Beginner Resources and Advice for SCD? (when far from a local group)

[OC Richard]

If you get into Scottish Country Dancing it's best to get a pair of the ghillies that are made specifically for dancing. Besides being the right shoe they're really cool looking!

There's some French influence, ballet influence, in RSCDS dancing so you'll need to point your toes which requires a very flexible shoe.

I'm sure you've already checked out the Florida RSCDS https://rscds.org/branches-and-groups/orlando-florida

Scottish Country Dancing is social dancing, so my advice would be to literally jump right in and start dancing with a class.

In my opinion the technique is secondary to having fun dancing with people.

Also I would advise, if possible, visiting as many different classes, as many different teachers, as you can.

When I was an avid RSCDS dancer I was regularly attending three classes a week, three different teachers.

One reason was just to dance as much as I could with as many people as I could.

The other reason was that each teacher had his/her own way of teaching, their own emphasis.

On Monday nights it was all about technique. That guy was a certified Highland Dance teacher as well as Country Dance teacher. We might spend a month working on one dance. He ran the local Demonstration Team and he wanted every single point of technique to be flawless.

Tuesday nights were as different as could be imagined! That guy had one goal: he wanted his students to be able to show up at a Monthly Dance on a Saturday night and know as many dances as possible. Far more important than footwork to him was being in the right place at the right time for your partner, the phrasing of the dance. We generally learned three dances each night.

Thursday night was in the middle. We'd learn a dance a night.

These three classes made for rapid progress as a dancer, and within a year I could show up at a big dance and know most of the dances.

Good luck and have fun dancing!

[WildThistles]

If you get into Scottish Country Dancing it's best to get a pair of the ghillies that are made specifically for dancing. Besides being the right shoe they're really cool looking!

There's some French influence, ballet influence, in RSCDS dancing so you'll need to point your toes which requires a very flexible shoe.

I'm sure you've already checked out the Florida RSCDS https://rscds.org/branches-and-groups/orlando-florida

Scottish Country Dancing is social dancing, so my advice would be to literally jump right in and start dancing with a class.

In my opinion the technique is secondary to having fun dancing with people.

Also I would advise, if possible, visiting as many different classes, as many different teachers, as you can.

When I was an avid RSCDS dancer I was regularly attending three classes a week, three different teachers.

One reason was just to dance as much as I could with as many people as I could.

The other reason was that each teacher had his/her own way of teaching, their own emphasis.

On Monday nights it was all about technique. That guy was a certified Highland Dance teacher as well as Country Dance teacher. We might spend a month working on one dance. He ran the local Demonstration Team and he wanted every single point of technique to be flawless.

Tuesday nights were as different as could be imagined! That guy had one goal: he wanted his students to be able to show up at a Monthly Dance on a Saturday night and know as many dances as possible. Far more important than footwork to him was being in the right place at the right time for your partner, the phrasing of the dance. We generally learned three dances each night.

Thursday night was in the middle. We'd learn a dance a night.

These three classes made for rapid progress as a dancer, and within a year I could show up at a big dance and know most of the dances.

Good luck and have fun dancing!

Thank you! That does sound really fun. Unfortunately my town doesn't have a RSCDS group or other SCD group from my knowledge. Perhaps I'm just being impatient, but it sounded fun to at least try to learn some of the basics in my room until I could manage to make it to a city with a group. The technique vs sociality aspect does sound similar to my experiences with contra dance, another social dance that's a really good time.