English and Scottish Country Dances with Bruce Hamilton and Alan Twhigg

English and Scottish Country Dance afternoon workshop and evening party with master instructors Bruce Hamilton and Alan Twhigg. Includes potluck dinner!

2:30pm – Doors open
3:00 – 6:00pm – Workshop – alternating English & Scottish dances at all levels
6:00 – 7:00pm – Potluck dinner, bring your favorite dish. Snacks for the workshop also appreciated. Refrigerators available, but no oven.
7:00 – ~8:30pm – Dancing to our English and Scottish favorites.

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Bruce Hamilton is a very popular and well-respected English country dance leader and instructor with over 45 years of experience. Alan passed both of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society exams at St. Andrews in the 1980s and since then he has been teaching regular weekly classes as well as serving as guest instructor at weekend workshops across North America. Both teachers emphasize the joys of these social dance forms.

No partners needed. We change partners after each dance. All dancers welcome however basic knowledge of the fundamentals of English and Scottish country dancing is beneficial.

Email your requests for dances to be taught or for the party to Lucy Chang. Sapphire Sea and Shiftin’ Bobbins are featured during the evening party already.

Bruce Hamilton

Bruce Hamilton is a well-respected, thoughtful, and energetic teacher of English and Scottish dancing with 45 years’ experience. He has launched dance classes, trained teachers, coached performing groups, and adjudicated festivals.

A retired research scientist, Bruce is always looking for new ways to understand and present ideas for the dancer. Whenever he presents workshops, he weaves many conceptual threads besides dance technique and choreography into his lessons. Musicality, sociability, and physiology are his current favorites. People often say they come away with a different way to experience and think about dance. Occasionally he holds a weekend teachers’ class that also draws high praise. He continues to run a bi-weekly English dance class in the Bay Area. In the recent past, he was the president of the Country Dance and Song Society. With invitations to teach at many festivals and dance camps each year, he has taught workshops all around the United States and in the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, and Australia.

Alan Thwigg

With Scottish heritage on both sides of his family, Alan developed a love for Scottish traditional music at an early age. His parents danced with the Reel & Strathspey Club that preceded the formation of the San Francisco Branch of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society. They often took him to the Highland games and pipe band concerts as a child.

Alan discovered Scottish Country Dancing as a college student, amongst other dance forms such as ballroom and international folk. The music resonated with some early memories, and the intricate patterns of SCD stood out from the other styles. He soon sought out a weekly class, then two…

Alan passed both of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society teaching exams at St. Andrews in the 1980s, and has been teaching regular weekly classes at various levels ever since. He has served as a guest instructor at weekend workshops across North America and tutored candidates for teaching exams. He also continues to participate in Scottish Country Dance performances, chiefly with the Red Thistle Dancers. Favorite memories include choreographing and performing a sword dance for the San Francisco Opera as well as teaching and performing in Norway, the Czech Republic, and Russia.

In addition to Scottish country dancing, Alan is an accomplished Highland dancer and performs frequently in public. He does both Scottish country dance and Highland dance with the Red Thistle Dancers, a performance group based in Palo Alto. Alan frequently travels to Scotland to attend dance training schools, and broaden his knowledge of the culture.