Dannsa

DANNSA aim to promote and celebrate traditional Scottish dance.

Mission Statement

Dannsa are a professional dance collective who celebrate the rich culture and infectious energy of Traditional Scottish Dance. The collective comprise of Caroline Reagh, Sandra Robertson, Frank McConnell and Fin Moore, who has taken on the role previously filled by Mats Melin. Others join the group to provide fiddle and Gaelic song.

Our aims are: the celebration of the rich tradition of Scottish music and dance and Gaelic language through performance, teaching, and collection of dance variations; showcasing and encouraging participation in the best of Scottish traditional dance; and conserving our dance heritage for future generations.

Creating and performing contemporary dances based on traditional patterns; developing understanding of links to the dance and music heritage of other Celtic cultures, through study and practical experience – e.g. Ireland and Canada; and working in partnership with organisations sharing these objectives, for the benefit of communities, the arts, and dance development in general.

We are in our seventh year of carrying out these aims from our base in Kingussie. We initially came together as a group to share in dance and from there had the idea to tour some of our new choreographs by performing in rural communities throughout the Highlands. We have developed one major tour each year. This year’s tour was a very successful Scottish Arts Council-funded Tune-Up tour, where we joined by First Harvest.

The company has also performed at major festivals throughout Scotland, such as Celtic Connections in Glasgow, Highland Festival in Inverness, and at the Holyrood Palace Garden Party in the presence of HRH the Prince of Wales.

Through performing and touring we believe that we have a legacy to our culture in our dancing and as a result of requests from people attending our gigs we have expanded what we do to include educational aspects such as our annual dance festival and schools residencies.
 

Current Production or Work-in-Progress

The first week in September marked the start of our ‘Four Corners’ project taking place across the Cairngorms, with Caroline Reagh and Fin Moore leading workshops in Carrbridge and Abernethy primary schools.

The ‘Four Corners’ project came about after steadily developing an interest on both sides of the Cairngorms for traditional dance and music, through performing and teaching. We are also working in the Braemar, Angus and Killiecrankie areas, as well as Badenoch and Strathspey over the next two years as part of this project, which has been funded by Cairngorm Leader+, Cairngorm National Park Authority, Hugh Fraser Foundation, BBC Children in Need and Aberdeenshire Council.

Preparations are underway for our annual dance and music festival, ‘Strathspé Away’. The festival runs from the 10–12 November in Kingussie . The weekend kicks off with a ceilidh dance by The Occasionals. The weekend continues with a similar high calibre of performances, classes, recitals and lectures which offer something to whet the appetite of the the most ardent dance and music fans, but there’s also a warm welcome for those who want to pop into one class, or just come along to the evening concerts.

Saturday and Sunday offer classes in Step dancing, Country dancing, Gaelic, Fiddle, Puirt-a-beul (Gaelic mouth music), Irish Set dancing, Highland and Hebridean dancing, Ballroom and Latin American, Mouth Organ, Ceilidh and Quadrilles. The line-up of tutors is as exciting as ever, including First Harvest’s Iain MacDonald and Kathleen MacInnes, Jim Barry from Ireland, and Dr Seumas Grant from Rothiemurchus.

One of the most exciting aspects of the classes is the live music in all the dance classes. Other tutors and musicians including Karen Steven, Carol Anne MacKay and Gabe MacVarish, as well as Dannsa’s own Caroline Reagh, Sandra Robertson, Frank McConnell and Fin Moore. Dannsa will join forces with First Harvest for the big Saturday night extravaganza as a follow up from their tour earlier in the year.

The festival has been funded by the Scottish Arts Council . Further information from Sandra Robertson on 01540-661594 or 07786454470

We are planning a small tour to Four Corner Communities in March 2007. We are also responding to increased numbers of requests for performances this year and of course for 2007, one of which is the Highland 2007 reception at the Scottish Parliament later this month.

Fantasy Theatre

We are hoping to launch a few exciting new projects, such as ‘Obair Urlair’ (Groundwork), where we will work with Cape Breton dancers and musicians as well as some Badenoch and Strathspey schools and Fèis Spè to create new work culminating in a shared performance.

We have also have a singing project, ‘Guth’ (the voice of dannsa) in the plans, where we will collaborate with 6 of Scotland’s finest Gaelic singers. We also hope to produce a music CD as well as a tutorial DVD, as we feel these are VERY overdue!

Golden Moment

There have been many high points; all the communities we have visited have left us with memories. We have a unique blend of performance and participation which allows any barriers to be broken down immediately, a recipe that works particularly well in rural locations. Two summers ago we did a gig in Muck where all of the community attended except for one lady who was baby-sitting – we were very excited by that!

And Not So Golden Moment

Any knock-back from funders! We carefully consider all of our projects and lots of time and effort goes into the planning and initial stages, so to cancel or compromise a project is a huge disappointment.

© Dannsa, 2006

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