Roberta Kulik will teach a Scotland and Germany dance workshop at 11 a.m., Thursday, July 11, at the Oak Park Arms, 408 S. Oak Park Ave.

Kulik will teach user friendly steps and choreography of Scottish and German types of dance.

Scottish dance consists of three main types: step dance, highland dance and country dance. Similar to Irish step dancing, both Irish and Scottish step dancing share the same Celtic roots. Highland dance is a style of competitive solo dance, heavily influenced from ballet and often performed to the accompaniment of Highland bagpipe music. Country dancing is a social dance comprised of groups of about six to 10 who form a “set” and trace progressive patterns of a predetermined choreography to music played on instruments like the fiddle, accordion, flute, piano or drums.

Of the many types of German dance, among the most popular are the landler, waltz and polka. The landler is a couples’ dance most popular in the 18th century. It features hopping and stamping and is often danced to purely instrumental music, though it sometimes includes a vocal part, such as yodeling. It is believed to have played a role in the evolution of the waltz, as the landler became quicker and more elegant with the growing popularity of dance halls in the 19th century. The polka is a quick and lively dance with rapid shifts from one foot to the other. It’s thought to have been invented by a peasant girl for her own amusement in 1834.

The Oak Park Arms is a rental retirement community which provides independent and assisted living apartments and a full schedule of activities and services. Furnished apartments are also available for a short-term stay – a weekend, a week, a month or longer.

The workshop is free and open to the public. For more information, call Jill Wagner at 708-386-4040.