I went way this weekend to a Scottish Country dance workshop at a local state park. I've gone to the workshop before, but this year I tried to pay more attention to what was magically going on at the workshop. I'm not sure if this will be useful to anyone else, but dance is something that means a lot to me, so I wanted to share my observations.
First, the setting is ideal for a retreat: it's close enough to a town so that if you forgot something, or need to get groceries, you can get there without too much difficulty. But when you’re on the property and staying in the guest housing you feel like you're separate from the rest of the world. The room I stayed in was in one of the larger houses. There were allegedly fifteen people in the house, but I never really saw all of them at any one time. It was sort of like you knew other people were there, but you didn't necessarily cross paths with most of them the whole weekend.
There were two dances, a welcome dance Friday night and the ball on Saturday night. Saturday during the day there were four classes (two in the morning, two after lunch) which meant a lot of dancing. The classes were interesting in and of themselves. I took the elective classes since I didn't feel like focusing on technique. The classes had kind of a nervous energy: everyone wanted to do things correctly and some people caught on more quickly than others. Some people were trying to either get noticed by the teacher, or to escape notice all together and blend in with the crowd. Pretty much, it was like any other class in an academic setting, it just involved dance steps.
Where I noticed the most interesting things, magically anyway, was at the welcome dance and the ball. At the welcome dance, I actually arrived late and didn't dance every dance, but I had a good time anyway. What I did notice, was how the level and type of energy changed as the dance progressed: as the musicians got warmed up and more people came on the floor, the energy level of the crowd increased. I found it harder and harder to sit out dances and kept getting up even though I was really tired (I'd left work, driven an hour south, detoured for an accident, seen another accident, and hopped on a ferry at the last minute to get to the workshop). There were a lot more young people than usual (young meaning 20-35ish) at the dance which helped change the quality of the energy too. It was more vibrant and inspired some of the older dancers to get up for one more dance than they would have normally done.
The ball was even more of an energy boost. By that point, all the participants had been dancing for the better part of the weekend. Most of the people that do Scottish Country dance - at least in this area - are over fifty and they had done the same amount of classes as I had. We were all limping around the dance floor warming up and chatting when the music started. And again, the energy just changed. I felt a massive compulsion to dance despite my aching feet and throbbing calves. Every time I would try to sit down, someone else would come over and ask me to dance and I up I would be once more. I ended up dancing all the dances on the program - even the dances I didn’t particularly like due to the massive energy in the room. It was a different kind of energy than I usually find at Scottish Country dance events. Part of it was due, as I mentioned, to the influx of younger dancers - including myself - who aren’t so caught up in the formalities/stuffiness of tradition and who are willing to have a bit of fun with the dances. Part of it was also the amazing music which compelled us as dancers to move even though our bodies were protesting. I know I came away with bruised feet and sore muscles and honestly hobbled out to the car and then down the steps of the house I was staying in the next morning, but whilst I was on the dance floor, I felt buoyed up by the energy in the room. I'm not sure if it was the setting or the music, but the energy was amazing. And despite my aching muscles, I'm going back again next year!
Music, Dance and Magic
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