What is English Country Dancing? It was the dance of both the ‘ordinary people’ and the ‘gentry’ from the 17th century to the mid 19th century, when it was superseded by what we now call ballroom dancing. It was revived in the early 20th century and is now danced around the world, with clubs in the UK, the Americas, and Europe. If you have watched a dramatization of one of Jane Austen’s novels then you have seen english country dancing. If you have been to a barn dance or ceilidh then you will have danced some of the simpler (and probably more boisterous!) english country dances.
I have never done English Country Dancing; will I be able to manage? Yes! We were all beginners once – some of us quite recently!We recommend that beginners come to one of our Tuesdaysessions. If you come say a quarter of an hour before the session starts one of us will give you some preliminaryinformation. We tend to do the more straightforward dances at the start of the session.