English Country Dance

In the English Dance group the dances that we do are social set dances that are often referred to as English Country Dances or English Folk Dancing.  Sadly “folk dancing”, the dancing of ordinary people and “English” have developed “uncool” associations.  A lot of people are familiar with Scottish Country Dancing and Irish Dancing yet don’t realise that there are English musical and dance traditions every bit as rich as those of their neighbours.  English Country Dance also has cross-overs with Scottish Ceilidh, American Square Dancing and Contra-dancing. 

Some of the dances date from the mid-1600’s (Playford Dances) through to modern day.  The dances first entered the written record after the English Civil War when publisher John Playford first published the English Dancing Master.  John Playford was afraid that the dances would disappear during the rule of Cromwell’s Puritan government.   Later, in the early 20th century, Cecil Sharp and other members of the English Folk Dance and Song Society became concerned that the traditional dances would disappear under the advance of industrialisation and technology.  Cecil Sharp gathered up these traditional dances and published these and many of the Playford dances in the The Country Dance Book.  The tradition may have had its ups and downs over the centuries but many people and groups around the world continue to hold dances, balls and ceilidhs as well as continuing to write new dances such as Jack by the Hedge.  The tunes are often familiar and unfailingly catchy.

These dances are  usually for groups of people in a set formation, two couples, 3 couples, 4 couples, as many as will, squares, circles, and lines. All the formats involve couples it but is not necessary to have a partner in the sense that you need one for modern ballroom dancing.  There is always a caller who will call out the instructions and movements during the dance.

Early (Historical) Dance

In the Early Dance Group we do dances from the Renaissance up to and including the Colonial period.  The earliest dances we have are dances from the Italian Renaissance first recorded in the 15th century.  The early dances comprise an interesting mix of simple group dances and challenging performance dances.  There are some particularly impressive dances that were intended to be “performed” at court and at formal balls in the Italian Renaissance and in the Baroque repertoire.  These dances are beautiful but we usually concentrate more on the easier dances that everyone can join in with.  There is also a particular interest in the dances of the early 19th century – the cotillions, quadrilles and country dances of Jane Austen’s period which are always popular.  We have also recently been working on our Victorian Repertoire.  Below is a YouTube video of the Quadrille Club dancing at the Brighton Pavilion.  The Quadrille Club have generously shared much of their knowledge and material with us.  This and the other highlighted links above will give you a good idea of what we do.  There are many good videos of English Country Dance and Early Dance on Youtube.