You say you've never heard of English Country Dancing? You're in good company, since many people are unfamiliar with it. But if you've watched Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility or Emma at the movies, you have indeed seen it. But English Country Dancing is not the obscure relic you might think it to be! While this traditional form of dance has been around for three hundred years, it's still thriving today.
We dance to beautiful music - hauntingly beautiful tunes that make the heart swell. Some dance tunes are taken from old ballads and political satire; others come from classical music and operas. This gives English country music tremendous variety; sometimes sweet and melodic, sometimes melancholy, and sometimes absolutely driven with a pulsating beat. At Tapestry we dance to live music on the first Sunday of each month and to either tapes or CDs the remaining Sundays.
Others love English country for the grace and elegance with which you glide as you dance. At times, you simply get swept away as you become one with the music. Many people love the beautiful patterns created as you dance and weave. Through it all, there's an indefinable quality to English country that makes it energizing, mesmerizing, and just plain fun.
English Country is not difficult to learn. If you can walk and know the difference between left and right, you already have much of the basic knowledge you'll need. As we do it at Tapestry, most of the movements are based simply on a walking or skipping step. Dancers move in a number of specific "figures", sometimes holding hands, sometimes by themselves. Each dance is prompted by a caller, so that each figure and movement is called in time to the music; you don't need to rely on your memory alone to know what to do. While English Country is most often done in "long way sets" (parallel lines of ladies and gents), dances are sometimes done in squares, circles, or sets of two, three, or four couples.
New dancers are welcome and encouraged at Tapestry. Partners are not necessary; you can come by yourself and be assured of dancing throughout the evening, since our tradition is to change partners for each dance. Tapestry dances are social and friendly, and the atmosphere is informal. No special clothing is needed, other than clean, soft-soled shoes or sneakers.
The height of the English country dancing season at Tapestry occurs in February when we prepare for the Playford ball that is held on the first Saturday of March. At each Sunday evening we learn dances on the ball program. The Playford ball is organized by the Minnesota Dance Coop (link is not active until the page is posted in about January).
Adapted from text by Alan Winston from text written by Linda Repasky, who dances in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Pictures
English Country is usually danced in Tapestry's small dance room. Each dance is taught and here the dancers listen to the caller (top left with microphone).
"Hands four!" In a long-ways set the couple with their backs to the music (on the left side of each set to four) progress down the set in the direction they are facing when they join four hands. The second couple progresses up the set in the direction they are facing. (Up and down are defined towards or away from the music which in this case is a tape cassette or CD player to the right of the caller.)
Circle to the left
Back to back (do-si-do) with your partner (who is across the set at this point).
Back to back (do-si-do) with your neighbor who is beside you along the line at this point.
Do you want to hear the music we are dance to? Check out Real-audio samples of Bare Necessities CDs available at amazon.com. (Jamaica, Dicks Maggot, Bare Necessities, Juice of barley are all dances we do.)
Tapestry Folkdance Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
