three carloads of
New Scotlanders headed up North to sample the delights of the Granite
City, as part of a weekend's round trip of dancing which included the
Castle Ceilidh the next day. The hall (St Machar's Academy) proved surprisingly
easy to find, and was a very nice hall to dance in.
One of the highlights of the evening was an appearance by John Drewry
who introduced his new dance (which was premiered that evening), the aptly-named
"St Machar Strathspey". David Anderson, as ever, provided great
music for us to dance to.
The Aberdeen Committee laid on a very nice buffet supper. Also, we particularly
liked the locally-produced Mackies Ice Cream which was on offer.
All in all, "a rerr terr, a rerr flair and a rerr band!" May
it be the first of many!