Let's Dance?

[Tresco]

Forget the sums, the interminable calculations relating to affordability of housing, lower income, cost of oil, wood, polyfilla, goats treats, lists of childrens requirements for school, etc.

Well don't forget them, but bear the following in mind.

Before making your move to rural France, learn to Dance, proper dancing I mean, with steps. The kind of dancing where you are politely asked to dance by a stranger, male or female, and it is rude to say no. The kind of dancing where you wheel around a large hall in a stangers arms. The kind of dancing where you feel, (or indeed, are) an oaf who does not know what to do, when to turn, and, at the end, the kind of dancing where everyone is smiling sympathetically at your 'partner', (that's the guy or gal with the bruised feet), and coming forward with tubes of arnica.

Oh yes, To Live in Rural France, Learn to Dance.

I have no excuse, Irish background and all, it's the same there. Be warned. Invest.

tresco, bruised ego, but feet ok.

 

[Teamedup]

I can't do le rock, just that bit too young to have learnt. And just about everyone I know here can dance even the young, well most of them.

So Tresco isn't wrong, most people can dance and I can't, we can't. We say we should, would learn......one day, but we never have got around to it.

 

We do dance at Ceilidhs though, but it is very different.

[Miki]

[quote]Forget the sums, the interminable calculations relating to affordability of housing, lower income, cost of oil, wood, polyfilla, goats treats, lists of childrens requirements for school, etc. Well d...[/quote]

No, No no Tresco, please tell me you have not sucumbed to the..........................Thé Dansant !

I have told Tina, if she sees me marching down to the salle polyvalent in me lionels, tank top, cuban heels and pomade on me barnet with Mme Legrand on me arm, to slip cyanide in my evening c o c o a

Don't know about dance so much as from my very first trips to France that as soon as a band or  any music struck up....whoops the lot of them are up and away. My first memories of it all were when celebrating the finish of the vendage in Serignan and the lovely square was prepared for music and eating, we all arrived sat down and started to eat, the the music started, up they all went, 10 mins later 2nd course, then whoops off went the music again and this went on all night. I learned 10 dances that night, none of which are still in my repertoire, tant pis !!

I won a goat that night (no, a real goat) and exchanged it with our regular bar owner for a bottle of wine !!

[Teamedup]

Miki, I am doubled over laughing...........only in France, ONLY IN FRANCE ONLY IN FRANCE, could you win a real goat at a dance.

Sometimes things have just shocked and amused me over the years, things that I would never ever have considered other than being very odd and surreal before moving here

 

 

 

ps and now the thought has occurred to me............. sorry I am crying with laughter now......... who took the goat to the dance in the first place

[Iceni]

Tea Dansant in St Céré

Go to the Casino - not a gambling den but an art gallery. Dance surrounded by Jean Lurça wall hangings - worth a fortune (some hang in the NY museum of Modern Art). This place has had Picasso and other modern art exhibited but the dances never stop. We take people along (free entry of course) and they stand with their mouths open at the sheer size and impact of these hangings - only in France .

I lurve modern art.

[Dave&Olive]

My god !!!!

            just had my first night mare about france

        They have never heard of northern soul  !!!

         Well they will do soon good job we are a few miles from our neighbours

MAJOR LANCE LIVE AT THE TORCH  welcome to FRANCE

DAVE AND OLIVE  loud  

 

[Miki]

 Well TU,

Thanks to still  being the best of friends with many that did the vendage for 5 years, you can imagine the number of times we have dined on this story, so memory of it has stayed almost as fresh as the days iself in 1968 or was it 1967 !

It has been exaggerated that I actually took it to Munich with German friends for the fest, that I took it back on the coach to the UK, that I am still paying for its offspring and their offspring  back on the goat ranch ! Every so often it gets even more laced with unlikely stories but, this is as true as it gets.

During the final days of the grape picking, which incidentally if you ever want to hear Gypsies singing their old songs, then this was it, it was like being plonked down in a field of Manitas de Plata's (anyone remember him ?) anyway, all week tickets were being sold in aid of the do at the end of the week. Everytime we went in to to have a drink, I bought a ticket off the bar owners daughter, didn't see me having any chance with her but if I bought enough tickets, well you never know your luck do you ! So after 3 or 4 days and so many Francs later I was supposed to have cornered the market (well so my mates today reckon!)

As for the prize list, yeh like I was worried, I saw fags, booze, more booze,viande and more booze, never saw anything about a goat !

Well finally the big draw arrived (in between the Twist and the Mash Potatoe both of which I mastered in, well no one can prove otherwise now can they, apart from my mates who said it never looked like my limbs were joined properly, jealousy eh !) Hundreds of prizes flying out and all my mates are laughing as they knew just how many tickets I am in possession of, it took all of 3 of us to keep track every time a number was called, so everytime another prize went west without my winning it, the more they laughed.

If you had put my tickets end to end, they would have reached the Spanish border, yes that's how many I had bought (well that's the story today) an hour gone by and all the speeches just about finished and me still being mocked mercilessly, draw looking all over and then, silence.....................the big drawer for the ................G O A T, OK so I was not getting any booze and so, threw the tickets on the table.

"Attention Medames et messieurs La grande lotto vous présente  Fifi" (the goat even had a name)

Silence, I wander over to the table with the wine on, take a glass and I hear "numero 112" (poetic licence there as no one remembers the most important bit, the actual number !) and stroll back to the table where I can now hear and sense something being aimed in my direction

"You've won the goat" they cry "yeh OK, tell em to wrap it up" I said. I didn't want to look at them they were laughing like flipping hyenas, then finally I looked at them all and their tears were a dead giveaway. I bloody had as well.

One or two from the committee came over "Felicitations Monsieur" one said, then behind one of them I could see the said Fifi ! I asked them, no begged them, as to what I should do with her and that I believe was the first time I can recall a gallic shrug with a corn paper roll up, on one side of the mans lip and a raspberry coming out the other side.

For an eternity I sat at the long table with Fifi and all eyes were on le jeune anglais, what could I do, I was young, there were girls about and I had a flipping goat. Then to my rescue came the bar owners daughter, and I remember my thoughts well, "oh heavens was this the moment, it was all to become worth every Franc I had laid out "?

"My Father would like to talk to you" she said. He asked me if I wanted the goat. Oh yeh I thought, plenty of call back home in the UK for a goat in our family, we had a budgie, and a goldfish, so a goat would fit in just hunky dory !

"What would you give me for it" I asked and then "mob" arrived and said "let him have the goatfor some wine" , so that was how I got a bottle of wine and so did all the others as well.

I always wondered what happened to her, the goat, not the girl and as you say,

definitely only in France....

The goat must have been donated TU, it was not then my first thought to ask !!

[Miki]

[quote]My god !!!! just had my first night mare about france They have never heard of northern soul !!! Well they will do soon good job we are a few miles from our neighbou...[/quote]

Don't be daft Taff, never heard of Weegan Pierre then, all the rage here !!

 

 

[Teamedup]

Wonderful story Miki.

[Russethouse]

Who are you kidding

[Alexis]

Great story Miki.  Love it!

We are, obviously, far more sophisticated here in Bretagne and we hop around in a circle holding little fingers.  Saves the partners feet!

Apparantly, the Fest Noz is more popular with the 'yoof' than the disco.

Gilles and me have got 'learn to dance properly' on our list of what to do when we are retired.

[Tresco]

The Tale of Miki's Goat, unforgettable

Well it seems to me now, that I was the Goat at this particular do, the ultimate 'booby prize' in dance partners.

With MOH being a donkey on the dance floor, we make a fine pair.

tresco

 

[Miki]

Alexis,

Don't you find that Breton music kind of makes you want to get up and dance, in italics, as my dancing and the Breton dancing have distinctive differences, one of them being that after 3 circles, I am hanging on for grim death and holding more than just my partners pinkies.

I can't believe the age and athletitism of some of them. At one local Fest Noz, a little while back, there was an elderley lady who I had seen hobbling around the village for a fair while but come the night, she was still going around in circles as well as straight lines, until the early hours, whilst many younger ones (yes me included, no prizes for guessing that) were happy to sip café calvas and watch.

 

 

[0BRIAN WOODHEADI,m here in franceddMMyyyy0Falseen-USI,m here in franceTrue]

They were dancing in newcastle last night with a few dogs.

[Teamedup]

I love Brittany. I know what I love about it, but there are three things I do not like, their honey wine, the shoe shine, only I'm sure that shoe shine would taste better. And of their folk music when the binou and the bombarde are being played at their fest noz. I'm not a headachy person, but that squawking just hits the spot, I flee. No dancing for me. Although we do like folk dances........ usually.

[Loiseau]

In my experience, polite dancing in France is usually restricted to :

"la valse" - equivalent to the dizzying "old-fashioned" or "viennese" waltz back home;
"le fox" - a French take on the fox-trot;
"le slow" - vaguely like the above fox-trot, but clutchingly close (so make sure you really like the person you're going to be doing it with!).

So this could restrict the number of dances you need to learn to start with...

Angela

PS  Can't match Miki's goat story, but at fetes in our main village, when you visit the stall where you throw hoops over ducks - that's exactly what you do!  And if you collar one that wasn't swimming or ducking fast enough, then you get to take the duck home for tea (yours).

[Cerise]

In our particular part of the Midi Pyrenées EVERYBODY dances.  I am astounded as I see spotty 'yoofs' take to the floor with Grandmère and my poor husband is horrified as he is dragged off by large elderly ladies to do a 'waltz' which is more like a mad polka.

Last weekend went to the Valentine's dance for the Auto retro club to which we belong.  Unlike English evenings there was much dancing all night long - age range was 20 - 80 and everyone danced between courses (should that be inter-course dancing?)   We were the only 'anglais' and the other members were surprised to hear that we rarely danced at meetings of the Triumph club back in the UK.

Next weekend the twinning dance - for some bizarre reason our village is twinned with a village in Chile - when we may be able to see how the pompiers are getting on with their tango lessons!!   It all happens here I can tell you.

Maggi

 

 

[Tresco]

Maggi, your experience, and Miki's earlier (leaving the goat out of it for now) sound very familiar.

Its the wide age range and total expectation that you will dance that has taken me a while to get used to.

Apart from my idiot shyness, I really like this, just as I do when I visit Ireland.

It seems to be something that is 'cradle to grave' here, but once again, I find myself asking, is this the difference between rural and urban, rather than France and England. I have no experience of living in rural England, so half the time I am guessing the answers to my own questions.

Still, I repeat, learn the language, and learn a couple of watlzes and foxtrots, if you are thinking of moving to rural France. It goes down a storm if you can't do it, but try, and I imagine being able to dance properly would be even better, Le Rock coming in pretty handy too.

(lot's of people told me my French was much better too, yipee)

tresco

[Miki]

Take a read of this, I haven't had time to read the local paper recently, so bought one on the way home today.

Look at this Advert in our communes section of the journal :

Les années passant, mais les lieux mythiques et incontournables demeurent.

LA COUPOLE remet le couvert et vous promet des soirées inoublaibles.

Tous les Vendredis et samedis, venez onduler votre corps en rythme sur des musiques d'hier d'actualité

Where are these grand happenings, well it's in our local polyvalente (again) ! Looks like my twisting outfit may be called for again.

Another thing everyone should have on their person, lots of old sweet corn, you just never know when the next Lotto is likely to be.....(hopefully I am out of this torture now, as we no longer have kids at primaire or colleges to get invites from!)

Oh and I saw this afternoon in the next village, M. Le Maire vous présente Couscous dansant le 26 fevrier, that'll have our Maire hopping mad I bet !

Only in France.....................

[Alexis]

They certainly have a swinging time here.  There is ALWAYS something on.

Local radio Saturday morning with Felix and every single village seems to be plugging a dance or a concert or a meal.  Then there are the cycle races, brocantes and other meetings.

I must admit that it surprised me at first to go to a romantic dance to be floodlit by fluorescent lights and the men in their working clothes.  Tractors in the car park.

[SaligoBay]

None of that nonsense round here, mateys, all that dance stuff is strictly for the Troisième Age!

If there's a decent band at the Fete de la Musique, a few couples will get up and have an entertaining hoof around, and at the New Year Party there was one couple who knew what they were doing.   I mean, it's certainly around, more than in the UK, but I wouldn't put it up there as something I see (or do) very often at all.

A Breton did tell me recently that this here South bit is one of the most non-social parts of France!    The reason is the weather - in other parts you have to invent entertainment to get through wet and cold winters etc, but the southerners' idea of entertainment is just to be in the sun, and there's plenty of that, so they make no effort at anything else.

And yet, who could forget the entertainment that my next-door neighbour laid on for last year's Fete de la Musique, when he had us all hunting for his finger and thumb in his garage, after cutting them off with an unguarded circular saw.   You don't get much more dedicated than that!    

[Alexis]

Oy Townie!  We do have electric up here so the telly works and we can just about understand the weather when it says it is warmer and sunnier 'oop nor'!  I,m here in the sun

[Miki]

That's right,

Tina has gone out for some steam and when she gets back, we will have radio as well.

Troiseime age pour le Thé Dansant, what are we peasants meant to do until then ? Only so much lotto one can take

I've always wanted to say that Alexis, "Us ooop norf" feels kinda strange but I can get used to it. Bluddy suverners, now that don't sound so good

i,m,ereanallinnorffrance

 

 

[Cat]

Down here in the "Sarf" you'd have to tie them to their chairs to stop 'em dancing!

When I arrived, it was Bastille day (cue lots of singing and dancing).

2 weeks later was the village fete (and not a cream tea or vicar in site). Cue 4 nights of dancing until the wee small hours in the square in front of the church. Up until that point, I mistakenly thought I could dance!  Not like that I couldn't!

When term time started again, I signed myself up for the local dance class. It was then I realised that it's not something they're born with. There they all were, learning, improving, and in some cases just plain showing off.

T'was difficult, me not knowing much french at the time, and I admit that on more than one occaision I made a right idiot of myself. Of course, they all thought it was wildly funny  After just about every lesson I'd drag myself home in a fit of pique, vowing never to return.

I stuck it out for 7 weeks, but in the end gave in and admitted defeat.  I can just about manage the simple dances now, but I will definitely be going back after the summer (when my french should be equal to the task in hand) to give it another try.