Tales from the ALEs

The idea of this page is that Roosters contribute their entertaining and amusing accounts of the many events we are involved in. According to the number of stories, we don't seem to be having much fun!!

Tuscany Tour 2002

In Rampant Rooster’s Greatest adventure yet, 14 Roosters set up home for a week in Tuscany over Easter 2002. It wasn't planned so much as a morris tour, but more of a holiday with dancing.

Unusually for Roosters, no other side was involved and we had no local folk dance contacts. It was an idea hatched (and then planned and carried out with military precision) by Chris King and Anne Inglefield.

Tuscany is an area of stunning countryside dotted with ancient walled hill towns whose inhabitants spent much of the second millennium at war with the neighbouring towns. We danced in three of these historic towns, starting with the stunning 'city of towers', San Gimignano (pronounced Jimmy-nyano). The reaction from the crowds in the main piazza (for it was a warm and sunny Easter Monday) far exceeded our hopes and we headed ecstatically back to our villa - we were staying in two large apartments in an enormous converted farmhouse. However, star billing at San Jimmyjams goes to our 14 year old newcomer, Charlotte, who was dancing out in kit for the first time; she was just brilliant, and in front of an audience of several hundred too.

For dance-out No. 2 we went for the big one, in nearby Siena . Its Campo (big square) is vast - so big that there's an annual horse race round its perimeter. We were OK though; no horses that day, just loads of tourists and a few policeman. We asked one for permission to dance, showing him our hand-out which we'd had translated by a friend of our Scribe's mother-in-law (Molto Grazie, Gianna!). After an anxious moment while he radioed back, we got the OK, so long as we didn't collect (which we hadn't planned to, we were just there for the buzz). Once again the crowd loved it, but when we came back for our second stand in the square, a different kind of policeman (there are so many in Italy) asked 'for a word', so we bravely chose Sheila, our Squire, as spokesperson and candidate for the cells. She wasn't locked up though, just bound over to ensure people didn't create litter with our hand-outs (was he from Siena ’s ‘Litter Police’ I wonder?). Anyway, back she comes to a wondrous roar from the crowd - so much more inspiring than the 'Oh No, not morris dancers again' reaction in the average British pub car park.

Mind you, we got a reaction a little like that from a British couple who saw us on our third dance out - they were from Bromyard! That third and final dance-out was in the walled hill top citadel of Volterra on the only day of our week away that we saw any rain.

So - what else did we do with our week? Some wonderful communal meals, including a barbecue and ceilidh at the villa, trips to the local Chianti vineyards, extensive sampling of their wine and sightseeing round some amazing historic buildings, including that crooked tower at Pisa . They still haven't fitted the clock on it though - well what's the point of having the inclination if you don't have the time?