|
A Brief History
|
|
Scottish Country Dancing in Peterborough, Ontario, began a half century ago
with a group of Scots women, mainly the "war brides" of Canadian Forces men, who left Britain for North America after the end
of World War II. In the early 1950's, yearning for the traditional music and dance of their homeland, these ladies formed "The
Heather Club", to do the dancing they'd learned at school in Scotland.
Some 30 years later, with a variety of people teaching, the group had expanded greatly and became "The Peterborough Scottish Country Dancing Society". By 1985, a number of the group's members had seen Scottish Country Dancing as standardized by the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society (RSCDS) of Edinburgh at the annual Summer School held in Ontario by the Teachers' Association (Canada)/TAC. This, and the presence in the group of prospective RSCDS-trained teachers, prompted a move towards structured teaching as well as just social dancing in Peterborough. In 1990, the group initiated two classes, one for new dancers and the other for experienced dancers, held concurrently and in the same location, thereby enabling all members to mingle socially at the tea break in mid-evening. Membership that year reached about one and a half sets in each class and continued to grow to the point that the group was obliged to move to its present location in the middle of the following season. In the 15 years since then, the group's roster has soared as high as 80 dancers and currently hovers above 60. Members range in age from 12 to mid 70's. A final name change to "The Peterborough Scottish Country Dance Society" (PSCDS) and acceptance as an Affiliated Group of the RSCDS, with appropriate constitution, soon followed Peterborough's formal status as a teaching group. Several of its current staff of 4 teachers holding the RSCDS Full Certificate have served on the Executive of the TAC and one is an Area Representative and Resource Contact for that body. |
