Tap Shoe Call Out
January 14th, 2019 “Great to be back after Christmas break, and already thinking about our next show in May. Decided that, having all four women featured on the one day was the best option, to have it on a Saturday and to aim for two Saturday performances. It’s also time now to write the funding…
Show Copy
January 28th, 2018 Went over the copy for our show in May with Catherine Bromley, Festival Theatre’s Marketing & Press Manager, and agreed on ticket prices. Exciting! Festival Theatre staff Euan and Laura came back for another lesson. We practised last week’s step (Marie’s step) and started on the time step. Euan thought he might…
Liberation of Tap
February 4th, 2019 “A workshop for folks from Glencairn Care Home. Everyone in wonderful spirits and good fettle. Oh, how we laughed! We managed a synchronized rhythm of all seven of us! It felt invigorating! Ah, the liberation of tap and how possible it is to work with complete beginners, of any age, and create…
Trade Secrets
February 11th, 2019 Two bits of good news: June is home from the hospital which is brilliant, and Betty’s ribs are mending well and she was able to join us today. She brought in a book about Variety to look at next week. As ever, Betty was full of information to share, telling us a…
Dyspraxic Dancing
February 18th, 2019 Another good tap lesson today with Euan and Laura, our brilliant and dedicated ‘pupils’, and I finally mastered the the time step! As a dyspraxic dancer, tap is a massive challenge for me, and of course I haven’t practised. But by breaking the step down into tiny incremental components, I have at…
Preserving History
February 25th, 2019 Lots of chat and sharing today while working on naming, and uncovering information on folks in the archive. Fi Johnstone our production manager joined us to discuss and begin planning our May performance event for the Luminate Festival. Catherine Bromley also came to chat to us about an idea for us to…
Tea For Two
March 4th, 2019 “Tap lessons are going strong with lots of progressions made. Filmed Euan and Doreen duetting to one of Doreen’s routines and put it on Twitter and Facebook. Also practised our choreographed routine to ‘Tea for Two’, a mixture of Marie, Betty and Doreen’s style and steps, and as I predicted we have…
Doctors Orders
April 1st, 2019 “A busy hectic day. Gavin, June’s son, brought pies, of course, that he cut with a Stanley knife much to everyone’s enjoyment. Took a fabulous photo of Marie with a pie in one hand and a sandwich in the other. It was great to have June with us after her spell in…
It’s In The Bag
April 8th, 2019 “Filming day and what an occasion, it was great having all four women in the same room at the same time and of course all four loved being ‘on’ for the camera. Our prep paid off and Jude from Hot Button and her crew were excellent at giving the women agency and…
Preparation To Preparation
May 13th, 2019 “Our show rehearsals are in full swing, and it’s the last of our Mondays in which to work through and rehearse everything. The texts are written and run through with our host and MC Paul Hudson. It’s great to have Paul on board as he knows the women so well and they…
Show Day
May 18th, 2019 What a brilliant success, nerves were running high, but of course, everyone surpassed their expectations of themselves. It never ceases to amaze me how much the women rise to an audience! True professionals and troupers, never shrinking violets. Marie danced as the audience entered, June led everyone in a seated dance and…
Another Five Star Review!
May 25th, 2019 Our second show, another full house and everyone was with us. The feedback and response from last week were exceptional, which meant we could enjoy this one more. Monday last was Marie’s 96th birthday. It was great to celebrate with her and also to debrief, and take-in how good we felt about…
Good People
June 24th, 2019 “A lovely workshop with our four Glencairn guests today, so good to see everyone and to get our tap shoes back on. Seated tap is an interesting experience! Got some good rhythms going and for the first time had a go at creating a synchronized rhythmical routine. It worked! And felt great,…
Harry Lauder
July 1st, 2019 Harry Lauder performance today in the studio theatre and Betty’s connection was briefly touched upon. Marie says, ‘you never know what your day is going to hold or where you are going to end up when you start in the morning!’ And Doreen talks about how lovely it is for her to…
Keep the Old & Add the New
July 15th, 2019 The last day of the season before we take a break for the summer. Reviewing the year so far and what the highlights have been for each of us; our performance event is of course high on the list, we are still buzzing, and teaching Euan and Laura the front of house…
Planning for the Future
September 9th, 2019 Season three begins with us talking about what we would like to achieve, how we would like to spend our time. Our list includes to work more on Festival Theatre’s archive, invite Jackie Dennis back to meet with us, and Jack Gillon from Lost Edinburgh, invite dancer Liz Lumsden to give us…
Vaccinated with a Gramaphone Needle
September 23rd, 2019 First PodCast recording day with Amanda Stanley, who has set up her equipment in the Founders Room at Festival Theatre. Doreen is up first and is great! We’ve spent the last couple of weeks planning what we are going to talk about based on the brief we have been given. “Betty isn’t…
June Don Murray – 1927 – 2019
October 7th, 2019 “We got news earlier in the week that dear June has passed away.” “How we shall miss her. What a bright light in the world. In her words, she has gone to; “The Big Cabaret in The Sky”. Thinking of that, and knowing she will be in good company, is a big…
The Mystery Woman
October 14th, 2019 Marie’s podcast recording day at Festival Theatre which went well. Then Doreen, Katie and I talked on behalf of June’s life, her work and what dance meant to her. We also have our recordings of June which were made and transcribed for our book. Hopefully, Amanda will be able to use these…
Missing June
October 21st, 2019 Great to all be in the room together today, tapping and chair ballet. Doreen brought in photos she found of herself performing, with a massive feather fan, and oh, those legs! Wonderful to see them and add them to the collection. Much talk about June of course and how much we are…
Anecdotal Lived Experience
November 11th, 2019 “Amanda finished off the podcasts and we all had a wee listen. They sound great and everybody gave their thumbs up. Also worked on the archive in the Founders Room corridor. Catherine Bromley from Festival Theatre, who has initiated the archive work with us, joined us and let us know that a…
The Shoulders We Stand On
November 25th, 2019 “Excellent to host our friends from Glencairn Care Home once again. Everyone is improving, leading things off and generally in their element. Also, lots of chat and information shared – podcasting potential for the future perhaps!” “Learned about the old Plaza in Morningside, Friday night was Plaza night and you hoped you’d…
Pastures New
December 2nd, 2019 “Our penultimate day in Festival Theatre. It will be sad to leave after four years of feeling part of the family, but we understand that things change and move on. We have had a very good inning.” “Chatted about The White Heather Club, which ended in 1968, and how many of the…
Fond Farewells
December 9th, 2019 Our end of season party and our final day in the Festival Theatre. We went out on a bang. All of us were there and we were joined by lots of friends and family and colleagues and supporters. The prosecco (of course) flowed, the cake was sliced and the feet were tapping…
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An Audience With... 