Scottish Country Dancers Step Out at the Library
By RAY EAGLE
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SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCERS participated in the International Day of Dance at the downtown branch of the Vancouver Public Library. PHOTO CREDIT: JIM TAN
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VANCOUVER - Dancing in a Library? It would seem an unlikely scenario - the raised eyebrows of irate readers being denied the expected silence, as lively music and noisy “heuching” filled the air.
Fortunately, because of the unusual and imaginative design of Vancouver's main public library no readers were denied their quietude. At about noon on April 29, it was the setting for the International Day of Dance when, with the cooperation of the Vancouver Dance Centre, two full sets of Scottish county dancers (including eight men!) gave a public demonstration.
The downtown location of the Vancouver Public Library takes up a whole city block and is actually two separate buildings; on the western half is the nine storey library itself, and on the eastern half is a twenty-one storey office tower, all faced with sandstone, with curved walls and columns not unlike the Coliseum.
It is the space in-between the buildings that provides the venue for entertainment, because it is a wide, glass-roofed concourse, with the library on one side, and cafes and small stores on the other (the ground floor of the tower).
It proved to be the perfect place to give a public performance, with adequate space for the enthusiastic audience without impeding pedestrian traffic flow, even when several members of the audience were encouraged to join in The Dashing White Sergeant, and Mamie's Jig, including a group of Mexican students attending college here.
Under the direction of Vancouver Scottish Country dance teacher Marie Disiewicz, the dancers performed Shifting Bobbins, Pelorous Jack, Culla Bay, Postie's Jig, Seton's Ceilidh Band and The Belle of Bon Accord.
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