• Workshop Description and Schedule
• Instructor and Musician Bios
• Cost, Location, and Other Logistics
• Dance Programs
• Registration Form
• Contact Information

In conjuction with our 9th Annual Fàilte Ball, The RSCDS Twin Cities Branch is pleased to offer a weekend workshop featuring instructors Bruce and Jo Hamilton (Menlo Park, CA) and live music by local band Night Scotsman and special guest Mike Briggs (Madison, WI). Dancers at the intermediate level and above are enthusiastically invited (i.e. familiarity with the most basic steps and formations will be assumed).

Workshop Schedule
Friday, 9 December 2005
7:00 p.m. - about 10:30 p.m.	Welcome Dance (casual)
Saturday, 10 December 2005
8:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.	Check-in/Registration
9:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.	Classes (with break)
12:15 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.	Lunch (box lunch with sandwiches and pasta salad)
1:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.	Classes (with break)
Dinner on your own
7:00 p.m. - ?	Fàilte Ball with music by Thistledown
Sunday, 11 December 2005
9:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.	Coffee & Bagel Breakfast
10 a.m. - 12 noon.	Combined Class

Instructor and Musician Bios

Bruce Hamilton got started in the mid-60s with international folk dancing at Swarthmore College. "After grad school I gravitated to just English and Scottish, because the groups I found were more social." Bruce has danced and taught morris, longsword, rapper, and English and Scottish country dancing all over the place, though recently his legs have made me give up the morris and sword. He's served on the boards of local organizations, run demo teams, organized workshops, run balls. He's currently on the board of the Country Dance and Song Society and secretary of the teachers committee of the San Francisco RSCDS branch. In teaching dancing his goal is "to bring together as many elements music, history, body mechanics, wit, choreography and fun as I can." Bruce got interested in training dance teachers some time in the 80s. "This is a completely different skill from teaching dancing. I am still a student of that, and have a great time discovering, experimenting with things, and watching my students blossom."

Bruce also moonlights as a research computer scientist with Agilent Technologies (used to be Hewlett-Packard), working on distributed, real-time measurement and control.

Jo Hamilton began dancing in Winnipeg, Canada in 1969. (She was only 5 years old, of course!) The following year she was asked to take over the Branch's children's class. In the years that followed, she gained her SCD teaching certificates at St. Andrews, taught children, beginners, intermediate, advanced/teachers, demonstration teams (including the Queen's visit in '84), ladies step dance, and several candidate classes in Winnipeg. For the last 21 years she has taught in the San Francisco Bay area mostly with the Mountain View SCD Class (basic skills, experienced, adjudication and demonstration performances) and Cairngorm Ladies Step Dancers. She has also trained teacher candidates, taught children's CD classes, chaired step dance workshops and been an festival dance adjudicator. "I feel fortunate to have taught Scottish country dance and ladies step workshops all over North America. Working with new adult dancers, children, demonstration teams and candidates bring me special joy."

In the last few years, mostly after retiring from working with learning handicapped children in one of the local school districts, Jo has found great joy in working with dogs, cats, kittens and puppies in rescue and adoption as well as working part time at a local veterinarian's hospital. The Hamilton home is often teaming with small animals as well as dance music!

Night Scotsman is a new local Scottish band under the leadership of pianist Sherry Ladig. Sherry has nearly 25 years of experience playing for the RSCDS Twin Cities branch as part of the band Thistledown and also performs with flautist Don Ladig as part of Dunquin. Night Scotsman will be joined by guest fiddler, Helen Grant.

For about 15 years Mike Briggs (piano and accordion) has been class musician with the Madison Scottish Country Dancers, and with McDuff's Ceilidh Band has played for dances and balls in Madison, Milwaukee, Racine, Rockford, St. Charles, Chicago and Ames. Mike has also provided music for English country dancing and New England contra dancing, and for Morris dancing with Oak Apple Morris. A lawyer by trade, Mike has also been a librarian, high school teacher, waiter and bus conductor.

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Cost, Location and Other Logistics

Cost:	Full Workshop Weekend	$80
	Full workshop weekend includes all instruction, the Friday night welcome dance, the Fàilte Ball on Saturday, lunch on Saturday, and breakfast on Sunday.
	Friday Evening Welcome Dance Only	FREE
	Fàilte Ball Only	$20
Location:	All workshop classes will take place at Tapestry Folkdance Center, located at 3748 Minnehaha Avenue South in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Friday evening welcome dance and ceilidh will take place at Olivet Congregational Church, 1850 Iglehart in St. Paul. For location and other details on the Saturday night Fàilte Ball, see the Fàilte Ball web page.
Accommodations:	Hospitality in the homes of local dancers or hotel accommodations are available for workshop participants coming from out of town.
A workshop registration form is available online.

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Dance Programs

Fàilte Ball

See the Fàilte Ball web page

The Wild Geese
32 J	3C	RSCDS 24
1-4	1C and 3C set advancing for 2 bars, then balance in a zig-zag line for 2 bars.
5-8	1C turn RH and cast off to 3rd place while 3C turn RH and lead up to 1st place.
9-16	Repeat bars 1-8 with roles reversed to end in original positions.
17-24	1C down the middle and up to end in 2nd place. (2C step up on 19-20)
25-32	1C & 2C dance rights and lefts.

The Wind on Loch Fyne
32 S	3C triangular set	Dunedin 1
1-8	1W dance a figure of 8 round 2C , passing 2M with RS to start, while 1M dances a Figure of 8 round 3C, passing 3W with LS to start. 1C take nearer hands briefly on bar 4 and RH on bar 8.
9-16	All dance interlocking reels or 4, passing partner RS to begin. All turn ¾ RH on bar 16 to put men in center.
17-20	Men dance LH across two places while ladies dance CW one place. All turn partners RH.
21-24	Repeat bars 17-20, finishing in new positions, one place to the right of original positions.
25-32	Set, nearer hands joined with partner. Circle six hands round to the left half way. Turn BH with partner. Circle six hands round to the left halfway to new positions.

The Saltire Society Reel
32 R	3C	RSCDS Leaflet
1-8	1C cross down to 2nd place facing out (2 bars). 1W & 3M turn LH while 1M & 3W Turn RH (2 bars). 1C meet between 3C and dance up middle with nearer hands joined (2 bars). 1W & 2M turn LH, while 1M & 2W turn RH to finish with 1C in 2nd place on opposite sides, facing down.
9-16	Mirror reels of 3 on the sides, 1C crossing down to own sides to start, 3C dancing out and up, 2C out and down. 1C finish with LH joined, facing their 1st corners.
17-20	1C set to 1st corners, turning towards each other to join RH and face partner's first corner on bar 2 of the phrase. 1C set to partner's 1st corner. On bars 3-4 of the phrase, 1st corners set advancing to join RH.
21-24	1C and 1st corners dance RH across. 1C finish RH joined facing 2nd corners.
25-28	1C set to 2nd corners, turning towards each other to join LH and face partner's first corner on bar bar 2 of the phrase. 1C set to partner's 2nd corner. On bars 3-4 of the phrase, 2nd corners set advancing to join LH.
29-32	1C and 2nd corners dance LH across, 1C finishing in 2nd place.

Hot Links
40 R	3C	Glasspool/7 Year Itch
1-8	1C set, cast off 2 places, cross up, dance out behind 2C and finish in 1st place on partner's side.
9-16	"Crazy Eight": 1C dance a figure of 8 around 2C's positions, while 2C set, cross RH, set, cross RH.
17-20	1C & 2C set and link.
21-24	2C, 1C, 3C set and link for 3 couples, finishing in lines of 3 across the set.
25-32	"Stretched Set and Link": All set for 4 bars. All begin a link for three, but after the first step, 1C dance through 2nd place on own sides to meet in middle; meanswhile 2C & 3C, after passing partner RS, take RH and turn halfway. All finish in promenade hold facing up in the order 3C, 1C, 2C.
33-40	3-couple allemande.

The Minister on the Loch
32 S	3C Set	Goldring 24 Graded & Social
1-8	1C & 2C dance a poussette right round (diamond poussette).
9-16	1C dance down (2 bars), turn once round BH (2 bars), dance up (2 bars), and turn BH to finish in center facing up.
17-24	1C & 3C dance double figures of 8, 1C begining by casting and 3C by crossing up. 1C finishes in original places, facing out.
25-28	1C turn 2C 1 1/2 to change places on the sides, W turning RH, M turning LH.
29-32	1C turn 3C 1 1/2 to change places on the sides, W turning LH, M turning RH.

The Chequered Court
32 J	3C	RSCDS 42
1-4	1C cross RH and cast to 2nd place. 2C step up on bars 3-4.
5-8	1W dance a half figure 8 around 3C while 1M dances a half figure 8 round 2C. 1C pass LS to finish facing first corners.
9-12	1C dance the path of corners pass and turn, but on bar 12, pull back RS to finish back to back in the middle, 1W facing up and 1M facing down. 1st corners dance normal corners pass & turn, i.e. pass 1C right shoulder, turn each other RH, and dance back to places.
13-16	1C and partner's 2nd corner repeat bars 9-12. On bar 16, 1C pull back RS to finish back to back in the middle in 2nd place, facing their own sides ready for:
17-24	2C, 1C, 3C double triangles. On bars 23-24, 1C turn over RS to finish with 1W between 2C facing 2W, 1M between 3C facing 3M.
25-32	1W with 2C, 1M with 3C dance 6 bar reels of 3 across the set. 1W & 2W, 1M & 3M giving RS to begin. On bars 31-32, 1C cross to own sides in 2nd place.

Quarries’ Jig
8x32 J	3C	RSCDS 36
1-4	1C set and cast off 1 place (2C step up).
5-8	1C dance round 1st corners passing by left to finish in 2nd place on opposite sides of dance.
9-16	1M dance reel of 3 across the dance with 2C, giving LS to 2M, while 1W dance reel of 3 across dance with 3C, giving LS to 3W. 1C finish by turning LH 1/2 to face 1st corners (corners reel for 8 bars).
17-18	1C change places with 1st corners giving RH, while 2nd corners set.
19-20	1st corners change places with each other diagonally giving LH, while the other dancers dance clockwise round the outside to the next corner position.
21-24	Repeat 17-20 from new positions. Dancers in middle change places with those in 1st corner positions, giving RH while those in 2nd corner positions set. Those now in the middle, change places diagonally giving LH while others dance clockwise round to next corner position.
25-28	Repeat 17-20, except on bars 27-28, 1C turn LH to 2nd place on opposite sides.
29-30	2C, 1C, 3C, joining nearer hands, set on sides.
31-32	1C cross RH to own sides.

Argyll Strathspey
32 S	3C	RSCDS 35
1-8	1C, 2C, and 3C "half turn and twiddle": Turn RH halfway, then drop hands and turn over right shoulder to dance out to partner's side. Repeat to finish in original positions.
9-16	Circle 6 hands round and back, 1C and 3C finishing facing up and down the set.
17-24	1C and 3C dance rights and lefts up and down the set.
25-32	1C and 2C change places with the tournée.

Chongqing Fire
32 R	2C	Schneider/Gwegorryn
1-8	1C turn RH, finishing with 1M facing out. 1M casts one place (2M stepping up) while 1W sets. 1W casts to 2nd place.
9-16	2C and 1C, moving as a unit, advance and retire up and down the set twice.
17-24	1C turn 2C on sides with outside hand (M left, W right), then turn 3C with the opposite hand (M right , W left). Note: Stay on own side of dance.
25-32	Begin to form a circle of dancers in center of set: 2M &3W advance setting to center and continue setting, then 3M & 2W do same, then 1C. On the final 2 bars, all turn over RS, still with Pas de Basque, to own sides.

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Contact Information

For general information contact:
Roberta Williams 651-631-1201, e-mail: robawil9 [at] cpinternet.com
Hazel Shackleton 612-789-5484, e-mail hshackleton [at] mn.rr.com

For information on registration or hospitality options, contact John Shackleton, 612-789-5484, e-mail: jshackleton [at] mn.rr.com

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© 2005 Royal Scottish Country Dance Society - Twin Cities Branch

Last updated 23 November 2005 | Branch Webmaster: Lara Friedman~Shedlov ldfs [at] bigfoot.com