One Ring to Reel Them All

All the parties! 

Here at Loch Mich we've been trying to ignore winter by scheduling as many parties as possible. We had our congratulations party for Tim, a Masque dance for Halloween, and everyone's favorite: Geek Week. 

We had a handful of thoroughly costumed dancers on hand to celebrate their love of Tolkien and Scottish.

Some of our favorite characters came out of the woodwork including Faramir, Galadriel, Eowyn, Arwen, a nameless hobbit, and Noel the Elf. 

The latter will surely be the biggest star of the third Hobbit movie. 

Katy even made us a delicious, spiced One Ring cake, inscribed with "Geek Week 2: Loch Mich Tolkien Night" in Elvish.

To make the next geek week even more exciting, we have decided to host a poll so that everybody can help choose the next theme:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CHKQPSJ

What is your favorite Geekdom? What sort of costumes do you want to wear? Why not try your hand at writing a themed dance to be performed by the class? All forms of fan enthusiasm are welcome.

Until then, everyone prepare your dancing shoes for the upcoming New Years Ball, which will be held on January 16-18 in St. Charles at the Baker Community Center and in the Fermilab barn with live music from Earl Gaddis and Karen Alexrod.

(An example of us dancing)

Ta Ta dancers!

Surprise treat!

Check out our (almost) all men's set for Shiftin' Bobbins. Couldn't resist.

Times Flies When You're Reeling

Phew. And we're back. Sorry blog readers, but the Loch Mich class has been crazy lately. We're focusing on expansion in a big way, which doesn't leave much time for writing. Here are the highlights from the last few months:

This summer, a small segment of the demo team attended the Highland Games. We had live music by Tim Macdonald, participatory dancing heralded by the great people at the Clan Donald tent and a couple of demo dances in the grass in the clan area.

Once class got back in motion, we started off with our first monthly music night of the season, which was also a party in recognition of Tim Macdonald, who had recently won the National Scottish Fiddle Championship. 

A longtime dancer, Rachel, also departed over the summer. She left for Cambridge, where she will be completing a fellowship, tromping all over the grass, and researching just what English people keep inside their heads. 

Finally, we are planning a special event on Sunday, October 26th. We will have a Masque Dance for Halloween with live music by Tim Macdonald and a new member of our unofficial historic Scottish music fan club who also happens to be a baroque bass player for the Lyric Opera. We hope to see everyone there (and more info will be coming round to you shortly).

Kittens with Lightsabers

You know how when you do something all day, every day, sometimes you just can't do it any more? That's what writing is like for me. Phew, there. I said it. But now that I am putting metaphorical pen back to paper, there are a few updates we need to share.

First, our spring dance was fantastic. We had an enlightening AGM with constitutional debates and a vote on new COM members. To that end:

Chairperson: Charles Coulon
Treasurer: Sue McKinnell
Secretary: Stephanie McDaniel (me)
Members at Large: Greg Canfield, Noel Chavez, and Liz Stake

This weekend we are going to have our Star Wars dance. I know of at least one Leia, Jedi, Padme, and Han Solo who will be in attendance. We welcome any and all others to join us for live music, snacks, and themed dances including The Death Star and Wookie Walk, both by Sue McKinnell.

Then, June 6-8 is the Midwest Scottish Weekend. Remember a few lines back when I mentioned doing something so much that it made you want to never do it again? Right. 

That's what this weekend can do to you-but in a positive way. This is your annual opportunity to improve your Scottish technique, march to a piper's tune, and dance with your friends from all over the Midwest, all while wearing a sparkly gown or Prince Charlie jacket and kilt. If you can't tell, I'm really excited. 

I hope to see you all in the Beloit dorms (and before that in full Star Wars regalia). Until then, good job on that turn out.

Parties, Voting, and a Dancing Darth Vader

So, I went to Fermilab’s dance group for the first time, guys. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to fill their week with more Scottish dancing. Plus, it was pretty cool to see the branch from the other side. Who knew we had so much in common with our western brethren?

In other news, the very first of many monthly music nights is happening this weekend, April 13th.Tim will be playing a selection of his favorite songs and we will cover some need-to-know Spring Dance instructions. 

Then, the actual Spring Dance and AGM will take place on May 11th, again at Bethany at 6 p.m. If you ever wanted to see the political side of SCD, this is the perfect event to attend. We will be voting on Committee of Management positions and debating whether or not the men should be required to wear kilts 24/7.

Finally, our Star Wars night will hopefully bring in dancers from all over the area. We will have costumes, snacks, and themed music (i.e. Imperial March on the fiddle, anyone?) on May 25th at 6 p.m. Hope to see you there 

At Joffrey Academy, a Ballet Class for Beginners

Here it is, the result of my interview with Tim on his newfound ballet skills.

http://www.groupon.com/articles/at-joffrey-academy-a-ballet-class-for-beginners-al

The Winter Has Taken Its Toll

Ok, everyone repeat after me. You ready?

Bad blogger!

Ok, now that that's done with, I'm sorry for not posting anything since, oh, November? Wow. Can I just say that I shut down like a bear when the winter comes? This is my first real winter. I never knew snow could just keep stacking up like that. 

Anyway, now that we are seeing the tail end of this 100-year Narnian winter, I hope to be posting more regularly again. 

And we just had an unbelievable class in Loch Mich. There was a full set for the first time all winter. Eight whole dancers. And five of them were men. Rachel and I got a kick out of having our pick of gentlemen the entire night, and every so often, Tim and Dave would sit down to play for us. Plus, we had a new member show up who was more than decent at dancing. All in all, it was a very pleasant experience. I hope we get more dancers in soon (including two of our regulars out on extended vacation) and perhaps some Fermilab bodies as well.

On a another quite delayed note, the dance competition went smoothly and the chosen dance was submitted to Headquarters. It is slightly complicated little strathspey called The Jedburgh Arches written by everyone's favorite blogger with an original tune composed by Tim Macdonald. I hope everyone (including me) gets to hear it soon.

With regular postings will come the return of that special feature I mentioned eons ago. Later this week I will post an article featuring the aforementioned violinist and dancer extraordinaire (Tim) that is being published on Groupon. 

Stay tuned, and lovely dancing.