Resources for the beginners course
This page is divided in two parts. The first part is general resources for all beginners. The second part contains notes and tips from the beginners course, and links to dances we have been practicing every week.
General resources
Each term we run a beginners course. No experience is required. We cover all aspects of Scottish Country Dancing from the very basic. SCD is a social dance form. You will find that you don't dance with the same partner a lot. Actually, you are encouraged to have a new partner for each dance! So there is no need to have a partner to join our course. Come on your own; come with a friend or come with a group of friends. We can promise you lots of fun!
The course runs for 8-10 weeks, and includes a ceilidh night and a Saturday Social dance. The programme for the social dance is based on the dances covered in the beginners class. The goal is to make you acquainted with the steps of SCD, some of the different forms of dances (round the room, longwise set and square set), and a good number of formations.
This quick start guide is a good reference point when you have joined our class. The videos show you the steps we have been working on. The page on steps and holds is great when you have mastered the basic form of the step and would like to improve.
Notes from beginners course spring 2025
Monday 13th January 2025
The weather did not play any tricks on us this time. So we were 3 full sets for the beginners class. That was a lot of fun!
Monday 6th January 2025
Despite the terrible weather, some of us made it to the hall and had a great time. For some this was their first time meeting Scottish dancing; and there were lots of smiles all round!
Notes from beginners course autumn 2024
Monday 28th October 2024
Watson's Reel (No video available...)
Monday 21st October 2024
Monday 14th October 2024
We had a great time with 16 new dancers! We did the following dances (press for link to videos):
Notes from beginners course spring 2024
Monday 11th March 2024
We will be repeating dances to prepare for the social dance on Saturday 16th March.The programme can be found here!
Click on Videos in the menu bar to see videos. Cribs and diagrams will tell you how the dance goes. For many of the dances, if you click on the name of the dance in Overview, and then Videos, you can get several videos of the same dance.
Monday 4th March 2024
Monday 26th February 2024
Monday 12th February 2024
We are still working on the setting step, and wanted to learn some new formations: 2 couple allemande and figure of eight. We had fun working on the quite fast figure at the start of Wild Geese.
Lady Catherine Bruce's Reel (different angle)
Wild Geese (from an instruction video)
Wild Geese (social setting) - you are allowed to make mistakes!
Wild Geese (social setting) - so much fun!
Monday 5th February 2024
We are working hard on 3 couple dances in 4 couple sets and learning new formations. This week we did 3 couple promenade and three hands across.
Monday 29th January 2024
We did some more work on the travelling step and had our first go at the setting step.
Scotland (danced with only 2 couples)
Monday 22th January 2024
The group is learning quickly, so we are doing some quite complicated dances:
Watson's Reel (Unfortunately, no video available!)
Monday 8th January 2024
We were so happy to see all the dancers, old and new!
Watson's Reel (Unfortunately, no video available!)
Notes from beginners course autumn 2023
Monday 20th November 2023
We did learn reels of three on the sideline today. Lovely to see the progress of all the beginners.
Instructions on how to dance reels of three
New Year Jig from a demonstration team
Monday 13th November 2023
We had so much fun tonight - we even had three full sets for The Piper and The Penguin
Another take on The Piper and The Penguin
Monday 6th November 2023
Great numbers tonight. We had two sets, and lots of lovely dancing!
And a dance Kristian made up -- so no video exists...
Monday 30th October 2023
What a gale and snowstorm we had. Many struggled to reach are hall, and numbers were somewhat low. But of course we did dance!
Monday 23rd October 2023
The class is learning quickly. We have already started learning formations like Right hands across and Rights and lefts. Well done!
Rendezvous Reel (No video available
Wandering Piper (No video available)
Monday 16th October 2023
Excellent start with 22 dancers! We did the following dances (press for link to videos):
