Just some things you might want to remember:

• September 6th: the day Vancouver USA SCD Fall Classes start at the Luepke Center.
• 696-8236: the phone number to call at Luepke Center to register via credit card.
• September 15th: the day Vancouver USA SCD Fall Classes start at the Firstenberg Center.
• 487-7001: the phone number to call at Firstenberg Center to register via credit card.
• Columbia Dance Studio: where our October dance will be held this year!
• Sir Arthur Canon Doyle was Scottish!

With this Volume 23 #2 edition of "The Scottish Country Dancer" newsletter, we have produced 25 issues of the email-style newsletter. The first email edition, Volume 19 #2, was published on August 27, 2002. I would like to thank John Shaw for inventing this efficient way to publish the stories about our SCD community. We are easily able to include color photos, we significantly reduce printing and postage costs, and we are able to electronically transmit the newsletter to members immediately after publication is complete.

Since we parted company at the end of the SCD classes in June, we have all been engaged in our various summertime activities. The long days have blessed us with great weather and the occasional Scottish Country Dance activity to spice up life.

We began the summer with the family picnic at Lewisville Park on July 9, featuring Don Morrison's 82nd birthday. We met in a beautiful place to enjoy the company of friends, eat some food, play some games, and do some easy dances.

We met up with all the Scottish people at the Portland Highland Games on July 15. Four days earlier, we departed from the Walmart parking lot at 4:30am for an early morning series of TV promos at Mount Hood Community College. This year we set up our tent on the main field and introduced SCD to many visitors.

We gathered in Esther Short Park on July 22 for a fun hour of SCD. Many people watched our dancing with interest, from a distance. We had a fun time sampling Linda Mae's dance menu:

    The Flowers of Eatinburgh Ristorante
    today offers the
    Folksy Five-(course)
    (Meal) Amang the Tailors

    1. Appetizers
       Swiss (Chesse) Lassies
       Cold and Raw (Vegetables)
    2. Main Course
       Fish and Chips
       Corn Dawgs
       Peanut Butter and Jelly
    3. Palate Cleansers
       Johnny Groat's (Oats)
       Mrs. Stewart's (Figs)
    4. Desserts
       Frost and Snow (Cones)
       Piece of Cake
       (Ice Cream) Castle Jig
    5. Drinks
       Punch Bowl
       Pint O' Ale

We returned to Esther Short Park on July 30 for a memorable SCD performance for the International Festival. We had an odd mix of circumstances thrown our way with a music malfunction and rain shower on the audience during the performance. We adapted well to the challenges and communicated to the audience that we were having a good time dancing.

Liza, Geri, and Linda Mae collaborated brilliantly to prepare us for the August 6 Clark County Fair SCD performance. It was a great ending to the summer SCD events.

But wait, there was one more SCD event to come. At the last minute we rose to Marge's call to perform at the August 19 Uptown Festival. Marge put together an interesting dance program. The Scottish Country Dancers rocked the stage, because it almost fell apart! We pushed it back together and continued dancing ... the show must go on.

Pretty soon the days will be getting shorter and it will be time to move indoors. Thanks to the efforts of our gifted teachers, we are offering plenty of opportunities for Scottish Country Dance classes this fall. We will be practicing dances to prepare for the upcoming Fall Dance at the Columbia Dance Studio. Thanks to dance chair Gail Esparza, the theme of this costume-optional event will be "An Evening with Sherlock Holmes". So put on your thinking caps.

I look foward to seeing you all again in the coming weeks to catch up and socialize with a new season of Scottish Country Dance!

Beginning and Intermediate Scottish Country Dance classes begin this coming Wednesday, September 6, 8:00-9:30pm at the Luepke Center. You can call Vancouver-Clark Parks & Rec at 696-8236 to register via credit card.

Following is an updated excerpt from the course catalog:

Beginning Scottish Country Dance

Learn the basic steps and foundations of a fun, spirited form of dance to lively Scottish Music. Partners not necessary and all are welcome. Instructor, Linda Mae Dennis. Luepke Center multipurpose room. No class 11/22. 8 wks.

W 8-9:30pm $32
35500 9/6-10/25
35501 11/1-12/27

Intermediate Scottish Country Dance

A social way to fitness for all who are familiar with the basics. Be ready to enjoy evenings of Scottish Dance to live music anytime, anywhere. Instructor, John Shaw. Luepke Center multipurpose room. No class 11/22. 8 wks.

W 8-9:30pm $32
35502 9/6-10/25
35503 11/1-12/27

Following is an updated excerpt from the course catalog:

Beginning Scottish Country Dance

Learn the basic steps and foundations of fun, spirited Scottish Country Dance. No Partner needed. Instructor Geri Stuart, Firstenburg Community Center aerobic dance studio. 7 wks.

F 7-8:30pm $36 (no class 11/10, 11/24)
35329 9/15-10/27
35330 11/3-12/29

Level Three SCD
Columbia Dance Studio, 1700 Broadway, Vancouver
2nd Tuesdays, 7:30-8:30 pm
Info and registration (required), contact Marge, (360) 892-4366

Scottish/Celtic Step Dance
Columbia Dance Studio, 1700 Broadway, Vancouver
1st Tuesdays, 7:30-8:30 pm & 3rd Tuesdays, 8:30-9:30 pm
Info and registration, contact Linda Mae, or (360) 609 0623

Postie's Jig

The Scottish Country Dancers presented a wonderful performance to a Clark County Fair audience on a warm summer evening, filled with variety and social fun. Dancers enjoyed the camaraderie as we delivered the complex program to the local community.

Participants were: Annette Allen, Linda Mae Dennis, Gail Esparza, Liza Halpenny, Tom Halpenny, Patrick Hogan, Van Meter Hord, Valerie Moore, Martin MacKenzie, Bart Moore, John Shaw, Susan Shaw, Geri Stuart, Robert Stuart, Fred van Nus, Margaret van Nus.

The program commenced with the Grand March as piper Annette and drummers Linda Mae & Patrick led dancers in a parade through the audience.

The rousing "De'il Amang the Tailors" opened the dance program. The performance team danced "Frolicking Fivesome" as a medley of four 5-person dances. The stately "Sauchie Haugh" strathspey followed.

Fred delivered a new (shocking) kilt talk, as he devised a new way to tantalize the audience about what is worn under the kilt. He opened the front of his kilt to reveal ... more kilt!

Linda Mae and her Scottish Step Dance class presented the inaugural performance of "Fraser's Frolic" as a team of six travelers and standers tapped and stomped an energetic medley of figures.

Annette and Patrick treated the audience to a pair of stirring pipe & drum pieces.

The energy began to build again with "Postie's Jig", followed by "The Gentlemen", and grand finale "Flowers of Edinburgh".

Dancing at the Fair is a great way to enjoy the summer. See you there next year!

Seo an sgeulachd:

As I consider the world of Gàidhlig, I think of the ways in which she is going forward in the world outside of Scotland. Rachel Blessing, a friend of mine and fellow learner, is a member of a society called an Comunn Gàidhealach America or the Gaelic Society in America. She recently attended an immersion week, what we would call cùrsa bogaidh, an immersion course close to the site of the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games. As she put it in an article she wrote about her experience there, "As I walk out of the classroom I realize that I am not alone in my learning anymore. There is a feeling of community here, we are all a community learning and sharing. What a wonderful feeling."

Events like this are especially precious to the Gàidhlig learner because luminaries of the Gàidhlig speaking world will often come to these events and share their knowledge and encouragement. On a personal note, Fiona MacKenzie, a noted Gàidhlig singer, was a teacher at this years immersion! :-) As well, there are many opportunities to use and practice the language in a supportive setting. It is to be noted that most Gàidhlig learners are, at best, learning with the help of a competent speaker (and at worst in isolation with only recordings and books to guide them).

The original founding society was Comunn Gaidhlig Inbhir Nis or The Gaelic Society of Inverness. It was founded in 1871 for the specific purpose of "cultivating the language, poetry and music of the Scottish Highlands and generally furthering the interests of the Gaelic-speaking people." As you can see, it has continued that work for some 135 years as of the current date. An Comunn Gàidhealach was founded in Oban, Scotland in 1891 for the same purpose. These Gaelic societies have sprung up where Gaelic speakers immigrated to and where their children and descendants wanted to preserve their language and culture. There are societies in North America, Scotland, England, Australia, and New Zealand. These societies play an important rolé in helping to preserve the language, culture, music, and world view of the Gàidheal.