What a great atmosphere! We welcomed back even more visitors and managed two sets up for several dances. Both the Monday and Tuesday classes were well attended and although Tuesday, especially, became a little chaotic, and the programme was nowhere near completed, the sessions were great fun. Now that the ball is so close it is obvious that many people have been practicing so that their favourite dances will be 'all right on the night' - an excellent thing to do, and I truly appreciate the effort they are going to. Notwithstanding the practicing however, we did get into a bit of a tangle with an otherwise straight forward dance - but never mind, better to work out the problems now rather than later, we'll get it cracked next week. Dance card/programmes/cribs for the ball were given out to everyone at the class who had bought tickets, and they are now available to  anyone who comes to the Monday or Tuesday classes so they can make their own notes on the dances or book a partner in advance. They will also be available on the night of course - 2 weeks & counting! See  you soon. 

We are very lucky to be joined so often by old friends back to visit us, and also by holidaying visitors - such as the lovely lady who joined us last Tuesday. Like most experienced dancers she was more than willing to help others around the set, and it showed how 'classic' our current programme is that she was familiar with every single one of the dances set for the night. It was just as well that our visitors were all such keen dancers - without them we may have struggled to fill every set - for all sorts of reasons numbers were down this week, but even so it was a fun evening and culminated with getting one of our 'bar ladies' to join the final dance - and she did it straight off - not just a pretty face, fairly fancy feet too! 3 more weeks before the ball - so I hope to see you all next week, there's definitely more work to be done to crack some of our trickier dances - but we've got time - so don't panic just come to the classes, and don't forget the Monday classes are also covering the Ball dances so they are a great place to get a bit more practice. See you next week. Jx  

It seems impossible that between 2 Tuesday classes I managed to feel seriously ill, get admitted to hospital, endure a weekend of treatment and then be discharged in time for the next class - unfortunately not quite in time for Monday class, but definitely on my feet by Tuesday. That was a week ago, and I confess I was rather tired, even if I was pain-free, so writing this blether was a bit more than I could do last week, however I'm gradually regaining my energy and our dance sessions this week have been so much fun they must be recorded. We had an excellent Monday beginners session - no less than Wind on Loch Fyne, Duke of Perth and Mairi's Wedding were covered - pretty good going for 'beginner's'. Tuesday we had one of the best turn outs of the year, and was also an excellent session, not least because David - managing to stagger through another year - was kind enough to bring us all cake to help us celebrate (well it was Janet really, but in honour of David). Despite stopping for an excellent cake break (and thanks for the thoughtful GF cookies too) we managed to dance every dance on the programme for the first time this year. Less and less coaching is being needed and in general people are becoming more confident. Don't forget that Ball tickets are now on sale - see Future Events for more- and if you want to dance at the ball you need to come along and practice beforehand; I will call the dances at the ball if absolutely necessary but it's better for the overall atmosphere if I don't have to ... not to mention you enjoy yourself more if you know what you are doing. I look forward to seeing you all next week.