Vicky’s Awa’…

 

In writing about her retirement and future plans, Vicky Zeltins covered a lot of RSCDS Toronto history.

January, 2022


It was 31 years ago this January that I started Scottish Country dancing. I had come home from Teachers’ College with a penchant for potato chips and french fries and decided I should find an activity to keep them from taking hold. My choices at the North Toronto evening classes were between ballet and Scottish Country dancing. Seeing as how I’d done ballet as a child and only lasted one year, I thought I’d give Scottish Country dancing a whirl. I fell in love!
My first teacher, Bob Waugh (at rt), was fun and technical. We were going to learn to dance properly. The new friends I made, Nancy Duffy and Shelley Gibbs, are still friends today. One night, while teaching us Maxwell's Rant, Bob was ready to end class, but we hadn't quite mastered the crossover reels so we made him do it again, and again. We refused to leave until we could do it. Such fun! The feeling of joy when we accomplished it couldn’t be diminished by the caretaker bustling us out of the building. We had done it, and done it right. It’s still one of my favourite dances.

At the end of that session, Bob took us to the March monthly dance. It was there that we were approached by some of the members of Calvin (who knew Nancy) and invited to join them. How could I not say Yes to that?  I continued dancing with them that spring and was included in the preparations for the Guinness Book of World Records attempt at the Eightsome Reel. 1991 was a good year.

A friend invited me to go camping across Canada that summer and I said, yes I could go across, but I was going to have to fly back because we were dancing at the Exhibition for the World Record. It was a highlight of dancing in Toronto to be a part of that incredible experience. You can ask Liz and Ian Clunie about the feeling of hot concrete underfoot as we danced that August.

To continue my dance journey… Frances Gray (at lft), from Calvin encouraged us (Shelley and me) to continue with Branch classes. [Nancy already knew about them and was taking them when she could.] I don’t remember which teacher I had first but I definitely had Bob (Millar) and Jean Noble. Jean taught on one side of the gym divider and and when she said we were ready we were sent to the other side with Bob. I remember meeting Jean Hamilton in the basement cafeteria on breaks as she and Jean N would giggle and laugh about something and bring such joy to the classes.

Between branch classes and Calvin, I was ready to take the plunge into the world of the Tartan Ball in 1993. At one of the ball practices, held by Georgina Finlay, Shelley and I were invited by Colin Philip and the gang to come dance with them on Wednesday nights. For the rest of that year, that’s what we did. Tuesdays at Calvin and Wednesdays at Weston.

Then came Level 4 Branch class with Bob Blackie (at lft). What a treat — and what torture!  I remember practising crossing hands (left and right) and turning 2 bars and 4 all the way round for over half the class. To this day, I try to make sure that an imaginary whisky bottle is placed gently on the shelf. (David and Alison Booz will remember that.)

In 1995, I had the privilege of going to St Andrews with Georgina and The Finlay Dancers, and then again in 1997 where we lost two of our dancers to wonderful men. Fiona Jamison soon became Fiona Collinson, and is now raising her two children over in St Andrews with Doc. Shelley met Rab, and they have been back and forth between Canada and St Andrews ever since. (They are currently in Fenelon Falls while COVID, winter, and health issues get resolved.)

By 1997, ever the learner, I wanted to learn more and the next step was becoming a teacher. I completed my Preliminary Certificate under the tutelage of Bob Blackie and Jean Noble in the spring of 1997. Other class members included Barbara Taylor, Alison Booz, Shelley, Louis Racic, and Lorna Larmour (I think). It was a phenomenal group of people. Jean and Bob spent eight months training us not to say “okay.” In fact, we had a jar to collect money whenever one of us said “okay”, only to have the examiner walk in and the first words out of her mouth were, “Okay, let's get started.” We didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Bob's face was unforgettable.

Over the course of the next eight years, I filled in at Branch classes, worked full time teaching high school, and judged figure skating. By 2005, the deadline for finishing my Certificate was approaching and I decided to get my Full Certificate. Jean Noble lead our class and I was very fortunate to have Bobby Brown and a class of great people to do it with. Teresa Lockhart, Mairi Collins, Sandra Scott, and May Divers stand out in my memory as being supportive and fun. From Teresa, I learned so much about taking notes and asking questions. Her inquisitiveness is something I appreciate to this day.

After passing the Certificate, I continued wanting to learn about dancing and have attended numerous summer schools both at St Andrews and with TAC.

I became a Medal Test and DAA examiner, and took a course to learn how to teach dancers to become teachers. My desire to learn didn’t end and I became part of the Teachers’ Panel, and then became TATA rep for TAC. Always more to learn. It has all blended together into a phenomenal collective of happy memories, culminating with being asked to take over Calvin when Frances Gray fell ill. It was as if life had come full circle.

It is with a certain amount of sadness then, that I am announcing that I am retiring from teaching high school, and moving out of Toronto, for a little while at least. I was asked by a friend to join in on an adventure in Petawawa so I am moving up north March 1st. I will miss all of you dearly and plan to return to Toronto for dances whenever they get up and running again. My email and phone number won’t change so please feel free to stay in touch. I am hoping to do some dancing up north, and maybe even teach a class or two. I will let Set&Link know of any dances happening. As Christy Barber would say (quoting her father, David Grant), “Happiness is Scottish Country Dancing!” Stay in touch and dance like no one’s watching  — because we all are, but we’ll pretend we’re not!  ◼︎