For a person new to kilt wearing it can be challenging to think of that many places to wear the fantastic garment.  A Scottish Country Dancing evening is an ideal place to break yourself in gently as it is one of the few places you can be assured that you will not be the only one in a kilt.

Perhaps I can take this opportunity to recommend London’s Ceilidh (pronounced Kay Lee) Club.  They hold regular events at Cecil Sharp House and Hammersmith Town Hall.  Tickets are about £15, genders are balanced, and booking in advance is advisable (though not always necessary).

I’ve been to one of their events at Cecil Sharp House and had a hoot.  The main hall is absolutely massive and on the evening I attended it was absolutely full of people.  There was a good mix of sexes and most people seemed to be between the ages of 25 and 40.  I watched the first dance and was impressed by the quality of the band and how much fun everyone was having.  And, of course, there were LOTS of fabulous kilts.

Before long I was asking girls to dance and having a good old time.  Because there is a caller and lots of people who really know what they are doing it is really easy to understand what to do and when.  The emphasis is far more on having fun dancing together than it is on complicated dance moves.  Another feature of many of the dances is that you swap partners … that means that you get to meet more people and you don’t have to try to impress that girl you asked for the whole dance.  The one thing that I didn’t see any of is men dancing with men … I’m guessing this is a bit of a no no … especially with the partner swapping!  So, any gay guys out there may have to grin and bear dancing with girls.

When you get thirsty (as you will) there is a reasonably priced bar downstairs and, wait for it, a cake shop!  Genius!