The many amusing comments and experiences related in this thread only confirm what I had already been told by friends. Thank you all for contributing, but how sad. "GUEST,CupOfTea, no cookies" asks, "The bottom line is... do you truly WANT to dance with people with such a bad attitude?" No. I didn't ask the dance organiser to reserve me any tickets, on the basis that 30 years of going to ceilidhs and never being short of partners when I go alone means, to him, that I still can't dance. He's welcome to his blummin fiolk dance.

On rare occasions we do get what I call the "ceilidh fascists" at ceilidhs, i.e. those who see others who don't dance (what to them is) perfectly are a lower life form worthy of extermination. Now I love to dance, I like to get it right, and there is a real exhilaration in dancing with someone who is really good. However, we all start somewhere. I wince when I see them glaring or looking disapprovingly at someone. This is SOCIAL DANCING, get it??!! You can easily spot them: they never smile, always dance with each other (they'll never ask *you* to dance) and would never go as far as to enjoy themselves.

Ian