Author: Dorothy McLean
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Culture and connection
I have been reading about an interesting phenomenon: Generation Z’s feelings of nostalgia for times they don’t remember: the 1980s, the 1990s and the year 2000. They are buying flip […]
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Burning floors
Dancing was so much a part of Catholic social life in the 20th century West, and forbidding dancing so much associated with Anabaptist sects, that it came as a surprise […]
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Welcome, FIUV!
Hello to all readers of Gregorius Magnus magazine who have followed the link to the Mrs McLean Waltzing Party website! I hope to make the comments feature easier to access […]
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Dancing for Anders’ Army
As I’ve mentioned before, my principal hobby is not dancing but learning Polish. Last week I discussed with my Polish tutor the differences between celebrations of November 11 in the […]
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A short digression about fruitcake
The most traditional Christmas pudding in Scotland is, of course, the clootie dumpling, which is boiled in a cloth (the cloot). There there is its English cousin, the Christmas pudding, […]
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Nearly Irish in nature
For the first 60 years or so of the 20th century, parish hall dances were a staple of Catholic social life in Canada and the USA. They could be nightly […]
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The Ballroom Competition
For Sunday I planned something very new for MMWP: a trip to the Edinburgh University Ballroom Dance Society’s Inter-College Dance Competition (Waltz and Cha-Cha). It was one of my more […]
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Totally waisted
One of the sad things about popular dancing in the West is that the “fast dances” gave way to partnerless flailing and ballroom became “slow dancing.” “Slow dancing”, when I […]
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Winter Events 2025/6
There were 15 cheerful souls at our tea party on Saturday, and I thank the host very much for his hospitality. We feasted on sandwiches, banana bread, chocolate chip cookies […]
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“The Fair Assembly”: Social Dancing in Edinburgh from 1705
The best general history of social dancing in Scotland I have found so far is called Oh, How We Danced: The History of Ballroom Dancing in Scotland by Elizabeth Casciani […]