Frankfurt SCD Club
Scottish Dancing in and around Frankfurt, for everyone
Frankfurt SCD Club
Scottish Dancing in and around Frankfurt, for everyone
The Frankfurt Scottish Country Dance Club (FSCDC) was founded in 1963 by Franziska Völker and David Morton as part of the Frankfurter Tanzkreis (lit.: Frankfurt Dance Circle), which itself belongs to the Association of Frankfurt Youth Clubs (Frankfurter Jugendring e. V.). Franz Palm, founder of the Frankfurter Tanzkreis, was still living then but did not dance Scottish Country dances himself.
Tuesday has been our weekly dance evening right from the start, and a series of dance teachers kept – and is still keeping – the group on their toes:
Our Scottish dance evenings are primarily devoted to a general class for dancers of all ages and abilities. We have taught dance technique over the years but the emphasis has always been on dancing for fun. In the late sixties and early seventies we had a »Demonstration Team« with more experienced dancers who met to practise for public performances. (Today we do this on a more informal basis).
We have held the Frankfurt Spring Ball since 1968 and this attracts about one hundred Scottish dance fans from the whole of Germany and neighbouring countries.
The FSCDC has international contacts through its affiliation to the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society (RSCDS). We have had visiting dancers, who have moved to Frankfurt for a short or longer period for work, or as students at the university, and likewise members of our group attend events elsewhere in Germany or abroad, such as the RSCDS annual summer school in St. Andrews (Scotland). Hence we are tied into the worldwide network of Scottish dancers.
Dancing on Tuesday: At the beginning, the Frankfurt Scottish dance group met in the cellar of the canteen of the Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe University in Frankfurt. However, soon afterwards Franziska arranged for the group to use the gymnasium of the (former) Herder School near Frankfurt zoo where we still meet every Tuesday except during school holidays. The Frankfurt Dance Circle had been using the gymnasium long before the FSCDC was founded. It now comes under the auspices of the IGS Nordend.
Dancing on Friday /Demonstration Team (up to 1974): The demonstration team was formed soon after James Alexander's arrival and then met every Friday. At first they danced in the »Haus der Jugend« (in the cellar /table tennis room) but after James' tape recorder was stolen from his car, the Demo Team moved to a room in the Anglican/Episcopal church in Miquelallee. It remained there until it was dissolved in about 1974 – Claude and Peter Zensinger went to Berlin, Meinhard Reiser moved to Stuttgart, Chris and Colin to Rome and Brigitte and Crichton to Bangladesh.
James was the one who decided on who could be a member of the Demo Team. Since it was composed of only 4 to 6 people at most, there was a moral obligation to come along every Friday.
Franziska Völker looked after the paper work at the beginning and she was also the contact person for the Frankfurter Tanzkreis until »Schorsch« Lusky took over that function. From 1984 on Hannelore Mansky was the administrative backbone of the group and looked after jobs such as organising the ball, contacts to the RSCDS, answering enquiries, making announcements to the Group, etc.
From 1996 on, Schorsch took over some of these functions, such as contact to the Frankfurter Tanzkreis, keeping the address lists of our dancers up to date, looking after the keys of the gymnasium on Tuesdays and transporting musical equipment.
In 2004 Eva Schiedrum took over from Hannelore as official »Secretary« while Schorsch continues to fulfil the functions mentioned above.
Our special thanks to – (in alphabetical order) : Gerd Jörger, Anselm Lingnau, »Schorsch« and Heidi Lusky, Ulrike Köppler, Hannelore Mansky, Liesl and Jochen Otterbein, Meinhard Reiser, Eva Schiedrum but also to Indra Heinz, Tobias Hünger, Knut Wissenbach and many others. - The English version of these pages came into existence thanks to Iris Startup (Eva and Anselm simply did not find enough time ...)
