A fine way for Scottish Country Dancers to catch-up with old friends and make new (as well as learning more about the intricacies of dancing!) is to take part in Region Weekend Schools.
Often run in smaller centres, weekend schools are fun-filled and lively gatherings jam-packed with dancing and music along with plenty of free time to relax and socialise.
Usually held over a long weekend, the schools are likely to have a range of classes, tutors and musicians from across the country, a Saturday evening dance for all to enjoy and a ceilidh or theme night. There’s also the bonus of taking the opportunity to visit local attractions, explore regional walks, or just try out the coffee at a nearby café.
Johnsonville dancers who’ve had fun at recent weekend schools include Robert Vale who enjoyed the 2021 Lawrence Easter School in South Otago and I had a wonderful wintery weekend of dancing in Hanmer Springs in July 2021, run by the Nelson/Marlborough Region.
In early June, former Johnsonville member and secretary Pat Reesby took the opportunity to go to the King’s Birthday Weekend School 2023 in Matangi near Hamilton, hosted by Lochiel Scottish Country Dancing Club. See what Pat has to say about the delights of dancing at Waikato/Bay of Plenty Region Weekend Schools below.
Loralee Hyde
A King’s Birthday Weekend School!
Queen’s Birthday Weekend … a predictable and constant time of year. The Queen’s official birthday, an annual long weekend.
How odd, then, to have the prospect of a King’s Birthday Weekend!
I’d attended several Queen’s Birthday Weekend Scottish Country Dancing schools—in Cambridge, Tauranga, Awakeri Springs, Rotorua … and most recently in Katikati in 2019.
These annual events are organised by the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Region and are always well run and popular. The details vary each year but they cater for dancers at various levels, with a variety of tutors, a formal Saturday evening dance, and a ceilidh often with a dress-up theme. A musicians’ class is usually included, with live music for both classes and evening dancing.
And depending on where the school is held, there are plenty of other things to do. I recommend hot pools!
With increasing age and infirmity I’d assumed Katikati would be my last fling … but how could I resist the novelty of a King’s Birthday school? And so I registered for the 2023 Waikato/Bay of Plenty Region Weekend school at Matangi near Hamilton. And I was glad I did.
In fact I stayed in the Waikato a whole week, visited Hamilton Gardens, admired countless urban cow statues in Morrinsville, took part in ‘advanced low impact’ classes at the school (tutored by Johnsonville member Jeanette Watson) and took my cousin along to the Sunday evening dinner and ceilidh in the Matangi hall.
The ceilidh theme was Royalty but rather than dress up in finery I became Princess Anne in jodhpurs, with an improvised riding crop. Charles was there too, in polo gear.
Watch the video of Furth o’ Clyde (a Waikato/Bay of Plenty core dance) at the Saturday night Ball—which celebrated Lochiel Scottish Country Dancing Club’s 65th anniversary.
See more of Andy Patterson’s photos of the King’s Birthday Weekend School
More Region Weekend Schools Coming…
My first weekend school was back in 2000, not long after I started dancing, and it was an Easter school in Kaikoura. A delightful few days of dancing classes, not to mention seafood chowder at the Why Not Cafe. Since then, I’ve attended two or three more Easter schools in Kaikoura, and only an unexpected stroke prevented me from attending one in 2016.
This year there is another dancing school in Kaikoura, this time run by the Canterbury Region during the Matariki Weekend in mid-July … and I’m going! Gaye and Damon Collin, well known tutors in Wellington, are taking classes, along with Su Marshall of Christchurch. Like to come too? Weekend dancing schools are well worthwhile, without the time commitment of a RSCDS New Zealand Branch Summer School.
An unexpected visitor—Elaine Goldthorpe from the Far North—joined us at a recent Tuesday afternoon dancing session in Johnsonville.
I’d met Elaine at the King’s Birthday school at Matangi, and she encouraged us Wellingtonians to attend a forthcoming Auckland and Northland Region Labour Weekend School in Kaiwaka, a small town in Northland.
I’ve never been there … surely a long way to go? “Well, I’ve come all the way down to Wellington!” Elaine replied. And it does sound like an interesting—and different—school.
Instead of classes for different levels the weekend will have a ‘Pick and Mix’ approach, with sessions such as Dancing with Soul, Magic Moments in Dance, Dancing with Vitality and Flight and Ageing Gracefully. Musicians’ classes too, and live music for the evening dances from Glenfiddle and Wild Heather. Very tempting!
See all the details in the Kaiwaka Labour Weekend School 2023 brochure and registration form.
Pat Reesby
3 July 2023
