'Smithsonian Folklife 2003'

We were fortunate to be part of the Smithsonian Folklife 2003 festival - taking a sample of Scottish Dance to the US capital.

The festival is an annual event held on the US National Mall, Washington DC, between the US Capitol and the National Monument. The festival is part of the Smithsonian Institution's folk and cultural education strategy bringing demonstrations of world cultures to DC and in 2003 featured Scotland, Mali and Appalachia.

Over 1.1 Million visitors attend the festival each year, with crowds in excess of 150,000 at the weekends and on Independence Day.

Our performances focused on education - being the central purpose of the Smithsonian - and so in addition to demonstrations we included short talks on the types of Scottish dance, their history, similarities and differences and also an opportunity for the audience to get up and join us and to learn some basic steps.

We had a fantastic time at the festival and enjoyed mixing with the other participants and sampling a small piece of their culture - and high up on our list was the Appalachain food!

We have reproduced below a review of the festival from the STDT website (including a comparison between Mali and Scottish Dance!):

This great free event, demonstrating world cultures, which takes place every year on Washington DC's huge Mall - this year featured Scotland, Mali and Appalachia. Under challenging circumstances - it was extremely hot, apart from anything else, our Scottish performers and crafts people were absolutely fantastic. Everything from Panto to Gaelic poetry and song, and Orkney chair-making to re-enactments of Burns Suppers. It's important to make special mention of the Mitchelson brothers. Highland and Step Dance demonstrations and workshops - encouraging, positive and enthusiastic - lots of people dancing in temperatures verging on 100 degrees - Gareth and Deryck in kilts and, for stepping, brogues, demonstrated their extreme professionalism, extraordinary skill, and their genuine enthusiasm - they were fantastic and the big audiences they attracted all just loved it - Scottish Dance traditions were superbly well represented. So, huge congratulations to them.

Quote courtesy of Sheena Wellington who was a key part of the Scottish activities, who overheard a young Afro-American lass say: "Wow! I thought the Mali dance was going to be the greatest but these guys are the coolest and sexiest thing I ever saw!"

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