Brussels Dance Scottish celebrates 50th anniversary

As the RSCDS marks its centenary this year, Brussels Dance Scottish has had its own achievements to celebrate as it reached 50 years of dancing. The occasion was marked with a dinner and ball on 1 April at the Horta Grand Café in Antwerp, a magnificent art nouveau setting for the event.

1 April has a special meaning for our group going back to when our first dance weekend took place in Retie in 2011 and second one in Spa in 2017 and it also gives a good excuse to include “Le Poisson d’Avril” (the French equivalent of April Fool) on the programme - a dance written by Anne Scobie in 2011 with a special twist of dancing the tournée in reel time!  With 1 April falling on a Saturday in 2023, we just had to go for that date for our celebration and the band and the room were booked long before anyone had heard of Covid or pandemics.  

We were joined by many familiar faces who have attended our events over the years and with whom we have shared many happy moments. Marian Anderson and her Scottish Country Dance Band - Max Ketchin on drums, Issy Hodgson on keyboard and Graham Bell on second accordion - ensured a first-class dancing experience for everyone and it was an added pleasure to enjoy their company over the weekend. A big thank you also to John Lambourne from the Netherlands for providing a “state-of-the-art” sound system.

It was in 1973 that Renée Campbell started a dance group at the St Andrews Church in Brussels and she continued to lead the group until she hung up her shoes in 2011. She was awarded the RSCDS Scroll of Honour in 2002. Renée inspired so many dancers and we were honoured to have one dancer from those early days with us - George Flett - and he was pleased to see that the group was continuing to prosper fifty years on. Apart from two weekly classes, the Day School and Ball was an annual tradition that Renée introduced and we have benefitted from many great teachers and musicians over the years. Brussels Dance Scottish was founded in 2011 when we moved from the Church to Pianofabriek, a community centre in the St Gilles commune, and we’ve been dancing there on Thursday evenings ever since.

BDS is an affiliated group of the RSCDS and some of our dancers are also members of the International Branch. If you are every passing through Brussels on a Thursday evening, do come and join us. You can find details on our website: www.bricksite.com/scdbrussels

Thanks to everyone who attended our event and helped to make it such a special evening.

Anne Scobie & Jette Rossen, Brussels Dance Scottish & International Branch members