strathspey@strathspey.org:44952

Dick&Maureen Daniel

Re: Over 700 schoolchildren dance in Glasgow

April 2, 2006, 6:01 p.m. (Message 44952, in reply to message 44941)

Anselm wrote

“Everybody can have fun kicking a rusty can around the Street......
However, playing organised football does take some practice and 
dedication....
And incidentally, football DOES have rules, and some rather more complicated 
ones than SCD at that......
no amount of »loosening up« will change that.......
Apparently the RSCDS were down there in the thick of it rather than outside 
wrinkling their noses at the outrage, and that is what counts.......
the main problem in Scotland seems to be that people tend to *view* the 
Society as a stuffy assemblage of old fogeys who are intent on taking all 
the fun out of dancing.......
What the RSCDS needs in Scotland is not »loosening up«. It just needs a PR 
campaign to educate people. From that point of view the Glasgow event is a 
Good Thing."

In response...

I fail to see the comparison between COMPETITIVE football and Scottish 
Country Dancing – excepting the COMPETITIVE variety.  Most dancers in my 
experience, are of the non-competitive variety.  I repeat  “Please note that 
I am not suggesting extinction of competitive styles”.  As for the football 
analogy, I am  certain that a rule which stated that the goalkeeper must 
stand in "First Position" when not defending his goal would be laughed out 
of play, or totally ignored.

Incidentally, I WAS one of the RSCDS people in the thick of it, and my nose 
remains unwrinkled.  Further, I do not see the RSCDS in Scotland [or 
anywhere else] as "a stuffy assemblage of old fogeys, who are intent on 
taking all the fun out of dancing".

No amount of PR will eliminate that iceberg.

The “Glasgow event” demonstrated my point well, and was undoubtedly an 
EXTREMELY good thing.

Dick Daniel.