Mistress Mary (Goossen)
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
32 bar Strathspey for 3 Couples in a 4 Couple Set, devised by Elizabeth Goossen, published in 4 SCD in Memory of Mary Nixon.Keith Rose's Crib Diagram
Dance Information
Also see the dance Mistress Mary (MacDonald) by Anthea MacDonald.This dance, Mistress Mary, was devised by Elizabeth Goossen and published in Four Scottish Country Dances In Memory Of Mary Nixon, (published by Winnipeg Branch RSCDS, 1994) in Memory of Mary Branigan Nixon.
Mary came to Winnipeg in 1964 as the wife of Archie Nixon, one of our teachers. She came from Hamilton, Ontario, where she and members of her family had settled after emigrating from Edinburgh in the early 1950's.
Mary was very active in Scottish Country Dancing in Hamilton, where she served for some time as head teacher in the Hamilton Branch. She was a founding member of Teachers' Association (Canada).
With this experience, Mary brought a new dimension to dancing in Winnipeg. She was a constant source of knowledge, enthusiasm and vitality to all who came in contact with her and was known widely throughout North America as one of our most accomplished and popular teachers.
It is in tribute to the memory of this gracious lady, who made such a tremendous contribution to Scottish Country Dancing in North America, that these dances were devised.
Whether or not we had the privilege of knowing Mary, and being taught by her, we have all benefitted from the legacy that she left us, and will continue to do so through the spirit of the dance.
(Dance information by Christine M. Couling, RSCDS Winnipeg)
Recommended music: Miss Allison Brown (Adam M. Laird).
Mary Branigan Nixon
Image copyright (cropped) Mary Branigan Nixon 1984, Robert Lockhart, all rights reserved, reproduced here with kind permission, 2022.
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