Category: Waltzing Parties
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A Learned Skill
When someone tells me that they have two left feet, I tell them that I do, too. I am not a quick study, and it takes my brain a long time to turn teachers’ examples into instructions for my legs. However, when someone tells me that they can’t dance, I ask if they have ever…
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Girl Shortage
When I was in high school I wrote short stories called “Man Shortage,” “Man Shortage II” and “Man Shortage III.” One of my characters anticipates Catholic Match and its competitors by calling out for a catalogue from which one could pick boys for dates. Now that I think about it, it was also groundbreaking in…
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Sunday workshops begin today
Our first Road to Michaelmas dance workshop is this afternoon (September 7). For exact time and address, please send an email to dmclean@yahoo.ca. That is the only address I will be checking today. Today’s event will feature the basic steps of the waltz, two or three of the easiest ceilidh dances, and half an hour…
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A June Dance Party
Pope Francis died on Easter Monday, the day I had two hours booked in the parish hall for a waltzing and ceilidh rehearsal. After various emails and phone calls with advisors, I postponed the event until June. However, as usual, I am having trouble engaging a waltzing tutor, so I asked a great swing-dance teaching…
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My Dancing Day
“Tomorrow shall be my dancing day” is a traditional Christmas carol that may date back to the 14th century. It is unusual in that its creators imagined Our Lord singing the song Himself and characterizing both His life and eternal life in heaven as a dance. Unsurprisingly, composers have delighted in scoring new tunes for…
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The December Waltzing Party
To my delight, six women and girls and seven men and boys came to dance at the December Waltzing Party. A Numbers Game If you are reading this in Canada or the United States, you may think this a small turnout. However, our biggest turnout (for the parties, not the ticketed dances) here in Edinburgh…
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Listening to the Beat
The big reveal for the November Waltzing Party is that no young women came to it. There were a mum, her little girl, the dance teacher, and me. The rest were men, and so the teacher led an expert and enjoyable Leads’ workshop. The party was, in its way, a success, but Catholic partner dance…
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Planning dance parties like a (Christian) Stoic
When I was very young, I enjoyed a lot of drama. It added spice, i.e. dopamine, to life before we all got hooked on the internet. Books provided Laurie’s unrequited love for Jo, and television served up the helicopter chases of “Scarecrow and Mrs. King.” Real-life drama, e.g. who didn’t get invited to Randy’s birthday…
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The Michaelmas Dance 2024
Michaelmas Eve was a sunny, dry day in Edinburgh, for which I am most grateful. I began it by washing wine glasses, and I ended it by stacking bags of the used-and-rewashed wine glasses under a table in the sitting room. Then I fell into bed. We were a company of 56, I believe: 47…