Entertainment / Music, merriment and community: 35th Shetland Accordion and Fiddle Festival a triumph
Ticket numbers returned to pre-Covid levels, with some events sold out, as 500 people packed into the Clickimin for the Grand Dance on Saturday night
IT’S been a warm weekend of music and dancing all over Shetland, despite the weather, thanks to the 35th Shetland Accordion and Fiddle Festival.
The events saw country halls full of merriment across the weekend with the spectacular Grand Dance held at the Clickimin Leisure Centre on Saturday.
This year’s Grand Dance saw 12 bands take to the stage, playing a few tunes each while the floor remained full of dancers all night. It opened with some Shetland favourites, the Boston Two Step and St Bernard’s Waltz, played by the Cullivoe Dance Band.
Dancers of all ages waltzed throughout the night to tunes from visiting artists Charlie Kirkpatrick and Friends, or Nicol McLaren and The Glencraig Scottish Dance Band.
The Peter Wood Band kicked it up a notch by playing a medley of Jungle Book songs while dancers floated along in a Quickstep.
Filskit drew a roar from the crowd while they played and dancers weaved through an Eightsome Reel.
Anna Lomax, who has only lived in Shetland for six weeks, enjoyed her night learning all the different dances having never experienced proper Scottish dancing before.
She said: “I am loving it. I don’t know what I’m doing, and I’ve been stepping on people’s feet, but everyone’s been very accommodating and supportive showing me the ropes.
“It’s so friendly, and everyone’s really involved. Everyone has been so welcoming and lovely, there’s a great buzz.”
Other newcomers to Scottish dancing – and Shetland – were May Fisher and Toni Lerch, who hitchhiked all the way through the UK with their trip culminating in Shetland for the festival.
“It’s my first time to Scotland, and I made it all the way to Shetland,” she said.
“We’re both broke. I’ve hitchhiked before and May has a friend in Shetland who told us about this big dance. We decided it’d be worth coming but we couldn’t travel normally.”
Fisher added: “It was one of those ideas you have at the pub, that actually happened. Toni convinced me to hitchhike all the way here from the south of England.”
The journey took them ten days, with detours to the Lake District and Isle of Skye for hiking. 42 different people gave the girls lifts across the days.
Lerch said: “Hitchhiking has really shown us how friendly people are. We even hitchhiked today to get back from St Ninian’s Beach and the first car that we asked let us join them.”
Neither of the girls have experienced Scottish dancing before but wanted to experience as many as possible and were on the floor the entire night. “We don’t know any of these dances, we’ve just been giving it a go and it’s great fun,” Fisher said.
Lerch added: “It’s amazing to see how many young people take it seriously, and the sheer number of people dancing too. It’s not something I see at home.”
The night went on until after 2am, finishing in Auld Lang Syne and a final Boston Two Step, with music played by local band Leeshinat.
“It has been a fabulous weekend of fun, friendship, camaraderie, great music and dancing. I’ve loved it all. Roll on next October!” – (Festival regular Anne Smith).
The weekend culminated in two final concerts on Sunday in the Garrison Theatre and at the festival hub featuring a selection of music from visiting artists.
Anne Smith, who goes to the festival every year, said: “One thing I really liked about some of today’s (Sunday) acts was that they varied it a bit from previous days. It’s really good when the bands and musicians keep it fresh and varied.”
For her the weekend was an excellent opportunity to catch up with old friends and meet new friends that she’d only spoken to online before the weekend’s festivities.
She added: “It has been a fabulous weekend of fun, friendship, camaraderie, great music and dancing. I’ve loved it all. Roll on next October!”
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