Sadly, we’ve recently had to add branch member and teacher Roberta Williams to the “In Memoriam” page of this website. As a member of the RSCDS Branch for almost 50 years, Roberta had a huge impact on the group. Here are a couple of items about her from the branch archives.

From a 2016 interview with Roberta Williams:
How did you get started with Scottish Country Dancing?
“Well I have Scottish ancestry so I was interested to explore something about that. And I had a friend who was interested in learning to play the bagpipes and he said ‘well there’s a group meeting at the University… I believe they dance so that would be something for you and maybe I could get a contact for playing the bagpipes’. So we went over to the university…and as it turned out, he found out nothing, I guess, and then he left part way through the evening. I looked up and he was gone, but I stayed…” It turned out to be a dance group run by Ann Tibor, with no bagpipes. The friend left part way through the evening and never took up piping, but Roberta stayed to dance kept dancing for another forty years! [Read the transcript of the full interview with Roberta, and other founding members Sandy and John White]

From the Blue Ribbon newsletter, v. 18 n. 3, 1993:
Roberta began Scottish country dancing in [the early 1970s]. Encouraged by certified teachers Bill Young and Sandy White, she received her full certification in 1977 with Miss Milligan as an examiner for both her preliminary and full certification examinations. Although she primarily teaches in Minneapolis, Roberta has held workshops in Wisconsin and Japan. An accomplished choreographer, Roberta has devised dances for Four Scottish Dances in Memory of Mary Nixon and the RSCDS Twin Cities tenth anniversary book. She also published her own book of dances, The Borealis Book. If you enjoy dancing at the Renaissance Festival please thank Roberta. It was her idea to have the Branch perform at Ren Fest. She called the Festival to suggest Scottish country dancing and the festival requested that the dancers audition. Roberta invited a festival rep to come to that year’s ball. “A woman in a big black cape showed up at the ball and thought we were great!” remembers Roberta and thus began a wonderful tradition for the Branch.

[Check out part 1, part 2 and part 3 of this post]

The view from the juggling school

Why do people do what they do?  The Renaissance Festival is the reason we were introduced to RSCDS Scottish dance, and now has become the origin of our other strange hobbies, including juggling and Morris dancing. 

Dancing with RSCDS at the Renfest naturally led to friendships and connections with other performers and exposure to their wild and crazy interests and talents.  Then the pandemic hit, and we gravitated towards trying these new things to pass the time while all events were cancelled.  When it was announced that the RenFest would be going forward in 2021, there was scrambling to fill in positions vacated by those who weren’t ready to come back into crowds.  RSCDS was able to gather enough dancers to perform about half of the scheduled weekends, but the juggling school was closed due to lack of teachers.  We agreed to staff the juggling school – mostly as a favor to a Renfest friend – but also as a lark and something enjoyable enjoyable and different to do. Renfest management was willing to accommodate multiple breaks during the days RSCDS and Morris were dancing so, that we could do both, which gives us a unique perspective on RSCDS from both inside the group and as seen from outside.

The Bear Stage where RSCDS performs is about half-visible from the juggling school.  While the crowds are always moving, moving, moving and there is nearly constant one-to-one interaction with patrons at the juggling school, the Scots are seen on the stage as more of an upraised visual interest rather than a teaching group or a performance to sit and watch.  The bagpipes can be distantly heard from the juggling booth, and while the stage can’t be seen clearly from there, one can catch the swirl of colorful arisaids and hear the snappy dance tunes and know there is something interesting and fun going on.

The Morris dancers are viewed similarly, but there tends to be more variation, lack of rules, and humor.  The Morris team thinks the Scots are more elegant and precise, perhaps even over-prepared and over-rehearsed, while Morris doesn’t even know what they are dancing until they get up on stage, which adds an element of silliness, perhaps outlandishness.  Members of both groups have expressed wanting more interaction between Morris & RSCDS, such as banter on stage, playful commentary about the other group, chasing off the stage, etc.  It would lead to more fun and camaraderie between groups and better entertainment for the audience.  It would also be appreciated by Fest management since it adds an additional element of story and leads to a better flow between performances.

We’d be remiss by closing without relaying an anecdote from this Renfest season.  At the end of a full day of dancing and juggling at Renfest, while at closing gate seeing patrons out, a young boy (probably 8 years old) comes up to get in a last few minutes’ attempt at juggling.  He’s super dirty and wearing only one flip-flop.  I ask, “Where’s your shoe??” He states matter-of-factly, “Elephant ate it,” and just keeps on playing.  Yeah, right, kid.  But his mom is standing right there and it seemed like such a weird thing to make up in front of one’s parent, so we ask her if that was true.  She confirmed – he was on the elephant rides and one of his flip-flops fell off.  Before the elephant handler could grab it, the elephant snatched it up with this trunk and ate it in one fell swoop.  He was absolutely delighted; his mom not so much.  They are now lacking a shoe, but gained a good story as a result.  Perhaps it’s ridiculous moments such as these that keep us coming back to work and perform at the Renfest at every opportunity.

—Tiffany & Jason

[Check out part 1 and part 2 of this post]

The view from a double-duty dancer.

What is it that draws you back out there for a second day each weekend?

How do you keep the different dances straight in your head?

What draws me back is that I want to be somewhere that I can dance all day, and be in a different world than I am in most of the time.

To keep dances straight I simplify them as much as possible.  For the RSCDS dances I remember them in a way that works no matter which side of the dance I am on.  I only have trouble confusing the Terpsichory dances with RSCDS dances, when I am doing the Irish dances that Terpsichory does; the steps being so similar and the paths of the dances also being similar makes those harder.  They almost live in the same part of my brain.

I knew some versions of the English Terpsichory dances before I danced with Terpsichory. I will once in a while fall back to the original way I learned those dances, luckily for me it does not cause too many problems (because almost everyone tries to pretend that everything was as expected).

The best way to remember the dances is to trust the people you are dancing with.  Connect with as many of them as possible.  One of those people will know what you should be doing if you forget your part and can lead you to where you should be.  The important thing is to figure out when you have forgotten the dance.  The next important bit is to not panic.  Then just keep dancing.

A way to remember the dances is to always watch what is going on in the dance even if you are not “dancing” during those bars or that dance.

– Anthea

The view from the bagpipes

What is it like to be a piper at Fest, and how is that different to dancing?

The hardest part of being a piper, compared to being a dancer, is that there’s no one to cover you if you get off the tune.  With dancing, we can help each other out with eye contact and subtle gestures (or sometimes with panicked glances and a firm hand hold to keep you from wandering away in the set).  But with piping, there’s not a lot people can do in the moment to help you get back on a tune.  Thankfully the dancers are skilled enough to soldier on in the face of the occasional breakdown!  

In general, learning to do Scottish country dance has greatly informed my piping.  Having knowledge of the dances has saved me so many times when I’ve had slip ups.  And learning to dance has definitely made my piping more musical!

– Katie

[Check out part 1 of this post]

The view from a longtime Fest addict — regular patron since 1984, performer since 1990:
Why is Fest special to you, why you go back year after year?

At this point it’s primarily about the people.  There are friends that I only see at Fest and it’s nice to spend time with them.  And shared activities, such as the Abram’s Circle dance with the Morris Dancers in the morning, or singing/drumming/playing along with actual professional musicians, or the shopping spree where I get to help someone else spend money.  Even just within our group there are stories and conversations backstage that would never happen at Tapestry.  

Longer term, and underlying everything, is the sense of inhabiting a different reality for a time, of subverting the “real” world.  It’s not a costume if you wear it all day.  When I was a patron, I always dressed in costume and made every effort to only carry dollar coins to be more in character.  And I am still loath to wear a watch or carry electronic devices when I’m out there.

As far as missing a year, it felt like a necessary sacrifice and a protest, not at all a bad thing.  In many ways there was still a sense of solidarity even though we couldn’t be physically together.

I still don’t really consider myself a musician, more an accompanist, so performing out there is more for the benefit of the person/group I’m accompanying, and not the audience, where as a dancer/fool I’m all about the audience.  It’s much more of a “when circumstances permit” activity than my primary activity, so there’s less pressure and more fun to be had.

— Eric

The view from novices:
How did it feel to be a first-time Fool? What is it like to be a helper?

So, as a first time fool, I have to say I think it went well.  I have several witnesses who would agree.  I am a very introverted person, so the idea of speaking in front of a crowd usually fills me with dread.  However, I found that if I got myself into the mindset of playing a character, complete with attempted Scottish accent, then it all became much less intimidating.  I had already heard several of the more experienced Fools during other performances, so I had a good idea of what to say, which helped quite a bit.  If I had to come up with my own original material I would have been much more anxious, and probably would not have volunteered.  The dancers were very supportive and there was one incident when I stepped up to the crowd and completely forgot what I was meant to say, but Katie was piping that day and she helped get me back on track so that most everyone didn’t even notice.  All in all, I’m calling it a success and will likely give it another whirl next year.

As for Elly and her first season as a helper, here are three things she liked and one she didn’t.  She liked getting to hang out with the group backstage.  She got to play cards with Tiffany, watch Janet do some felting, listen to Dick tune his pipes, sit in our chairs in the shade, and really just feel like part of the group.  She liked getting to sit right on the Bear stage and watch our performances.  She liked getting to participate in the opening dance.  It was easy for her to learn and her height wasn’t really a problem (even Stuart was able to promenade with her and that is saying something!).  As for what she didn’t like….the heat! Not much we can do about that, but she’s eight, so what can you expect?

— Miriam

Now it’s your turn, why do you Fest?

The Minnesota Renaissance Festival is the biggest event of the branch year.  Planning the performance repertoire usually starts in March, to be presented to the branch in April/May.  Rehearsals run from July to mid-August.  Then the festival runs for seven weekends through to the end of October.  We continue to perform that repertoire in the following months as other opportunities arise, before it starts all over again.

Why do we Fest?  For fun; we like to spend time (and money) with our dancing friends.

Why do we Fest? Money; it brings in more money than membership dues.

Why do we Fest?  Recruitment; it brings in new dancers.

Why do we Fest?  The performance repertoire is used for other events throughout the year.

Why do we Fest?  Fest dancers stay involved and engaged with the branch.

Why do we Fest?  Out of duty to support the branch.

Yet there are many dancers who have been returning to Fest, year after year, for decades.  We have dancers who juggle double duties and turn out wearing different hats.  We have dancers who go out on their days off, just for fun.

Over a series of posts I will bring you a variety of answers to the question, Why do we Fest?

How did it start?

The Renaissance Festival was just getting rolling in 1972.  It was still in Jonathan that second summer before it moved to the Shakopee site.  When Roberta Williams heard about it she thought it would be a fun place to dance and a good source of funds.  Roberta contacted Barbara Rourke, the artistic director of the Ren Fest, to see how we could become part of their performer pool.  Our Ball was coming up, so we invited them to come to see us in action in all our finery.  A woman in a large flowing black cape came to the ball to check us out.  We invited her to join in for some easy dances.  When were all done we asked her:

“Well what do you think, are we good candidates for Ren Fest?”

“Definitely, you’re in, you will make a great addition to the Ren Fest!”

Roberta told her that if she liked us, she should check out the Morris Men.  They were subsequently signed up too.  We were paid $25 per day.

Our first time out at the Ren Fest in 1973, many of us wore Faribault plaid blankets and bare feet.  We didn’t want to wear good finery, dress & jackets out there, it wouldn’t fit and they would get ruined.  We had to make up our own costumes.  The people from the Ren Fest gave us an idea of what they were wearing: “peasant-y, but wear lots of plaid ‘cos you’re Scottish”.

[From an Oral History interview with Roberta Williams & Sandy (Gordon) White, 2016]

Now it’s your turn, why do you Fest?

Contribute to the Blue Ribbon Newsletter

Did you know the branch used to have a newsletter, originally called “The Scottish Ramble”, later renamed “The Blue Ribbon”?  The paper issue folded in 2010, replaced by an online edition….if you scroll to the end of the news tab on the website you can find some of the posts that were originally uploaded to the eBlue Ribbon (click “older posts” to see more).

This news tab is the new home of the Blue Ribbon.  I have been posting “The Pandemic Year” to keep a record for the archives of how we sustained our branch through the COVID-19 pandemic. You can see all of the Blue Ribbon posts here.

I invite your thoughts, responses and submissions on branch activities.

— Bill Brown