Saturday 2 April 2016

Would You Care For Another Dance?

A little while back I shared with you some videos of English traditional dances which are being kept alive (and kicking) by enthusiasts across the country, and elsewhere. Here are a  few more such dances gleaned from the vaults of YouTube. 

Stepping With Percy

Last summer I visited the East Anglian Traditional Music Day at Stowmarket and showed you some videos of the step-dancing. One of the dancers paid tribute to Percy West who had recently passed away. I've managed to find a short video of Mr West doing his inimitable thing......


.....this was filmed by Amanda Frost who has many videos of step-dancing and other entertainment to be seen in The Swan pub at Worlingworth.

 
Dancers From The Wild West

The wild west of England that is. Border Morris flourished along the English-Welsh border counties and was always thought to be a little wild and primitive. Beltane Border Morris seek to celebrate the dance's pagan roots.....


......borrowed from Douglas Latham's YouTube channel which includes lots of excellent videos of Border Morris dancing.

 

An Old Broom Sweeps Clean

Dancing with a broom turns up in all sorts of places, though it's difficult to see why anyone should have ever thought of it in the first place - and if you can dance with a broom why not with shovels or rakes? This example is more energetic and gymnastic than many....


.....from Judith Proctor's many fine videos of Morris dance related subjects. 



And Finally....

Many of you were very taken with the clog dancing of Hannah James, so here's another video showing us a close-up view of her amazing footwork.....


.....originally posted by lesley1607 who has a huge number of videos of mostly English folk singers and bands in concert.


 Take care.
 (And take the time to go and see traditional dancing if you get the chance). 

12 comments:

  1. How awesome! Thanks, John, I have always had a fascination for this sort of thing for some reason!

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  2. These are so cool...how I wish I had their energy!

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  3. Some fascinating local traditions! Great videos you found for us.

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  4. I liked the morris dancers best.

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  5. The only one of these which I have actually seen is the clog dancing and I must say that the noise the dancers make is fantastic.

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  6. I love dancing of any type / sort.
    Great selection, thank you.

    All the best Jan

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  7. Haha! Thanks for that John, cheeered me up after midnight here in Perth :) My favs were the Beltane Border dancers and the guy with the broom made me laugh, pretty spectacular end to the broom dance :)

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  8. Wonderful post with great videos! I love dancing:)) And I like to watch how people dance. I liked The Best Broom Dance Yet and smiled all the way while watching it and I liked also Beltane Border Morris Dance ( such a long name) very much also.

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  9. You teach us quite a lot about British culture. I could need that guy with the broom for the spring-cleaning outside!

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  10. Wonderful lunch time entertainment, John. I am rather taken with the Beltane Border chaps but if I was younger I might try to emulate the Broom Dancer. Used to waltz in the kitchen, but this seems somewhat more vigorous....

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  11. I like these dances, thanks for sharing.

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Thanks for taking the time to comment. I'll try to answer any questions via a comment or e-mail within the next day or two (no hard questions, please!).