Another fine night we made for ourselves, at our first Halloween/Samhain celebration at Khandallah Town Hall.
It was wonderful to see the hall full of dancers, with more than four sets of members, plus past member Pat Reesby, who can never resist the opportunity to dance Ferla Mor.
Members really entered into the spirit of Halloween with many a witch and cloak to be seen, black and pumpkin-coloured outfits galore, cobweb adornments, creative goodie-bag costumes and Anne Mackenzie came resplendent in a fantastic tartan, winged outfit, complete with half-face paint.
The dancing was also spirited, and a laugh a minute. Thanks to our devilish MC Rod, for giving us such a good time, despite that ‘Australian accent’ we blamed for any confusion we may (or may not) have experienced! My lips are sealed.
We started with two of Rod’s dances—The Kitchen Faerie, written for our supper co-ordinator Elizabeth Ngan, followed by a revised version of Maggie Boag’s Jig, written as a farewell gift for Maggie as she leaves us to return to Scotland.
Then it was on to old favourites, Slytherin’ House, and The Scottish Werewolf, with the challenge of The Fairy Dance sandwiched between. The Devil’s Quandary kept us on our toes, and we finished with Ferla Mor and its ghostly music.
Thanks to those who stepped in and helped put up Halloween decorations, especially Anne Mackenzie—our beautifully costumed ladder woman who was first on the scene. On one side we had our ‘Welcome to Halloween’ banner, and on the other – a skeleton set on high, flanked by spiders, bats, pumpkins and ghouls, with spidery webs all around. A bit of decoration always adds that extra touch to any celebration, definitely worth the effort of putting them up (and then taking them down again – thanks to the packer-uppers).
No colourful, festive supper this year due to Covid restrictions, but there were some leftover Halloween trick or treat choccies on offer.
View costumes and smiling faces in a selection of fantastic photos from our witchy-photographer Loralee Hyde, and in videos of Rod’s dances The Kitchen Faerie and Maggie Boag’s Jig from roving videographer Pat Reesby. See if you can work out which witch is which.
Click on the gallery below to see all of Loralee’s photos
PS We’ve also done our bit to spread the word a little wider to the Pilates group departing the hall, that Halloween originated in the Celtic world, not in the US!
Kristin Downey
3 November 2021
