It has to get easier !?

Sheesh!  It was hard work for me, heaven knows what if felt like for everyone else, 3 sets up for virtually every dance and you could hear the brain cells begging for mercy all round the room; however, everyone tackled and pretty well wrestled to the ground '3 couple rights & lefts' and pronounced ' Rose of the North' a lovely dance, which indeed it is; The Reel of the Royal Scots, was also grasped pretty well and enjoyed as I knew it would be and that poor old 'Swiss Lassie' was again attacked with mingled flair and fear but ultimately most people ended up in the right place with the right partner, and had fun doing it - even if they weren't quite sure how they got there: it can be fascinating to watch worried looks gradually relax into smiles as a dance goes on and it was very apparent with Swiss Lassie. I'm not sure I liked 'Adieu Mon Ami' much myself, but quite a few people said they'd enjoyed it - so when I've got time to properly introduce people to  'Hello-Goodbye' setting we'll give it a go again.
P.I.P. didn't fair quite so well, I thought it might be a challenge, everyone who even tried should be pleased with themselves, but the final surviving set should definitely pat themselves on the back, like many of the dances we find challenging, it's not difficult in itself - we'd nail it straight off as a Strathspey, but it's a non-stop dance at high speed with almost everyone moving at once - for many dancers these are the most exhilarating type of dances, requiring good team work, fast thinking, and precise timing to the music etc ... so I will do it again, but not for a while and not as part of such a challenging programme!
The IB weekend is only 10 days away so, although there are some of 'their' dances we haven't tackled yet, I think we have done enough to give most people a few they can dance if they go to the balls and some idea of ones they definitely shouldn't get talked into doing! Now we (or do I mean me? ;-) ) need to relax a little, next week the Tuesday programme is definitely less frantic, we'll still include useful dances for the weekend but no more brand new dances, and the only repeats from this week, ones that went well and people seemed to enjoy - in fact even I am a bit 'new-danced out' and I'm definitely looking forward to getting some old favourites back on the programme - one more week to go - I can't wait, but in the meantime .... some more stuff to note

• Next week's class is still at the Latin Parish Hall as usual
• The 'book' is open to reserve your tickets for the 'Picnic in the Park' on June 16th
• If you intend going to the evening dances on Friday 28th & Sunday 30th please let me know, especially if you want to join in the meal
• Don't forget there is a Ceilidh too on Saturday 29th. These can be great fun & often include ceilidh dancing - a bit of a relief from all the challenging stuff!
• Issues with the sound system have been noted!

see you next week Jx