Fun, fitness & friendship!
It’s all about fire—and flowers, fairies, cows, and the green man
The club began celebrating Halloween/Samhain in 2016 following the Scottish tradition of marking the final harvest and the approaching winter—31 October in the Northern hemisphere.
This year we added a Beltane celebration to the club’s calendar, honouring the fertility of the earth as Spring moves into Summer—again lining up with Northern hemisphere dates.
Lots of fun and laughter at our first Beltane celebration
Traditions
The traditions of Beltane are much less well known than those of Halloween. Asking our local Scot, Aileen Logie, about Beltane celebrations brought the response: ‘We climbed hills and lit fires. It’s all about fire.’
At our celebration on Monday 6 May, Club bard Aline Homes talked us through some of the Celtic and pagan traditions. They included the kindling of a protective need-fire and the blessing of people, crops, highland cows and other stock. It was especially important to appease or ward off the fairies, who could come through the weakened veils between this world and the fairy world at this time of seasonal change, and steal dairy products and children.
Dancing and music
Club tutor Rod Downey did a lot of searching to find dances that fitted the theme, were suitable for new dancers, and would be fun for us all. The natural choice was The Beltane, and Rod added to that by devising The Beltane Strathspey for the occasion.
Other dances referenced May(day), such as Come What May (devised in May), The Mayflower and Rod’s dance The Maypole Dance (written for the club’s 2018 Spring into Autumn mid-winter dinner).
Enjoying The Maypole Dance
The fairies got a look in with The Fairy Dance, and we celebrated new life with The Breath of Spring. Fire finally entered the picture on the last dance—The Peat Fire Flame.
Luckily for us, it was one of Aileen Logie’s regular live music nights at club. She chose a really interesting range of music to suit the dances including Breton and highland tunes. A great night’s dancing made even better with live music.
Aileen playing for the dance Come What May
Beltane atmosphere
This was our first time celebrating Beltane, and we weren’t quite sure how best to dress, but everyone made a great effort. There were flame colours of orange and red, charcoal ash, spring flowers, and the yellow of the summer sun.
A sea of Beltane colours
There was even one Green Man—our tutor Rod sporting medieval images of a face sprouting foliage, a symbol of spring. In modern times, The Green Man and May Queen lead the procession at the Beltane Fire Festival at Calton Hill in Edinburgh.
A host of images of medieval Green Man carvings and sculptures and a smattering of red tartan scarves added interest and colour to the walls, and the supper team did the rest.
There were traditional oat cakes with cream cheese, cookies in red and orange and yellow, red jaffas and rhubarb shortcake, yellow and white gluten free lemon slice, plus Beltane-coloured fruit.
Red jaffas, rhubarb shortcake and Beltane-coloured fruit!
In a nod to those naughty dairy-stealing fairies, we went back to childhood days with milk bottle lollies, and gave a very attractive hairy highland cow image pride of place on the supper bench.
Oat cakes with cream cheese, cookies in red and orange and yellow and milk bottle lollies
Many thanks
Everyone really got into the spirit of the night, in dress and attitude, making for a lot of fun. Thanks to Rod and Aileen, our bard Aline, the supper team, and all those who helped with hall set-up and pack-up. Exactly six sets of dancers had a wonderful Beltane-Monday.
Thanks also to Loralee, whose photos below capture the spirit of the night. Click the gallery to see all her photos.
Kristin Downey8 May 2024 [...]
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A special celebration of our Dance Scottish history
Following the very successful Early Wellington Dances afternoon in 2023 to celebrate the RSCDS Centenary, the Wellington Region organised a special afternoon of Historical RSCDS Dances for intermediate dancers and above on Saturday 27 April 2024.
Close on 40 dancers from around the Region and Manawatū along with two visitors from Canberra, gathered in the St John’s Anglican Church Hall in Johnsonville, eager to try out dances not commonly done nowadays.
Wellington Region President and Johnsonville tutor Rod Downey selected and taught the dances. To add to this special afternoon, Lynne Scott and Sam Berkahn provided the music. We also welcomed Edith Campbell who had suggested having this afternoon of older dances.
Rod with Lynne on the fiddle and Sam on the cello
Source of the dances: RSCDS Books 1-5
RSCDS Book 1 was first published in 1924, meaning 2024 was the Centenary of this publication, the first of the numbered RSCDS Book series. Rod chose dances from RSCDS Books 1-5, all pre-1930.
These books contain 60 dances. Rod selected dances for the afternoon based on interest and danceability. He avoided dances that are relatively well-known, for example, Glasgow Highlanders.
He tried to feature a variety of formations, which is not an easy task when using the early books. For example, seven of the 12 dances of Book 1 finish with a poussette. Rod kindly did not wish to tire our legs out during the afternoon with an overabundance of Pas-de-basque so took care with his selection of dances. He included at least one dance from each of Books 1-5.
The music: A fun challenge to arrange the sets of tunes
Lynne says it was a fun challenge to put together sets of music for the early dances. To add an authentic feel of dancing during the times the dances were devised, over half the tunes she and Sam played during the afternoon were composed by famous fiddler/composers of the 18th century:
Niel Gow (b 1727)
Nathaniel Gow (his son, b 1763)
William Gow (another son b c.1750)
Robert Mackintosh (b 1750)
John RIddell (b 1728)
Alexander Gibb (b in 1700’s)
Malcolm MacDonald (b c.1740)
William Marshall (b 1748)
James MacDonald (b 1700’s)
Lynne adds the tunes were written and being danced to well before the invention of the accordion. A typical dance band of the time would have been fiddle (and/or perhaps flute/recorder) with cello.
To give us a taste of an authentic experience, Lynne played the fiddle while Sam played the cello for three dances (two reels and a strathspey) and keyboard for the others.
Sam’s music for playing the cello for The Triumph
The remainder of the tunes played were ‘traditional’ but also mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries.
The dances: Somewhat vigorous with unusual formations
Rod welcomed us to the afternoon, saying dances from Books 1-5 are ‘quite vigorous’, with some ‘tricky formations’. This proved to be so!
We started the afternoon with the jig Light and Airy Book 4, devised by William Campbell in 1790; a dance familiar to a number of us. Rod encouraged us to be ‘light or airy’ in our dancing to make the most of the music.
Then to The Triumph Book1, a reel Introduced by Nathaniel Gow in 1808. The unusual feature of this dance is a poussette for one couple, which required some practice under careful tutelage from Rod.
Lots of smiles while dancing The Triumph
We tried Lady Macintosh’s Rant next (also known as The Duke is Welcome to Inverness), a strathspey by Rutherford 1754 from Book 3. Rod shared he’d taught this dance at Johnsonville Club the previous week and discovered it had a bunch of hooks for both the tutor and dancers!
A tricky dance indeed, with the first couple starting on opposite sides and only returning to own sides when they reach the foot of the set. Some discombobulation was apparent during the dancing (you may spot a few perplexed faces in the photos).
Making sure you’re on the ‘correct’ side of the set in Lady Macintosh’s Rant
Rory O’More, a jig from Book 1 ‘collected locally’, was rather entertaining. In Rod’s old version of Book 1, the instructions indicate that after the first couple dances down the middle, for Bars 21-24 the first couple dance back up the middle backwards! This did feel slightly weird but I could imagine the ladies of the 18th Century, dressed in their long full gowns (with perhaps bustles), finding it easier to ‘retire’ rather than turning around in the middle of the set before dancing back to the top.
Haughs o’ Cromdale Book 4, a 16 bar strathspey from the 18th Century ‘collected in Galloway’ also had some interesting quirks, with a version of the Diamond Poussette danced using Highland Schottische which stretched our brains.
Lynne says an interesting link with New Zealand arose when she was researching Joseph Lowe (b 1796) who wrote the second tune played for this dance. Joseph was a dance teacher for the Royal Family at Balmoral and Windsor. One of his sons emigrated to New Zealand and taught dance here. His family continued the dance tradition, with one of the grandsons being Sir Jon Trimmer, the renowned ballet dancer.
A break for our brains and bodies was needed after the complex array of dances we’d tried out during the first half of the afternoon. Thanks so much to Elaine and Kevin Lethbridge for preparing and bringing along a sumptuous afternoon tea for all of us to enjoy (including gluten free and dairy free options for those with restrictive diets).
Fortified with great food and a cuppa, we set forth to find out more about The Princess Royal Book 2, a 28 bar reel collected around 1850. This is the only 28 bar RSCDS dance Rod knows of. Lynne says it was a particular challenge to put together the set of music for this 28 bar dance! Although it had Pas-de-basque in the Half Petronella, I thought the tempo of the dance was perfect and the dance didn’t overly tax my legs.
The Haymakers, a 48 bar jig in Book 2 from around 1761 or earlier, contains running step which was popular in some of the old dances, such as this one and Strip the Willow. We are probably more likely to come across this dance at a ceilidh nowadays than at a Scottish Country Dance.
Zooming around the floor using running step in The Haymakers
The Duke of Hamilton’s Reel, a strathspey from 1754 in Book 5, has an intricate start as the first man turns the second woman right hand one and a half times at the same time as the first woman and second man turn. Once we mastered that, we realised an aide-mémoire was sometimes needed for the second couple, as on bars 9-10 they needed to move down and then move back up on bars 13-14.
Rod chose to finish the afternoon with The Merry Dancers Book 4, a jig from1827. Quite a vigorous dance with some strong turns needed plus setting to and turning corners. And finally Dumbarton Drums Book 5. A reel from 1816 danced to uplifting traditional tunes.
Thanks so much to Rod for all the work he put into researching dances from so back in our Scottish Country Dancing history and selecting and teaching the dances in his thought-provoking, balanced programme.
Thanks also to our musicians Lynne and Sam for all the research into authentic music, arranging the lovely sets of tunes and playing for us all afternoon. It’s marvellous to have such outstanding live music available in Wellington to enhance the joy of the dance.
And thanks to the dancers who came along to try the host of unfamiliar dances and help each other through the unusual formations, and to all others who helped make this afternoon of historical RSCDS dances such a memorable occasion.
See more about the history of the dances, music and formations in Rod’s notes
Click here to see the smiles in all of Loralee’s photos and download if you wish
Loralee Hyde4 May 2024
Photos: Loralee Hyde [...]
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Former Johnsonville Club member Jean Denne passed away on 9 April 2024 at the age of 83.
She was a club member from 2004-2015, joining the same year as Prisilla and a year after Elizabeth Ngan.
Jean, Prisilla and Elizabeth preparing supper at the 2014 Johnsonville Annual Dance. Photo: John Patterson
Jean was a keen dancer, enjoying tartan nights, annual dances, summer ceilidhs and mid-winter dinners.
John, Pat, Rod, Prisilla, Jean and Désirée dancing at the 2013 Johnsonville Annual Dance
Jean enjoying dancing on the deck with Allison at Johnsonville’s first Summer Ceilidh in 2014 Photo: Pat Reesby
Jean and Sono at Johnsonville’s Bright Mid-Winter Night in 2016. Photo Loralee Hyde
Joan, Jean, Sono and Janet enjoying dinner at the Bright Mid-Winter Night in 2016. Photo Loralee Hyde
Jean in the front row fourth from the right with the Johnsonville contingent at the 2015 Wellington Region New Dancers’ Celebration. Photo: Loralee Hyde
Jean also gave a great deal to the club, serving as a committee member, and on the supper team for many years alongside both Elizabeth and Prisilla.
Jean and Elizabeth at the 2013 Wellington Region Hogmanay. Photo: Pat Reesby
Jean could always be relied upon to do whatever was needed that others might not think to do (like cleaning the bathrooms in preparation for the annual dance).
Jean helping to prepare supper at the 2015 Johnsonville Annual Dance. Photo: John Patterson
We have missed her smiling face and willing work at club in the years since she stopped dancing.
Jean was farewelled by family in a private service.
Kristin Downey18 April 2024
Historical photos compiled by Loralee Hyde [...]
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Johnsonville’s first Tartan Night of 2024 on 15 April was a great success. No need for more than a brief report, as the smiling faces in Loralee’s photos say it all:
A great programme from our tutor and MC Rod
Wonderful music from the band—Aileen Logie, Hilary Ferral and Jason Morris
A great turnout of members and visitors, six sets in all
Colourful tartan all around us—on the dance floor and the walls
A spirit of bonhomie and good will, with experienced dancers supporting newer members
A fine supper supplied by members, and served by our dedicated supper team.
Smiles and laughter while dancing Lady C Bruce’s Reel at the first Tartan Night of 2024! Photo: Loralee Hyde
This first Tartan Night of the year is such a nice way of introducing new dancers to the fun of a social night dancing to a full band. It was fantastic to see six of Johnsonville’s beginners having a great time on this special night, as well as one total beginner and a beginner from Capital City.
To me, tartan colours and the swirl of kilts and sashes on the dance floor add hugely to the atmosphere, and I really appreciate the effort put in by club members to dress in tartan, whether it be trad or a bit of fun.
For Christine and Maura, it was the first outing for kilt skirts from the club’s second-hand collection. Trinity and Jason wore their Malcolm family tartans—Trinity in her grandmother’s kilt skirt and Jason in his wedding vest.
Then there was Catherine in her plaid culotte-shorts, and Colin wearing a Tam O’Shanter and an ingenious St Andrew’s cross of carpet tape on his blue t-shirt.
Thanks to Rod, the band, members and visitors, the supper team and all those who helped with setup and packup. It was a great night, and we can look forward to having just as good a time at our next Tartan Night at club on Monday 17 June.
Enjoy Loralee’s photos of the night showing all the smiles on the dance floor in the gallery below.
Kristin Downey17 April 2024
Download the April 2024 Tartan Night Programme [...]
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