Frankfurt SCD Club
Scottish Dancing in and around Frankfurt, for everyone
Frankfurt SCD Club
Scottish Dancing in and around Frankfurt, for everyone
It was through her leadership of a Catholic youth group that Franziska first came into contact with folk dance, which she came to love. She made her debut as a dance instructor totally unprepared when the teacher who was due to run a workshop for 110 participants in Eltville suddenly fell ill so Franziska had to take over at a few hours' notice – without a microphone and accompanied by a pianist who was equally unprepared – and stood the test, earning deafening applause at the end.
She had been a member of the Frankfurt Dance Circle since 1936 and ran the FSCDC jointly with the various dance teachers for many years, found the gymnasium of the Herder School for us for our weekly meetings, helped beginners outside the weekly Tuesday SCD meetings and later looked after Hannelore's daughters on Tuesdays so that she could go dancing. Franziska also gave the group financial support (for example, paying for a new cassette/CD player in 1998).
David worked at the Johann Goethe University in Frankfurt, at first as a lecturer and later as Professor of English and so was able to obtain use of a cellar at the university where he got some students interested in Scottish Country Dancing. However, he only spoke English when teaching and Franziska was the only one of the original six dancers who could speak that language! David did not dance when he was teaching but did so when other people were giving instruction.
At that period it was difficult to get hold of teaching materials such as music and descriptions of Scottish country dances so James always used notes he had typed out himself. He began to visit the RCD's summer school in St. Andrew's on a regular basis from 1966 on; there is a legend that he once had a difference of opinion with Miss Milligan. He taught Scottish country dancing in Frankfurt from 1974 and in Darmstadt from 1981 until well in the 1990s. James did not have a teacher's certificate from the RSCDS but was a good experienced teacher who favoured the »Edinburgh-style«.
Jack taught in Frankfurt from 1982 until he gradually withdrew from his commitments to the group during the 1990s due to pressures of work.
Jack came from Pennsylvania (USA) and was originally a High school language teacher (he could speak German, Spanish, Russian, Italian...) but did have a grandfather of Scottish ancestry in South Tyrol . Later he became an aerobic teacher in Frankfurt and training director and honorary president of the German Aerobic Association (now known as DFAV), which he had founded. In addition to that he was a judge and presenter at Aerobic World championships. Outside SCD dance circles he gained some public fame through his participation in the television sport series »Tele-Gym« produced by the Bavarian TV and Radio station. In this he demonstrated stretching and also participated in some of the other programmes.
He taught Scottish country dancing in Frankfurt on Tuesdays, his one free evening in the week, but was also in great demand as a teacher at workshops. One example is his work in training folk dance teachers for the LAG Lower Saxony over many years. We have not forgotten his nonchalant manner and charisma, or his modesty; he was asked to teach at the highly regarded summer course in Pinewoods (Massachusetts) on several occasions but always declined because he thought he was not good enough. Jack possessed the RSCDS Teachers' Certificate, devised dances himself and also taught highland dancing (his courses »Highland Dance and Aerobics« were especially popular).
Anselm has been teaching in Frankfurt since Jack's retirement – at first as substitute and later as principal teacher. He studied IT and is a Linux consultant and trainer and does not just teach Scottish dancing but also plays the music on the piano, arranges, composes and devises dances himself. He obtained the Teachers' Certificate of the RSCDS in summer 2000 and was awarded the Scroll of Honour of the RSCDS in the same year for founding and running the »Strathspey« web server and the Strathspey discussion list on the internet.
Various other people have also taught for the Frankfurt Scottish Country Dance Club, including – in no particular order:
