It was time for my first Cape Breton square dance and I was excited. During the summer, there is a dance every night on the Nova Scotia island, mostly in Inverness County. I had been told that, on Saturday night, the Glencoe square dance was the best one to be at.
Glencoe Mills Community Hall the next day, where the square dance took place, in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia (Canada).
But it was tricky to find, especially coming from Christmas Island, where I had been spending the earlier evening at a milling frolic. The folks at the Highland Village had printed out the directions from Google, with their own notes scribbled in. Yet, as I left, they told me, “Good luck finding the place.” Driving on country roads deep in the Cape Breton wilderness, in the dark and alone, isn’t the smartest idea.
Of course, it didn’t work out that way. I’m in Cape Breton! A few of the step dancing gals at the milling frolic were also going to the dance and had been told by the Highland Village people that I was interested in going (got all that?). So they found me and we made this complicated plan that ended up getting rid of many cars as we all piled into one.
The back way was indeed dark, with no lights, dirt roads and thriving forests on both sides. Yet when I stepped into the Glencoe Community Hall, I was transported back in time and knew it was worth the drive.
I sat and watched a few sets to try and learn the steps. Each community has their own square dance sets (not that I knew any of the others ones yet) that they do every week.
As Meaghan, one of the Féis An Eilein step dancers, told me, “It’s been the same [square] dance sets for the last forever many years.”
Before long my new and favourite friend Burton came up and asked me to dance. He’s 68 years old and never misses a set.
That did it: I was engulfed in the crowd and couldn’t have been happier. I learned the sets fairly quickly and from then on I was grinning until they shut down the hall just after 1:00 am. I was sweaty, out of breath and, as I told Burton, “I was born to be here.”
What I Liked:
- There is nothing like a first time. I don’t think any future square dance could compare to this Glencoe one. Twirling around that dance floor felt like something I’d done in another lifetime, completely familiar and comfortable.
- Walking through the doors was like stepping back in time, but what time, I still haven’t figured out. The fiddler was tapping his foot and sweating to the beat, locals were kicking up their heels with new and old partners, and a few visitors were soaking it all up. I almost thought of it as in Victorian books I’ve read that describe dances put on by families. There was something innocent in the fun and I kept having to pull myself out of the “book” and back into present day Cape Breton.
- I met Burton, who would become my best friend on this trip.
Copyright 2009 Lori Henry
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