The Thistle and Ghillies Scottish Country Dancers

09/21/2026

A reminder that we'll be having our 4th Monday dance class next week, September 28th, from 7-9 pm.

Pre-pandemic, the Thistle & Ghillies would hold a St Andrews Day dinner and dance. St. Andrews Day is officially November 30th. In our beginning, decades ago, we tried holding the event on the Saturday of Thanksgiving week. This did not work well. Too much competition with Thanksgiving activities.

We tried the Saturday afterwards, but found that the competition Christmas events was heating up. So we retreated to the previous Saturday, which this year is November 21st.

I have tentatively reserved the Grange Hall for that Saturday. The question is: do we have support among our active dancers for such an event?

Let's talk at Monday's class.

09/16/2026

At Monday’s class, Monica led us in The Frisky (32-bar Jig). Coletta took us through Swashbuckling Iain (32-bar Jig) and then worked us over with Adieu Mon Ami (32-bar Strathspey).

Our next class is September 28th, the 4th Monday in September. It's where all the cool kids will be.

09/14/2026

We're dancing tonight! Come join in.

09/08/2026

We'll be having our Second Monday class next week, September 14th, 7 - 9 pm, at the Nampa Valley Grange. Hope to see you there.

08/25/2026

At last night’s class, Coletta led us in The Frisky (a 32-bar jig) and The Flowers of Edinburgh (a 32-bar reel). Monica led us through Alltshellach, a 32-bar strathspey, which we successfully danced with nary a problem. ��

I'll put a link to the Scottish Country Dance Dictionary video of Alltshellach in the comments below.

Our next class will be the 2nd Monday in September, the 14th.

08/24/2026

Reminder: we are dancing tonight, Monday the 24th, 7-9 pm, at the Nampa Valley Grange Hall. Come shake a leg.

08/17/2026

A reminder that our 4th Monday class is next week, August 24th, 7-9 pm, at the Nampa Valley Grange.

Come join us. It's more fun than pulling weeds on a 100-degree afternoon.

08/11/2026

At last night’s class, Coletta led us in De’il Amang the Tailors (a 32-bar reel) and The Frisky (a 32-bar jig). Monica walked us through details of Alltshellach, a 32-bar strathspey. In addition to being hard to spell, it has a half-diamond poussette and a Tournée to deal with.

From the Scottish Country Dance Dictionary —

“The derivation of this dance name comes from allt (or uillt) Scottish term for a stream, burn or brook and shellach (or seilach) for a willow tree.

Alltshellach is the name of a magnificent traditional Scottish house on the shores of loch Leven near the Ballachulish bridge and was originally the country residence of the Bishop of Argyll.”

Monica has threatened, er, promised to lead us through it again at our next class, the 4th Monday, August 24th.

To be fair, it’s not all that difficult. In fact, if you watch folks who know what they’re doing, it’s rather straight-forward. YMMV.

Videos in the link.

YouTube Videos for Alltshellach, a Scottish Country Dance, with a link to dance instructions, if available

08/10/2026

The smoke is clearing out -- perfect time for a Scottish Country Dance class. A bargain at five bucks. Tonight, Monday, 7-9 pm.