One of the "core" dances this year is a 32 bar strathspey/reel medley named "Cauld Kail". It is described in RSCDS Book 9, and dates from the early 18th century. The lead tune is "Cauld Kail in Aberdeen", which is also from the 1700's.

But, what is "Cauld Kail"? Well, here is a bit of the background of that dance title, from the book Scotland Through Her Country Dances, by George S. Emmerson:

"Kail or kale is the vegetable colewort, sometimes called 'greens' in England. It grows on a stalk, has large crinkly leaves and is of the cabbage family. Kail is usually used in broth, and often a vegetable soup containing kail was called kail-broth, or simply 'kail'. Cold kail would be such a broth that had cooled and lost its savour. Hence the familiar Scottish saying with reference to the restoration of old ideas or practices that had seen their day -- 'cauld kail het again' (cold kail reheated!)."

In the Level 3 class recently, Marge van Nus taught the dance "Caberfei", from the book Scottish Country Dances of the Eighteenth Century, by Jack McConachie. Caberfei is from the Gàidhlig caber feidh, meaning "deer's antlers"; and the first couple is instructed to "make the shape of the Deer's Antlers on bars 9-16."

A dance detail that challenged the students: one of the figures required the dancers to set on the right foot (one pas de Basque) and then travel with 3 skip change of step: "set on the right, then travel left, right, left." It was not technically difficult to do, but it was hard to break the habit of setting right and left, and humorous when they didn't.

Here are two items of news regarding our club that folks not attending classes may not have heard.

First, the Annual General Meeting was held after class on Wednesday, May 23rd. At this meeting, a new slate of officers (called the Committe of Management) was elected for the next year. The new lineup: Linda Mae Dennis, Manager; Marge van Nus, Vice Manager; Gail Esparza, Secretary; and Van Meter Hord, Treasurer.

Here's a big Thank You! to the outgoing officers for their fine work this past year.

Second, our group, and southwest Washington!, now has 2 new certificated Scottish Country Dance teachers! In May, Linda Mae Dennis and Liza Halpenny both received their Full Certificates from the RSCDS. Hearty congratulations to both of you!

And one final note: the membership year runs from July 1st to June 30th. If you haven't already done so, please get your membership forms and dues in soon, to Van Meter Hord.

I would like to thank you for the privilege of serving as the Manager for the past five years. The main point I would like to communicate with my farewell Manager Message is how much I have loved socializing with all of you. Of all the Manager responsibilities, the most enjoyable has been to contact dancers to promote a fun experience with our SCD group. It is good for us to change the Committee of Management people in order to encourage a balance of new vs. traditional ideas ... try new things! I am grateful for your enthusiastic support to plan and participate in our SCD events.

Scottish Country Dance is a wonderful activity that I would like to continue for many years to come in order to stay healthy and develop our social friendships. I hope you all have a great summer, and I look forward to dancing with you in the summer SCD activities.

Since I was elected in May, we've had one Board of Directors meeting. It was pretty much business as usual, which was nice, as I hardly feel like 'the manager' yet. I am still surprised when I call out for "announcements" at the end of class, and then it's me that is supposed to be doing the talking. Thankfully, I haven't made any major blunders yet. Just a matter of time, I suppose. Or if I have made any major blunders all you people I depend on to help me in this undertaking have covered for me. And no one has actually told me I've made a major blunder, which is likely what it would take for me to realize I had made one. (Please, if I have made or am about to make a major blunder tell me as clearly as you can. I am not very good at hints, subtlety or intrigue.) In any case, it's a nice place to be in, in the time-space continuum. All anticipation at this point. Like sitting up on a cliff looking over the whole future. Like planting seeds and watering and waiting and thinking how great the garden is going to be (before the drought, disease and pestilence knocks you back into reality).

We have a number of excellent dancing opportunities this summer. The Picnic, Sunrise Dancing and the Portland Highland Games, Clark County Fair, and Uptown Village, and possibly others, all before we meet again for classes in September. I hope every dancer, regardless of experience, can join us for at least one or two of these. I am looking forward to serving as your manager and sharing lots of great dancing with all. (And I hope we can get it all in before the drought, disease and pestilence overtakes us.) (And I hope you all can put up with my odd sense of humor. I thought that was funny.)

Halò a' h-uile duine agus tha mi 'n dochas gu bheil an samhradh còrd ruibh uile! Hello everyone and I hope that everyone is enjoying the summer!

I've been thinking a bit of the future of Gàidhlig in the modern world and those who are trying to move it forward into the modern world. I say this because Gàidhlig, although a modern language, is also a language rooted in antiquity and the mostly rural nature of its people. Even its modern day speakers will often guard that history and language fiercely in ways that seem to be a bit on the paranoid or obsessive side to most people who don't know its history.

Case in point: like almost everyone who is looking for bits of media on their favorite subject, I was browsing YouTube looking for Gàidhlig media. Someone had placed several short videos of a program from the BBC called Comadaidh Oir or Comedy on the Edge. The theme was about a number of sgriobhairean writers and cleasaichean actors and support personnel traveling about the Highland communities in a bus who would, before they arrived at each location, create a little comedic sketch about something specific to that particular community or local area, and then perform it at a local community theater.

One of these theaters was located in Culloden. They had very difficult time coming up with something amusing for that most brònach or sad of places in Scottish history where the Highlanders were slaughtered by the Duke of Cumberland of England because they supported Charles Edward Stuart, the son of James VIII also known as the "Old Pretender". They eventually settled on a satire of two rabid Star Wars fans bantering with another actor playing the part of the son of parents who ran a B & B nearby that George Lucas "visited". The son would complain about how each character in the movie, like Darth Vader for example, was copied from characteristics of members of his family. It was cute.

The second theater was located on the Island of Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides. There they decided to do a sketch about two scruffy light house keepers on the Flannan Islands which are located near the Island of Benbecula. The keepers were pining over their need for "supplies" which turned out to be underarm deodorant which they hauled up to the light house in a bucket that they used as a chamber pot! It was quite funny. Unfortunately, the writer, Murdo MacSween, had tripped right over the sensibilities of someone in their group named Mary V who was very unhappy about his treatment of the lighthouse keepers in the sketch because of a largely unsolved disappearance of an entire crew of real lighthouse keepers on December 15, 1900 on the Flannan Islands. This was a big deal in the Outer Hebrides and it left a stain on the lighthouse service from which it never fully recovered. The writer commented "I think she's too old fashioned for a program like this that's trying to encourage new Gàidhlig talent. I'm not happy (about it)".

I'm of the opinion that those who want to preserve Gàidhlig, its history, and what it was, and those who want to push Gàidhlig into the modern world of things like comedy, modern living, and ideas and technology, need to gabh iad air an socair or take care lest the language fall victim to the worst of all possible deaths of infighting. Na leigh e a thachair! Don't let that happen!

If anyone wants to see any of these little sketches, type or copy and paste
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7gH-Csvn6g
into the URL field in your browser. They all have English subtitles.

Dùrachdan