COMMENT
the dexterity displayed on the dance fl oor by some of
the most unlikely characters. Mind Reel trouble
It’s that time of year again, when our columnist lives in fear of the onset of Scottish Country Dancing WORDS ALAN COCHRANE ILLUSTRATION STEPHEN DAY
W
ith the festive period now upon us the pros pect of many parties hoves happily into view. The county ball
season may be over but Christmas and New Year normally provide ample opportunities to take the fl oor, albeit in a less structured way. This is altogether to my liking as, while I can
see the attractions of those formal events, I’m bound to say that I’d rather do my dancing in the evening rather than in the wee sma’ hours. One friend, who is forced under protest to attend balls, steadfastly refuses to dance and instead makes free with the liquid refreshment on offer, and calls such occasions ‘drinking to music’. The other reason for my lack of enthusiasm is
a bit more obvious. I’m not exactly a dab hand at the ‘proper’ reels and the only time I’ve managed to get through a ball without making a complete idiot of myself was when I was taken fi rmly in hand by Jan, a general’s wife, and ‘made’ to do the bloody things the way they’re supposed to be done. My wife, who came to reeling much more recently, is an absolute afi cionado now but the only way she can get through a whole ball is by never, ever dancing with me. No, I’m a lot happier with the more easy-
going, impromptu events that can spring up in the countryside, in village halls or in larger rooms when the carpets are rolled back. The latter are what I did when I lived in the south of England when, of course, nobody really knew the dances and I could pretend, without fear of contradiction, to be an expert. This
is not standards away county
to say that collapse
entirely in the reeling stakes the
from ball
scene; not at all. I am always astonished
at 32
WWW.SCOTTISHFIELD.CO.UK
you, I do object most strongly to showing off. And if you do fi nd someone of that ilk in your company, you can safely bet a tenner that he’s a soldier. Two of my acquaintances with the most blatant exhibitionist tendencies when it comes to reeling are both retired half-colonels from Highland regiments. Jealous? Me? But of course there is Scottish Country
Dancing, as practised at the county balls, and the version sometimes seen elsewhere. In some parts of the West Highlands, for instance, there is a sort of inverse snobbery in existence, with some locals insisting that they’ll have nothing to do with ‘dances made up by the gentry’, such as The Reel of the 51st. Me? I think that’s a fantastic dance; if only I could master it without the general’s wife to push me around. Interestingly, a recent Caledonian University
study by Glasgow suggests
there are FIELD ONLINE
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ALAN COCHRANE IS THE DAILY TELEGRAPH’S SCOTTISH EDITOR
verifi able benefi ts from such dancing, and that the pas de bas step – an absolute necessity for reeling – actually aids good health. Apparently, in doing that step dancers put 1.94 times their total body weight through their lower limbs, exertion which greatly reduces the chance of the seriously debilitating condition of osteoporosis. They reached this conclusion by experimenting on dancers from Loch winnoch and Milngavie but whether their fi ndings only apply to people from those localities, I cannot tell. I know nothing of Lochwinnoch but from my observations of residents of Milngavie I am certain that they are by no means ‘average’, nor, given the conceit they have of themselves, would they wish to be seen as such. As with all scientifi c surveys we have little
option except to accept their fi ndings, although I know of at least one example where country dancing proved positively dangerous. A friend, who normally excels on the dance fl oor, suffered serious
cruciate ligament damage during a
foursome reel and was laid up for months. I cannot fi nish
an article on Scottish
Country Dancing without paying fulsome tribute to the ‘master’. I refer, of course, to Robbie Shepherd. His ‘Take the Floor’ and ‘Reel Blend’ programmes are the absolute jewels of BBC Radio Scotland’s schedule. And while the Pacifi c Quay bosses may have annoyed many by axing the Beechgrove Garden
they
wouldn’t dare lay a hand on Robbie.
If they did, they wouldn’t know what hit them!
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