The Teaching Staff

Armin Busse

Armin Busse started his dancing, and then teaching, in Germany with international folk dancing, Scottish Country Dancing and German folk dancing. Other forms of dancing followed suit. He has both attended and taught at workshops throughout Europe, which brought him in contact with the more global scene of Scottish Country Dancers.

Since moving to the Bay Area, Armin has been enjoying teaching together with the other teachers of the Mountain View class for over 10 years--though being asked how long he has been teaching, he might simply say "a few years," even though "a few decades" would be more accurate. Armin's teaching philosophy is that "dancing is more about having fun and dancing better (i.e. having more fun) through improved technique."

In addition to teaching the Mountain View class, Armin is also a regular teacher of the Campbell class (currently also located in San Jose) and recently co-tutored the successful teacher candidates class for the RSCDS San Francisco Branch. Along with his teaching schedule, Armin is also a longtime member of the Red Thistle Dancers, with whom he has performed extensively and toured both the Czech Republic and Skandinavia, and enjoys playing rhythm with a Scottish Country Dance band in San Jose.

Outside of dancing, Armin enjoys his work and believes that a successful work life provides additional experience and training to be a better community member.

Paula Jacobson

It was in 1991, that Paula came across a little notice in the newspaper which read: Come Scottish Country Dancing, Thursday nights in Santa Cruz. She went to that class, and on the very first night, knew she had found her passion in life. A few months later, she enrolled in the Mountain View Class, dancing in both classes for four years. She has been performing with the Red Thistle Dancers since 1995, including tours to Norway in 1998, and the Czech Republic in 2002. She passed her preliminary test for teaching SCD in 1996, and gained her full certificate in 1999, both in St. Andrews, Scotland. She co-taught the Soquel Class with Bob McMurtry from its inception in 1996 until its demise in 2007, and now teaches regular classes in San Jose, and Mountain view. She taught the Santa Cruz Children's Class for 7 years, and, with Lin Pettengill, taught the Devisor class for 6 years.

Describing her love for SCD, Paula says: "There is as much challenge in it as anyone could want, yet dancers of a wide range of ability are welcome in the set. The people are friendly, supportive, and accepting. The music is superb. The dances are exciting, elegant, powerful, and evocative. The social aspects are full of fun. What more could one possibly ask?"

In her everyday life, she worked for nearly 30 years in broadcasting as a Master Control Operator, primarily for PBS. She is now retired from broadcasting and her work as a sound technician for the San Francisco Branch from 1992 to 2020. She now continues teaching Scottish Country Dancing.

Geoffrey Wood

Geoffrey has loved to dance since a young age. He started Scottish Country Dancing in 2001 and kept at it through high school even though he was frequently the only boy. When he moved across the country for his first job he was delighted to find a very active dance community and quickly started dancing multiple times a week. He had his first dance published in 2016 and continues to write the occasional dance. In 2017 he started teaching and got his full certificate in 2022.

In his life outside of dancing Geoffrey does presilicon verification of computer chips. He also enjoys hiking, reading books, and visiting his dancing friends around the world.

Alan Twhigg

Alan's involvement in Scottish Country Dancing goes back to the late 1970's and he's been a Mountain View class teacher since 1987. Scottish country dance first caught his interest in college; but the seeds were planted much earlier. When he was a youngster, his parents were Scottish country dancers and often took him to bagpipe concerts and Highland Games. (Perhaps the Scottish music, imprinted at so early an age, stimulated the MacNeil and MacGregor genes in his heritage?)

Alan has also taught the San Jose and Stanford classes and he's an occasional guest instructor with other Bay Area groups, including outreach efforts with the contra dance, international folk dance, and country western dance communities. His experience includes teaching Scottish Country Dancing at events across the US and Canada and training prospective teachers.

In addition to teaching, Alan dances with the Red Thistle Dancers, a performance group based in San Mateo. From time to time he attends workshops and dance training schools to hone his skills and broaden his knowledge of the culture.

Elsewhere in life Alan worked for many years as an information developer in the computer industry. Current interests include foreign languages, literature, travel, history, and yoga.