strathspey@strathspey.org:44669

Jim Healy

RE: Where are the RSCDS???

March 13, 2006, 1:28 p.m. (Message 44669, in reply to message 44626)

Greetings!

The answer to this question is contained within it.

>We would have had 8 - 10 teams competing.
At Perth this year, there were probably less than eight teams competing in 
all classes.

Last year, as one of the Perth Branch class teachers and at the request of 
some members of the Branch committee, I presented teams in the ladies, mixed 
(including Andrea fae Dundee) and 'non-competitive' sections. This year, I 
understand, there was no enthusiasm from dancers or committee to take part. 
The vast majority of dancers today are not interested in competitive 
dancing. Indeed, my conclusion is that competitive festivals have had their 
day and while some, like Perth, limp along only the Newcastle Festival still 
has a major buzz but then it does attract teams from the length and breadth 
of Britain.

As further evidence, I taught the Dundee Branch technique class for four 
years. Each year I asked  the class members if they wanted to compete at 
Perth. Each year they declined despite Andrea's efforts to cajole them into 
it. The same dancers, however, worked their socks off each year to prepare 
for the Dundee Branch non-competitive Festival when they could 'show off' to 
their peers without having to sit and listen to some adjudicator spout 
totally subjective opinions and tell them yet again what their teachers have 
been saying every week for months.

Personally, I will not lament the passing of competitive dancing which I 
consider alien to the social nature of our pastime.

Jim Healy
Perth and Monaco