Jamie began dancing in 1987 in his hometown of Fredericton, New Brunswick after being invited to a September class by a close friend. He quickly connected to the local dance group and was at his first dance workshop just 6 weeks later! Jamie further developed his love of dancing, and under the tutelage of Gale Gragg, an exemplary teacher of Scottish Country Dancing, he was convinced to pursue his Preliminary Teacher's certificate in 1991 during a North American tour of examiners from Scotland.
In 1992 the Fredericton dance group awarded Jamie a scholarship to attended the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society's Summer School in St. Andrews Scotland, where he was selected to dance with the school’s demonstration team as part of the introduction of the year’s newly published dances. For the next few years he taught the Fredericton group regularly, and he attended the RSCDS summer school again in 1995 to complete his Teacher’s Certificate course and examination. Life then had Jamie moving from place to place for school and work, and while he danced irregularly on occasions, he didn’t get back to full time dancing for a number of years when he connected with the Blair Scottish Country Dancers.
In 2010 Jamie started dancing again with the Blair Scottish Country Dancers. He enjoyed the group’s casual and fun atmosphere and in his second year was asked to join the executive of the group as vice president, he then became president for two years, and then progressing on to the role of past president. In 2013 Jamie began teaching the Blair group after the retirement of the group’s former teacher and the Blair group has asked him to continue teaching each year since. If you have any questions at all about dancing, he will be happy to answer them, or find the answer if he doesn’t have it at hand.
Jamie is also the “webmaster” of the Blair Scottish Country Dancers. If you have any questions or comments about this website, reach out!