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Ceilidhs are Back, come show us a twirl! · Friday, October 29th, 2021

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Organized by: Ross Campbell.

Start: Friday, Oct. 29th, 7:00 pm

Description:

 

Do you enjoy having fun? Are you capable of laughing at others for being just as incompetent as yourself? Are you intrigued to see what the Scots came up with when they decided that the one thing the waltz was missing was some good ole stamping? Do you want to spin someone so fast you think their heads might take off? Do you want to see first hand that Scottish dancing is even more fun when everyone is terrible at it? Do you want to get ready for Burns and Turns 2022?

 

 

 

Then do I have just the ticket for you!

 

 

 

The Scottish Cultural centre still doesn't seem to be able to run ceilidhs, but they are restricted to indoor spaces. The only solution to this is to run our own outdoor ceilidh! I've yet to drag anyone along to a ceilidh who then failed to have a good time, and the more VOCers I find to drag only makes for a better night. It even doubles up as a good workout (the time Rosanna came along I could barely walk the next day!). So come one, come all, drag all you can find and lets have a night to remember!

The plan is to choose a large covered area in a yet to be decided park, light it up with whatever lamps we happen upon, spotify and some speakers can provide the music, and I can call a number of ceilidh dances. I'm also hopeful that there are other celts from other parts of the world who can help us out with a dance or two of their own. I'll even do my best to provide hot drinks. What more can you want on a Friday eve? Anyone who would like to help make this happen let me know. Connor made a slack thread thingy which people can certainly use to help with logistics (though if you'd prefer just to send an email I won't complain about this either). This link can get you onto the slack page.

https://join.slack.com/t/varsityoutdoorclub/shared_invite/zt-x8j3tfkl-4pn_eLaKB2nvCq7w6FliBQ

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Finalised details were emailed to all as follows:

 

Hello all keen ceilidhers!
 
This Friday it will finally be time to get your twirl on. The weather is going to be great, which should make having an outdoor dance much easier! We shall meet by locarno beach at these coordinates at 7pm.
 
https://www.google.com/maps/place/49%C2%B016'30.8%22N+123%C2%B012'18.8%22W/@49.2752227,-123.2057653,188m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d49.2752227!4d-123.2052181
 
If you can't make it on time you are very welcome to show up later, but without enough people it might be tricky to make some of the dances work so please show up on time if you can.
 
I'll try and lead us through the following dances
Gay Gordens
Canadian Barn Dance
Dashing White Sergeant
Strip the willow
St. Bernards Waltz
 
If that all goes well (these are the main dances they teach us Scots at school) then we can try our hands at the eightsome reel. Even at the Scottish cultural centre when a good chunk of the people there have danced this a number of times before, and when the caller is someone who really knows what they are doing, this often fails spectacularly. Instead you've got me, and I've got all of you, so if we pull this one off it might be a minor miracle. Ceilidhs are normally at their best when they are failing spectacularly though, so it should all be good fun.
After we are done with the dances from Scotland Ruth and Charlotte will hopefully show us how the Irish and Normans (is this still what someone from Normandy is called?) do it. Finally, we can finish off with the Salty Dog Rag, which was the unofficial official dance of the VOC back in the days before even I was born, and a few of us learned during the Centennial celebrations a few years back.
 
Anyone who has lighting of any sort, or bluetooth speakers (especially if you happened to have an SRS-xb23 which could then be paired with mine) please bring it along. I'll do my best to produce hot chocolate to keep folks warm. If people arrive with other beverages, or come with pot luck style food to share then there will certainly be no complaints from me. Bonus points for anyone in a kilt or tartan/plaid anything!
 
And feel free to bring along a friend or three, this should very much be a more the merrier type of night.
 
Any questions then please let me know.
 
See you all Friday!

 

Ross

 


 

 

Posted: 2021-09-06 16:53:32
Last modified: 2021-10-27 20:31:14