ESCape Week at Pinewoods: An Amazing Experience

Wow!! I was sooo busy during ESCape (English-Scottish-Contra) week. There were so many great experiences that I did everything humanly possible! A real highlight of this week was getting to try Sean Nos, an improvisatory, hard shoe step dance that is a casual (rather than competitive) Irish solo dance style. I even participated in the end-of-week demo! Of course, I also had an AWESOME time dancing Scottish with Lara Friedman-Shedlov.

At the end of each evening dance, there is always a song. The song leaders were great this year and I learned a song I could share with my music education colleagues and my students! The after parties are always fun and this year I played my recorder as part of the band during ceilidh dancing on Tuesday night, and sang my heart out at Pub Night on Wednesday evening. I also worked on my Scottish music playing skills during the afternoons. Peter Macfarlane taught us some classic strathspeys and jigs.

On Thursday, I ate so much chocolate at the annual Chocolate Tasting Party! On Thursday night, I performed in Abbots Bromley as the archer. This was my fourth year returning to ESCape week and I had an amazing time! I highly recommend this week to everyone. The music and teaching are always great and the co-chairs are spectacular. It is a true joy to be a part of this community!!

—Nicholas Prosini