Supporting the return to dancing in person

English Dance and Song Autumn 2022

This article appears in English Dance and Song, the magazine of the English Folk Dance and Song Society. The world’s oldest magazine for folk music and dance, EDS was first published in 1936 and is essential reading for anyone with a passion for folk arts. 

Following the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions last autumn, the English Folk Dance and Song Society was keen to support those who wished to return to dancing in person by awarding mini-grants to social folk dance organisers. Dance Development Manager Laura Connolly picks up the story.

In October 2021, we invited proposals from individuals and groups who wanted to start up or return to social folk dance events. We offered five mini-grants of £500 to help cover the costs of developing and running events or projects.

We were delighted with the number and variety of applications received for the mini-grants and we had a difficult job choosing our five award winners: Cotteswolde Country Dance Band, Holly Clamp of Hastings maypole dancers, Hessle Ceilidh Band, Louise Siddons and Sheffield Inter-Varsity Folk Dance Festival (IVFDF).

Cotteswolde Country Dance Band

Cotteswolde Country Dance Band wanted to broaden participation and enjoyment of traditional English ceilidhs. The grant part-funded ceilidhs in the West Midlands, which included a variety of performances incorporating folk singing, storytelling and dancing, designed to appeal to a broad audience.

The band’s Paul Bryan reports:

“Since being awarded the mini-grant, we have successfully run dances in two venues, All Saints Church in Leamington and The Fleece Inn at Bretforton. The events offered the opportunity for each organisation to raise funds for their own specific groups, as the band chose not to receive any fees as the grant covered their travel expenses. Our two successful ceilidhs were well attended and proved to be great fun for the participants.”

Holly Clamp – Hastings maypole dancers

Holly Clamp is the newly-appointed organiser of the Hastings May Queen celebrations. Established 88 years ago, it’s the second-longest running active May Queen celebration in the country. The grant enabled Holly to establish a new team of maypole dancers for this event by running workshops in local schools.

Holly says:

“Our May Queen event was fantastic. My display team included two dancers from a workshop I ran for home-educated children, three from my sons’ junior school and two Year 5 children from different schools, all made possible because of the funding the English Folk Dance and Song Society gave me.

“I’ve had such a great opportunity to make connections and launch myself as the new ‘maypole lady’, make good links with schools and work with some brilliant children. And more than that, I’ve really enjoyed myself – I think I’ve got the best job in the world.”

Photo: Dancing the Single Plait

Hessle Ceilidh Band

Hessle Ceilidh Band applied for a grant to promote social folk dance in Hull to a diverse and inclusive audience. Their overall aim is to build an audience for a series of future regular events.

Band member Quentin Budworth reports:

“Covid made booking halls for public dancing very difficult, with many places simply closing their doors to all booking enquiries. We tried to partner with a number of organisations and were fortunate to make contact with Open Doors.

“Open Doors is a welcoming place and supports asylum seekers, refugees and migrant workers. More than 70 people, from more than 20 nationalities, sit under one roof, benefiting from each other’s experiences and getting to know each other. 

“Our event took place on 2 June, the first day of the Queen’s Jubilee. Live music was played as people arrived and then sat and listened whilst having their breakfast. The children were very curious. At 11am, the dancing started with Amanda Lowe calling the dances and demonstrating. Many participants had never experienced a ceilidh before but were keen and willing to participate.

“This was the first live music that the venue had hosted in over two years. Cecil Jones, the manager of Open Doors, told me that the event had been a great success and was really appreciated by the Open Doors community, both clients and staff.”

Sheffield Inter-Varsity Folk Dance Festival (IVFDF)

Sheffield IVFDF applied for funding to support their festival in February. The grant went towards various aspects of the festival, encouraging a more diverse group of people to attend.

Their committee reports:

“Our recent festival was a huge success. Approximately 600 people attended, meeting our expectations given this festival was one of the first in-person festivals following the pandemic. The funding was divided between the Wheelchair Inclusive Folk Dancing workshop and UK/ Indian Social Dance Fusion event.

“The Wheelchair Inclusive Folk Dancing workshop was aimed at instructing non-wheelchair users on how best to dance alongside – and include – wheelchair dancers within different  olk dancing. The workshop encouraged questions to ensure it was an interactive experience that catered to the dance types of interest to the participants.

“The UK/ Indian Social Dance Fusion event was run by DANCE:SOCIAL. This is a new collaboration, which brings together social dance teachers and musicians from different dance styles and cultural backgrounds to share ideas and create exciting new dance experiences. Lisa Heywood and Nisha Lall called the dancing and the musicians included Vijay Venkat and Mel Biggs. The event drew on Indian and English dance styles.”

Louise Siddons

Social folk dance caller Louise collaborated with fiddle player Linda Game to establish a new monthly series of gender-free dances with live music in Brighton. Louise and Linda aim to reinvigorate the social folk dance scene in Brighton by bringing a new level of inclusivity to encourage diverse participants.

Louise comments:

“Our first dance had 10 dancers and this increased to 24 in February. We had a sliding admission scale of £2 to £10, made possible thanks to the grant. Several people wrote with regrets, saying that the pandemic was holding them back from dancing in person. Those who attended were enthusiastic and more than half were under 45, which is strikingly different from the profile of folk dancers nationwide.

“Dancers have been enthusiastic about the gender-free calling and dancing; most participants have been taking advantage of the flexibility of gender-free/positional calling to dance in a variety of positions. They’ve also embraced the related norms we’ve been establishing of switching partners for each dance and doing non-binary dances. 

“We are incredibly grateful for the English Folk Dance and Song Society’s support; without the mini-grant, we wouldn’t have had the inspiration or the financial capacity to get it off the ground. We’ve discovered an enthusiastic audience for progressive social folk here on the south coast.”

We will be offering our dance mini-grants again this autumn and will announce details in our membership update emails, so please make sure you’ve signed up to receive these. The announcement will also be made at efdss.org and on our social media accounts. For further information email [email protected]