Dance Teachers
Johan MacLean, Glasgow, Scotland
Johan lectured at Strathclyde University, Jordanhill Campus in the Department of Applied Arts and School of Sports Studies. She has been a teacher and examiner for the Society for many years with a particular interest in teacher / tutor training. Having a lifetime interest in music and dance, she contributed to the dance component in the B.A. (hons.) degree programme in The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Dance. She was director of Schools for the Society (St. Andrew’s, and Winter School). Johan has enjoyed travelling to teach internationally and meeting with so many friends.
Janet Walker, Pittsburgh, PA
Janet met Scottish Country Dancing as a youngster at Radlett Preparatory School in England but didn't find it again until graduate school in Philadelphia, where, trying to study one night, she was distracted and attracted by the insistent sound of an accordion in a nearby building. Curious, she dropped the books and found Duncan Keppie running a "dancie" class and joined right in. Since then she's been with the Pittsburgh group, teaching there for the past 15 years and working with the demo team at local events, including the Ligonier Highland Games.
She's had wonderful experiences dancing and teaching at many workshops and since 2000 has attended and now teaches at Thistle School in North Carolina. She's edited TACTalk and has taught the Bob Campbell Teachers' Class at the TAC Summer School.
As a recently retired professor of French at Chatham University, sShe has incorporated SCD into the wellness curriculum there, where she hopes it will continue to draw students as it did her. For Janet, the dance is the greatest natural expression of the joy of physical life.
Tim Wilson, San Francisco, CA
Tim has been folk dancing since 1988 when he began Israeli folk dancing in the Philadelphia, PA area. When he moved to San Francisco, CA in 1996, a friend from Israeli dance circles thought he would probably enjoy Scottish country dancing. He has been hooked ever since. In 1998 he joined a local demonstration group and, shortly thereafter, began to learn hard shoe and soft shoe step dance. Tim earned his full certificate in 2007 and has been teaching in the San Francisco class rotation since then.
The figures of Scottish dancing, the interplay of couples, and the music inspire him to devise dances. He is fortunate that a few have been danced outside of the San Francisco Bay area. He was delighted to learn that a dance he wrote was selected by the RSCDS Membership Services committee for use in the 2008 Edinburgh Hogmanay celebration held at the Grassmarket. The dance was named The Grassmarket Reel and, along with The Homecoming Dance and three others, was published in 2009.
In his non-dance life, he is a librarian/archivist in the San Francisco History department of the San Francisco Public Library. Naturally his work is well below the radar, since his responsibility is to help others find the information they need. His closest "brush with greatness" was when he assisted the designers for the movie "Milk" by locating photographs of some interiors needed for the film as well as candid shots of the real people portrayed in the film for the end credits.
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