Last week we were limiting our programme to mainly 3 couple dances because we had so few attending the session; this week we danced two '5 couple' dances one after the other, with plenty of dancers to spare - welcome back everyone, lovely to see you again, and a very big welcome to the beautiful new dancer joining our ranks who has been hiding in the hills all these years and thankfully has now been enticed to join us. Not much more to say other than the usual 'well done' to those who tackled dances just a little out of their comfort zone, it's amazing what you can do when you try (I remind myself of that all the time). 
Just a few reminders -

• Tickets for the June Jamboree - our end of season dance at the Elea Golf Club are now available - €25 and cheap at twice the price! This is a lovely night, an excellent buffet meal then dancing under the stars. The programme will include dances suitable for 'non-dancers' too, so please bring friends and family - Date - Tuesday June 24th, time 7 pm, dress - cool but smart. Children under 12 1/2 price 
• Sunday 10 am - 12 noon 'Advanced' classes are restarting - (once I've confirmed with the Phoenix Club) I'll be letting people know the exact date by the end of the week- cost will be €5 because I'm saving up for Winter School! 

See you next week.

Things happen, and in our particular world they seem to happen on Tuesdays. Every week there's one or two people who are unable to make the highlight of their week (I like to think)  because of unfortunate (or otherwise) events outside of their control. This week was a week when so many people had a 'Tuesday event' that our class numbers were less than half the week before. The bar staff were in grave danger of being required to join a set, but in the end, with a slight change of the programme and the inclusion of some 3 couple dances - to give dancers an occasional rest - we managed an excellent night of dancing without having to entice them out. One bonus for the evening was meeting the wonderful Blossom, who despite her health issues accompanied her Mum and Dad to the class and showed a lot of intelligent interest in the proceedings. Unfortunately she didn't arrive in time to see us all enjoy our Trip to Bavaria- a long time since we've visited this particular dance and getting it practically perfect first time through is an achievement we should be proud of - especially our less experienced dancers.  Another dance we possibly haven't done for nearly a decade is the lovely 'Sugar Candie', - it wasn't on the programme but was an excellent 'request from the floor' and will definitely be kept on for next week.  

Just a quick note to congratulate the dancers attending yesterday's Monday class - most of them coming brand new to Shiftin' Bobbins & Scallywag - both of them brilliant dances, but very different to our recent fare. They tackled them with enthusiasm and showed how much everyone has learnt and gained in confidence over the last few weeks. Well Done ! Onward to tonight's class - and hopefully we'll see some of you there to dance them again!

Another two weeks have flown by. Our weather has been hot, hot, hot, now it's cold again and the winds are blowing strongly, as they tend to do around this time of year - but despite the evidence of sahara red sand over everything, suggesting a desert origin, the temperature is closer to arctic. However that isn't a problem when we are dancing - the cooler the better since we are generating a fair amount of heat ourselves! The Monday class has been well attended and working hard. Despite the usual fun & laughter, people are getting more and more confident, with their reels of 3 especially, and this week we tackled Pelorus Jack - the 'dolphin' dance; we practiced the scary sounding 'alternating tandem diagonal 1/2 reels of 3' around chairs initially and then sailed (or should it be 'swam') through the dance.
Tuesday evenings continue to be enormous fun too. Last week we welcomed another intrepid solo visitor - keen to join in and so obviously enjoying it all that when she's back in the summer I know we'll see her again. This week we celebrated a birthday - tucking into some fabulous cake- brought for us all to enjoy by the lovely birthday girl. We also tackled some challenging dances - none of them completely new to the class but unfamiliar to most of our current dancers because it's a while since we've done them. With cake on the horizon, concentrating on a new and challenging dance was the last thing people felt like doing, but once the music stopped and the dance was done, the beaming smiles showed that despite their misgivings it was worth it. Even with a cake break, a couple of renditions of Happy Birthday and some serious learning curves, we fitted in every dance on programme and as a birthday celebration it was declared hard to beat. As the helpers returned the room to it's normal layout, discussion around how to organise having a birthday to celebrate every week was only partly tongue in cheek!