Classes and Locations

Scottish Country Dancing

The annual course is held from mid-September to the end of June on Monday evenings at the following address:

NEW VENUE:
Pfarrsaal St. Elisabeth Church
St. Elisabeth-Platz 9
1040 Wien
(next to the children’s playground)

entrance picture

Classes

Time Class
19:00 - 20:15 Experienced Class (doors open at 18:45)
20:15 - 21:45 Open Class

Useful information:

Notes on the RSCDS Vienna Dance Classes

Dancing skills

The allocation to the dancing classes takes the following skills into consideration:

  • Technique – timing and quality of setting and travelling steps for jigs, reels and strathspeys
  • Fluency of figures – letting figures flow into each other to form a single movement
  • Timing – speeding up and slowing down as the dance requires
  • Physical mobility – travelling distance with grace and purpose as the dance requires
  • Independence – to what extent a dancer needs guidance during a dance, or a walkthrough beforehand
  • Set awareness – seeing the dance in terms of whole set’s movement (covering, formations, figures), rather than just one’s own path

The decision as to what class a dancer is suitable for is made by the teachers.

Dancers do not automatically move from beginner to intermediate after their first year. Neither do intermediate/experienced dancers automatically graduate to the advanced class. The teachers take the aforementioned aspects into consideration when inviting dancers to join a class. Decisions are made based on a dancer’s skill level and not how long they have been dancing. Dancers are welcome to discuss their suitability for different classes at any time with their teachers, who can help them to improve their skills.

Class levels

The branch currently runs 3 classes aimed at different skill levels.

Open Class

The Open Class is held for beginners as well as experienced dancers. The class aims at teaching the travelling and setting steps for Jigs, Reels and Strathspeys, as well as the basic figures, but it also aims at broadening dancers’ horizons with new dances and figures that move on challenging combinations of figures and footwork.

Intermediate/Experienced

The intermediate class looks to broaden dancers’ horizons with new dances and figures that move on from the more basic dances of the beginners’ class. There are more challenging combinations of figures and footwork. There is also more emphasis on technique and timing. However, the teaching is still focused on walkthroughs and supporting the dancers during the dance.

Advanced

The advanced class expects dancers to have a high level of technique, as well as a large vocabulary of figures. Less time is spent on walkthroughs and more emphasis is put on the set as a whole and the timing and covering of the figures. Dancers need to have the skills to handle the novel dances and more complicated figures that are an integral aspect of the advanced class. (at irregular time intervals)

Teachers of the branch:
Ann Murray, Bexi Wepner, Felix Hamelbeck, Heiko Schmidt, Ilana Steiner, Judith Hall, Robert Finan, Tim Bolton-Maggs

Other classes and social dances

In addition the branch runs Social Dances and classes with special focus (like steps, footwork, formations, fitness etc) with irregular time intervals. These classes will be announced by email or can be found under Local events and news.