Athens – Ohio RSCDS

May 16: Porchfest, 1-2 pm. Drop by West End MFG Facility: 3 N Shafer St in Athens to watch and/or dance to live music by the Brickersons. FREE!

March 29 – May 31: Intermediate series, 2-3 pm (with a bonus hour for our most advanced dancers from 3-4 pm), $45, Athens Community Center, 701 E State St, Athens, OH. Register online or at the front desk on your way in. For scholarship information, please email Chris at chrisknisely5@gmail.com.

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Info about our next class:

On April 19, first-hour dancers will learn:

The Yorkshire Rose: https://my.strathspey.org/dd/dance/16761/#videos, including the new-to-some figure mirror reels: https://www.scottish-country-dancing-dictionary.com/mirror-reels-of-three.html
Sands of Morar: https://my.strathspey.org/dd/dance/5885/#videos, including the new-to-some figure tourbillon: https://www.scottish-country-dancing-dictionary.com/tourbillon.html

Second-hour dancers will learn:

Indian River Strathspey: https://my.strathspey.org/dd/dance/7560/#videos, in a triangular set for three couples, including the new-to-some figure half rights and lefts: https://www.scottish-country-dancing-dictionary.com/rights-and-lefts-halfway.html
The Lass of Richmond Hill: https://my.strathspey.org/dd/dance/7795/#videos, including the new figure corners chain: https://www.scottish-country-dancing-dictionary.com/corners-chain.html

If enough dancers want to stay late for a from-a-talk-through-dance, we’ll end with:

Blue Bonnets: https://my.strathspey.org/dd/dance/588/#videos

In general, in this term, we’ll be learning dances for the Columbus dance party (preview here: https://my.strathspey.org/dd/list/69164/) during the first hour.

In the second (more advanced) hour, we’ll be learning dances for the Midway dance (preview here: https://my.strathspey.org/dd/list/64806/).

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Footwork tips:

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Shoe info:

The traditional shoes used for Scottish Country Dance are called ghillies. Here are two affordable online places to order from: https://www.keilys.com/…/highlan…/james-roy-ghillie-red/ and https://corrsirishshoes.com/…/james-roy-highland-dance…

In both cases, DO NOT ORDER YOUR USUAL SHOE SIZE!! Ghillies use UK sizing, and you also want them pretty tight. (They should feel too tight at first, then you wear them while sitting around and the warmth and moisture of your foot will mold them to size.) If you have wide feet, though, you *will* want to order wide ghillies.

Both of the sites I recommended include sizing information, and they might be willing to take the information from your foot tracing and check it against their ghillies to help you choose the right size — it is worth contacting them and asking!!

Consider going half a size up if you want to include insoles (recommended!!!) and/or have high arches. You will want an insole like this that you can cut to fit in your ghillies: https://amzn.to/48KLHrB

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From out of town and want to drop in? We’d love to have you! Email anna@kitenet.net for more information.

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