Royal Scottish Country Dance Society Marks 40 Years in the San Francisco Bay Area; Social and Creative Pleasures Keys to Longevitiy

Dressed in formal wear, including kilts and Prince Charlie jackets for the men, and ready to dance into the wee hours of the night, more than 300 members of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society will celebrate the local branch's 40th anniversary at a gala ball on Saturday, June 25, 2005, at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Oakland, California.

(PRWEB) May 30, 2005 -- Dressed in formal wear, including kilts and Prince Charlie jackets for the men, and ready to dance into the wee hours of the night, more than 300 members of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society will celebrate the local branch's 40th anniversary at a gala ball on Saturday, June 25, 2005, at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Oakland, California (www.rscds-sf.org). Calling this milestone event the Dance of the Decade, members of the RSCDS-San Francisco Branch are unabashed in their enthusiasm for this enduring dance form, which dates back to the 1700s.

Popular for its social nature, the RSCDS-San Francisco Branch holds many formal and informal parties, concerts and special events throughout the year. One of of the largest international branches with more than 400 members, RSCDS-SF extends from Santa Rosa to Monterey, and as far east as Livermore. In 1950, San Francisco became home to the Reel and Strathspey Club, which later became the San Francisco Branch of the RSCDS; San Francisco has been its home in spirit ever since.

Santa Clara and San Mateo counties boast seven charter members with more than 40 years each with the society: Roy & Janet Hayter (Mountain View), Fred & Olga Sommer (Foster City), John & Jennifer Kelly (Palo Alto) and Elsie Robertson (Burlingame); Contra Costa County has four charter members with more than 40 years each: Kathleen McAdam (Lafayette), Bonnie Wakeman (Lafayette) and Eugene & Virginia Bissell (Alamo). Alameda County has two charter members with more than 40 years each: Zoe Coddington (Berkeley), and Fred Macondray (Oakland).

While high-profile, precision dance performances are popular at Scottish Highland Games, country dancing is actually an expressive and social activity that anyone - any age, any size and any shape - can easily learn and appreciate for a lifetime. In this traditional ballroom dance of Scotland, partners move in coordinated formations using easy-to-learn steps, accompanied by music, generally provided by fiddles, pianos, accordions and bagpipes.

Dance tempos vary from lively jigs and reels, to the elegant and slower strathspeys. Because Scottish country dances held world-wide incorporate uniform standards, dancers step comfortably onto the floor from San Francisco to Hong Kong to South Africa and throughout Europe.

The RSCDS-SF Branch conducts classes and workshops for all levels of dancers throughout the Bay Area, including San Francisco, Berkeley, Burlingame, Mountain View, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Soquel, Lafayette, Pleasant Hill, Livermore, Monterey and Santa Rosa; and holds special events such as holidays at the John Muir House (Martinez) and Dunsmuir House (Oakland), exhibitions at Northern California Highland Games, and the annual Asilomar Dance Workshop (Monterey). New members and visitors are always welcomed.

The Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, was founded in 1923, to preserve and promote Scotland's traditional country dances and their music. Today, there are more than 25,000 RSCDS members and close to 170 branches world-wide. For more information, visit www.scottishdance.org and www.strathspey.org.

For more information about the RSCDS-San Francisco Branch, please visit www.rscds-sf.org; or contact Greg Reznick, (925) 417-2074, greg@reznickfamily.com. Photos available upon request.

Facts About Royal Scottish Country Dance:
1. The Royal Scottish Country Dance Society was founded in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1923, to preserve and promote Scotland's traditional country dances and their music (www.scottishdance.org).

2. Today there are more than 25,000 RSCDS members and 167 branches world-wide (www.scottishdance.org/branches).

3. The San Francisco Branch of the RSCDS is one of the largest international branches with more than 400 members in the ten-county area (www.rscds-sf.org/branchmap).

4. RSCDS-SF classes are offered in Contra Costa, Alameda, San Francisco, Sonoma, Solano, Marin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Joaquin counties (www.rscds-sf.org/directory/dirclass).

5. The RSCDS-San Francisco Branch celebrates its 40th anniversary in June 2005.

6. Scottish country dancing is a modern form of country dancing popular in England and Scotland among townspeople in places like Edinburg in the 18th century. Country dancing in Scotland was influenced by other traditional Scottish dances such as Highland reels, and so acquired a particular Scottish flavor.

7. Scottish country dancing is a cross between square dance (although there is no caller) and ballet; there are about a dozen basic steps or figures which dancers use to navigate through a number of dances. Generally, groups of six to ten people (men and women) dance to the music of reels, jigs and strathspeys played on the fiddle, accordion, flute, piano and bagpipes.

8. There are more than 7000 different Scottish country dances cataloged, though only a fraction of that number are danced today. Many dances are a fusion of the traditional and the modern. This, as well as its ongoing evolution, is a part of the attraction of Scottish country dancing today.

9. Scottish country dancing is a very social form of dancing: dancers dance with seven or more people at once, rather than with just one partner. Classes, workshops, balls and social events are held regularly in cities and towns all over the world; and dancers know that they can join a Scottish country dancing group anywhere they travel.

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