Massive Ceilidh event to kick-off popular Glasgow Street regeneration project
A Scottish traditional music festival isn’t finished just yet, with a country dance planned for one of Glasgow’s major streets this weekend.
Celtic Connections is closed until next winter now, but their Strip the Willow partnership event on Sauchiehall Street had to be rescheduled for Saturday February 15th due to Storm Eowyn.
The huge dance on Glasgow’s iconic thoroughfare will take place in the newly reopened pedestrianised area, spanning from Rose Street to Cambridge Street.
It’s a fitting space to hold the event, as the street’s name originates from the Scots language and means “Willow Meadow”, as the location used to be moorland scattered with willow trees.
Sebastian Wanless chair of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society (RSCDS) said: “I’m really looking forward to joining those that will be dancing Strip the Willow on Sauchiehall Street this weekend.
“A very appropriate place for it to take place given the RSCDS was founded so close by at the Old Athenaeum on Buchanan Street just over 100 years ago.”
The dance is part of celebrations aiming to reflect and celebrate on Sauchiehall’s history as a place of vibrancy and culture.
Under the Ceilidh category, Strip the Willow, also known as Drops of Brandy, is an old Hebridean group weaving dance, beginning with two long lines of people, usually men opposite women, facing each other.
The RSCDS chair said: “Strip the Willow is one of the first dances published by the RSCDS in 1924 and has become one of the most recognised Scottish dances around the world. It’s very much a favourite of both those who dance regularly and those who perhaps only dance occasionally.
“It’s definitely the highlight of many a Ceilidh and often the first experience of Scottish dancing some may have.”
Perhaps Sauchiehall Street’s event could rival Edinburgh’s millennium celebrations, where 1,914 people performed the largest Strip the Willow ever recorded at the ‘Night Afore Fiesta’.
The dance intends to kick off the Sauchiehall Street Culture and Heritage District development, a decade-long plan to further renew the super shopping street.
Glasgow was one of the locations selected by the National Lottery’s Heritage Place program in October 2023, created to bolster local economies and inspire feelings of pride among town and city residents.
Glasgow Life received £350,000 from the fund, which is to be used on an 18-month development phase of the Sauchiehall Street Culture and Heritage District project.
The plan intends to bring the people of Glasgow together to electrify the street with dance, stories and memories, many other events will be taking place until June to herald the beginning project.
Mr Wanless said: “The RSCDS wish everyone well with the event and hope that those dancing and spectating enjoy the fun, fitness and friendship that Scottish dancing brings.”
Celtic Connections wrapped up its 32nd celebration of traditional music between January 15th and February 1st in good spirits with 110,000 attendants, despite the ferocity of Storm Eowyn, the Sauchiehall Street Strip the Willow is yet to happen.
