Strip the willow!

Have you ever been to a ceilidh?   By this I mean a Scottish dance where you dance traditional country-dances to traditional folk music?  

I absolutely adore this form of pastime.  I'm happy to dance traditional English country dancing or barn-dancing or the proper Scottish stuff- anything really!  What's the American version called?!

When I was in Year 1 (5-6 years old) at primary school, many of my PE lessons at school were spent learning Country-dancing- I definitely remember learning the OXO dance and the Square dance.  They were always so much fun as though the routine might take a while to learn, the movements were not difficult!

My teacher was so enthusiastic about it that it rubbed off on me and I become positively giddy at the prospect of a barn-dance or Ceildh nowadays! 

The two main sources of my ceildh barn-dancing nowadays are at churches- usually fundraisers or at weddings.   I guarantee if you tell me about one and I am free, I will find a way to be there!!!!

It's such a great workout- I can happily exercise vigorously whilst dancing this type of dance for around 4 hours without batting an eyelid!   If you were looking for a form of exercise and discover your local church/village/community hall is having one, I strongly recommend going along- even if you have nothing to do with the church/village/community or think you'd know no-one, they are so much fun, and invigorating.  My friend A, featured in some of the below pictures, also loves them and when her husband was in Afghanistan, we rocked up to a village ceildh in her village, she'd never been to any village events and we danced non-stop for about 4 hours- everyone wondered who we were I'm sure, but were quite happy for us to join in the fun!

We held one at my church during harvest time and I managed to get 11 friends to come along.   The exciting thing here was that I was part of the ceildh band- we consisted of accordion, guitar, violin, drums and moi on recorder and Irish whistle.  The tunes are so catchy and bring a smile to your face!

 The only downside was it meant I got to dance less than I would have liked!

 But it was great fun just to be part of the atmosphere!

 If you want to try something new this year and have never done it, then try this activity- great fun!  If you're in Scotland ever, look for one.  Or with Burns Night coming up, you might find one going on!  I'd love to spend my New Year's eve at one- there are many happening- that's what I spent my Millenium new year's eve doing!

Oh and wear loose clothing, maybe of something floaty like silk (like my Antik Batik skirt above) make sure you have layers so you can strip off when you get too hot and flat shoes- DO NOT wear heels- the last one I went to, some woman stepped on my ANKLE in her stillettos, gave me a MASSIVE bruise and inadvertantly ripped the button and eye off my ankle strap of my New Yorkers!!

Go on then- share your country-dancing experiences!!!!