Dance Climbing Mont Ventoux 15578

The dance is a collective project by Clan McBédoin, a small SCD group in Provençe. This is based at Bédoin, a village at the foot of Mt. Ventoux, an iconic mountain for cyclists world-wide. The idea was to celebrate the climbing of Mont Ventoux by the Tour de France (the 100th edition of the world toughest long-distance cycle race) on 14 July 2013. The original concept for this dance (in Sept 2012) came from Christopher Macrae. The group’s teacher, Erika Ritzau, worked together with the team and colleagues on a suitable choreography. The first half (strathspey tempo) represents the turning of the bike wheels and gears, as the cyclists are slogging up this awesome climb, with each couple in turn finally getting to the top. The second half (in reel tempo) starts with a brief victory dance by the first couple after they reach the summit, then they whiz down to the bottom, at Bédoin.

The only videos at present on UTube were recorded at Pitlochry in April 2013. They shows the medley being danced twice through only, as for demonstration purposes; but it is more satisfactory for the dancers to do it four times through so that each couple can “climb Mt. Ventoux”. In November 2013, original music was composed for our signature dance by Alex Ross, leader of an Edinburgh Ceilidh Band. A fresh video has just (on 1 Feb 2015, in Montpellier) been made of the dance set to Alex Ross’s music : we hope it will soon be available on U-Tube.