I suppose it's really a horses-for-courses thing. Some people prefer the EFDSS "folk dance club" style, and others enjoy the relatively abandoned ceilidh style of dancing. The former often dance to recorded music or a single instrument, whereas the latter prefer to dance to a good strong band. As long as everyone sticks to the right terminology when they promote an event, they'll get the kind of dancers they want and nobody will be disappointed (a procedure that doesn't seem to have been followed in Ian's example).

I'm more of a laid-back ceilidh-dancer myself - in other words, as long as I can be at the right spot on the floor at the right moment in the music, I just gallop around happily without worrying too much about the finer points. I have experienced complaints or corrections from dancers on the Dark Side on at least two occasions: once, a couple of Playford Plodders complained to my husband and me that we seemed "too tense" - in other words, we were trying to put some energy into the dancing, which they evidently found rather disturbing. On another occasion I was attempting Scottish dancing with some RSCDS dancers, and was admonished for holding my arms too loosely and waving them around a bit - I might hit somebody!

Anyway, I'm not quite ready to worry about "staying young at heart", and if anyone ever calls me "sprightly" I'll deck 'em!

Marje