Putting a sassenach through his paces

Mondays are busy in the Marlborough Weekly office, so, when my calendar alarm rings for Scottish Country Dancing in five minutes at 7pm, it’s a quick turnaround from the desk to St Andrew’s Church Hall.

Members of Blenheim Scottish Country Dancing Club are waiting and ready to get started.

“Welcome, we’re really excited to have you come along today – now, you need to some of these,” Heather says

I’m handed a pair of fetching leather slippers, and our teacher Linda runs us through the dances.

The Highland Fair, A Jig for Mrs Dunn, the Waratah Weaver, the Virginia Reel, and The Cumberland Reel are all on the agenda.

“If you can step just aside for one second, we’ll run through the first sections - you’ll be on the men’s side taking the lead”.

No worries – I keep an eye on the steps as I set up the camera.

“When you’re crossing, the woman always goes first so you must be quick to turn and meet your partner again at the eight counts.

“Then, grab the hands with the next pair and your partner, spin for four counts with a click of the heels, then back the other way to your start point, and it’s the next pairs turn”.

As we walk through the steps, it feels like a lot of pressure on the newbie.

I look across to Sue, my first dance partner, as the fiddles, bagpipes and drums of the Highland Fair get started.

We skip to the tune – maybe a couple with wrong feet at the wrong time on my part– as we follow the pattern Linda has explained.

Stop, change hands, spin and continue back - the patterns, talking, teamwork and movement, weaving through small gaps reminds me of doing rugby passing drills as a young kid.

The drums and bagpipes through the speaker come to a halt, we bow and curtsey, and I think I’ve done alright to start.

Between each dance, we have a quick drink, but before restarting you must ask your next partner to dance the next round together.

It’s a lovely little touch to the club and encourages everyone to have a go dancing with one another.

Then it’s time to hit the dance floor again. Weaving through and around our fellow couples, before adding a pageant walk and reel around the back of the two lines and ending up in the back of the group.

And now alongside Joy, away we go, spinning, skipping and sliding along the wooden floors to the music – it’s not perfect, but there’s plenty of smiles on faces around the room.

“Our final dance now,” Linda says. “We’ll add a little on the end of the pageant and reel so everyone makes a tunnel for one another to finish”.

Being half a foot taller than the next dancer, it’s going to be a bit more of a bend for me and the tunnel may be lopsided at my end.

The drums and pipes start for their final time, and we spin, skip, side skip and run through our tunnel.

The hips, legs and ankles know they’ve had a workout, but we clap the last couple through their pattern, lift our arms into a tunnel, do our final bows, and end the evening’s efforts.

With a little chat and a goodbye, it’s a fun end to a manic Monday.

Blenheim Scottish Country Dancing Club is every Monday from 7pm to 9pm at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church. Contact Heather on 02102587325