Spring in our step workshop
On Saturday 10th of September Heather Hodgson of Fish Hoek Scottish Country Dancing Club organised and hosted a Workshop held by Cathrine Schmid, a RSCDS qualified teacher in Germany. She was visiting family in Cape Town, and very generously gave up a morning of her holiday to take the Workshop. Tea, coffee and shortbread were available while everybody registered, got ready and caught up with friends who dance at other clubs. In total 21 people attended the combined first session, with 17 staying on for the Intermediate/Advanced session.
At 9:15 Cathrine started with a warm up, simultaneously teaching (or maybe re-enforcing) the correct method of passing giving hands, and passing without giving hands. We then worked on the technique of pas de basque on the spot, travelling and the turning transition into the petronella. By this time we were well warmed up, and Cathrine took us through a comprehensive stretching session. Catherine then taught 2 dances (Swashbuckling Iain and Crossways) which included the techniques she had used in the warm-up – extremely efficient time management!
We had a mid-morning break with tea and muffins, before 17 of us embarked on the second session. Cathrine started by teaching schiehallion reels, a formation new to some of us, which we then put into practice learning a dance of her own devising – Lucky Charms. As if that wasn’t brainstretching enough she then taught The Iona Cross, all the time quietly reminding us of correct techniques. The morning ended with two more dances new to us, Figure It Out and The Drunken Sailor…. which rather reflected how we felt after a full and intensive morning’s Workshop.
It was wonderful having a visiting teacher with Cathrine’s experience and enthusiasm, and was a rewarding, enjoyable way to spend a chilly, windy morning.
Jo Caesar