As a child I did tap, ballet, and modern lessons. I attended the occasional ceilidh and I was told by a ballerina in Mexico that I was a ‘natural’ and ought to dance more. I didn’t… until mid-life when I started pursuing folk dancing quite seriously and realised I love to dance. I get something out of it that I don’t get from anything else. I took an active role in the Lancaster University Folk Society where I called and, unsurprisingly, liked passing on my knowledge of how to dance. I also wrote a few dances during this time. I go to folk events where I enjoy making connections with good partners and have been told “you’re a better dancer than you think you are” and “you’re a lot of fun to dance with” … I’m always happy when the good partners realise that and dance with me more!
I set up Lancaster Contra Dance because there is not enough contra in the north. As a side effect of setting up LCD I took up ASD because I was booking a room through someone involved with that… I broke all the rules and was dancing SSD in about a month, mainstream within 6 months (after a couple of weeks ‘training’) where I was told I was “doing very well, as expected”, and taught myself plus to dancing standard within a month after that with a massive compliment of “you’re better than some people who’ve been dancing for years because you’re always in the right place at the right time” – I dance all levels at both roles of course. Within a year – 4 months after starting to learn plus, 3 after dancing full plus with people – it was suggested I needed more of a challenge than plus… so I went home after saying I didn’t have time and found some excellent teach yourself A1 resources, and danced A1 2 months after that. My excellent caller went straight in to almost full A2 in the next 2 sessions and followed that up by letting me be dragged in to a full A2 square my 1st night at an advanced club. My ASD resources for SSD, MS, and plus are available for anyone to view. Square dancing has made me more confident in dancing and calling contras with ASD moves, and perhaps inevitably I’ve written some contras with fairly difficult ASD moves which are way beyond the level I’ve been taught.
I can offer you calling for occasional dances.
