Royal Scottish Country Dance Society Twin Cities Branch

Is your name on one of these buttons? It’s not too late to join us for our annual grand ball this Saturday! We can’t wait to dance to the music of the fabulous Katie McNally and Neil Pearlman! https://rscds-twincities.org/grand-ball/grand-ball-2026/

A bit of Minnesota pride in MacDonald of Sleat at The North American Festival of SCD

Congratulations to our fabulous teams of Twin Cities Branch dancers who competed in yesterday’s The North American Festival of SCD! Links to videos in the comments.

Derek Haynes's clever 5-person dance "Domino Five" is one of our local favorites, and the inspiration for "Dolphin Six," which turns the standard reels of three into "dolphin" reels. You can find the full instructions in our new book, Ladyslipper and Thistle: Fifty Years of Scottish Country Dancing Together (http://rscds-twincities.org/publications/ )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz9067vR8_A

Dolphin Six "Dolphin Six," a 32-bar Reel for 3 couples or 6 dancers, devised by Anthea Potter and published by the RSCDS Twin Cities Branch in Ladyslipper and Thistle: 5...

Here’s a video of “All That Glitters,” one of the newly devised dances In our 50th anniversary book, Ladyslipper and Thistle, when it was debuted at our Semicentennial Ball in April. Note that the music, played here by Alistair McCulloch and Tom Pixton, is not the signature tune (Sherry Ladig didn’t write “The Goldilocks Jig” until later that summer) but worked wonderfully for this demonstration. That tune along with the full instructions for the dance are available in the book. More details and purchasing info at www.rscds-twincities.org/publications

https://youtu.be/kLVh_EvfmY8?si=sne7IcDzi8CIRXu8

All that Glitters "All that Glitters," 32-bar Jig for 5 couples devised by Lara Friedman-Shedlov and published by the RSCDS Twin Cities Branch in Ladyslipper and Thistle: 50 Y...

We are pleased to announce the release of our new 50th anniversary book, Ladyslipper and Thistle: 50 Years of Scottish Country Dancing Together. The book is available to order now: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G11WWQBD
A PDF version is also available by contacting us at info@rscds-twincities. org.
The book includes 28 dances, mostly written by branch members over the last quarter of a century, including three selected from newly devised submissions. In addition, we have taken the opportunity to reprint several “greatest hits” from our three previously published books, The Blue Ribbon Collection (1976), Twenty Years, Twenty Dances (1995), and New Friends (2000). We have included two dances written specifically for use with children or as audience participation dances, and three that are primarily display or performance dances. In addition, there are performance variations for several of the dances, two of which have separate titles. The book features original tunes for twelve of the dances, as well as an extra, original Strathspey tune. A free recording of music for one of the dances is available online at www.rscds-twincities.org/publications/. There are also videos linked there for all the dances.

We have two very special events coming up to close out the year: Our RSCDS Twin Cities 50th Anniversary Book Launch and Workshop Weekend is coming up in ONE WEEK. Sign up now! We've also just opened registration for our 29th Annual Fàilte Ball which will take place December 6th. See you on the dance floor soon!

This past weekend we wrapped up another great year performing at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, where we share a stage with Earthquest - Wildlife Education Center. Looking forward to many more!

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We're back at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival this weekend and every weekend through the end of the run. Come see us! Come join us for a wee dance!

It's that time of year again! Come see us at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival on weekends starting August 16th! We perform at 10:15am, 12pm, 3:15pm and 4:30pm at the Bear Stage every Saturday and Sunday the Festival is open, except Labor Day weekend. Hint: Be sure to ask us about our "a-COO-stics" :-)

https://photos.app.goo.gl/3NJewuuS2YARqkPE6

New video · Saturday, Sep 18, 2021 🎬 Tap to view!

It was a lovely day performing at the 2025 MN Scottish Fair and Highland Games on Saturday at McCalester College. Special thanks to Chandi McCracken-Holm for doing an awesome job as our FOD and to Sherry Ladig and Dalwhinnie for providing music.