About 70 students, family and friends gathered at Waitahuna Hall on Saturday to celebrate Scottish Country Dance aficionado Quentin Currall’s formal qualification as a teacher of the style.
The gathering — complete with three hours of dancing and feasting — doubled as a 65th birthday celebration for Mr Currall.
The retired accountant — who hails from northern England — said although his Scottish heritage was "limited", he had grown to love the excitement and energy of Scottish country dance as a child watching Scottish variety show The White Heather Club on the BBC.
"I wasn’t keen on the ballads, but I loved the faster dances. In hindsight, it was a bit kitsch, and my father hated all of it, but I used to hope he would come home late so I could see it through before he turned over."
The seed of that passion remained dormant for some 50 years, until Mr Currall joined a club in Auckland, seeking "something a father and teenage daughter could enjoy together".
"My daughter, Emily, had reached year 11, and we thought we’d give it a go. She has a ballet background, so it became something of an arms race, as I couldn’t risk missing a single session lest she race ahead of me in ability."
Around the same time, a mentor at the club seeded a further step into the heather.
"Neville Miller was one of many inspirations during my Scottish country dance journey, and he simply said I shouldn’t ‘leave it too late’ if I wanted to become a teacher.
"So I began the qualification path around 2016 and, due to the challenges presented by my own limitations and the intervention of Covid, I eventually qualified in January this year."
He had no specific plans to take advantage of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society qualification, save to add to what he already did, Mr Currall said.
"I’ve enjoyed introducing others to dancing and helping spread the word during the past several years. This perhaps helps give my students a bit more confidence in what I tell them."
