Dance Workshops

Please Note that some of the times may have changed or may be different to what is shown on your ticket, the correct times are here on the website and in the programme.

Tickets will be at Bridport Tourist Information and are priced at £5 each.
Due to popularity we advise purchasing your tickets in advance to avoid disappointment.

https://bridportandwestbay.co.uk/tickets/bridport-folk-festival/

Saturday
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10.30am - 11.30am - Basic Jive
with Dee Lanning of Dynamic Dance 
at The British Legion Hall

11.45am - 12.45pm - Jive On! 
With Dee Lanning of Dynamic Dance
​at The British Legion Hall

At Dynamic Dance we believe everyone can dance, even before you set one foot into a class! 
Our job is simply to help steer you in the right direction so you can grow and become the dancer you want to be! We teach social dance classes for adults, focused on getting you moving and having fun.
(more details at www.dynamic-dance.uk)

At Bridport Folk Festival we will be teaching an Introduction to Modern/Basic Jive.  The session will last approximately 1 hour with an additional 15 minute short practice time at the end, which you can use to practice or seek out one of our crew for any additional tips.  During this session we will take you through the very basics, getting your body and your feet moving as well as focusing on the lead and follow aspect of the dance. As we teach nothing more complicated than a basic step, both of your left feet are welcome to join in!  No experience necessary as Dee and her crew will take you from the very first step!

Who is Dee?

Dee is Dynamic Dance’s Lead Instructor and Choreographer. With over 13 years teaching experience since qualifying in 2006, Dee has taught and inspired dancers all over the UK and Europe. Since moving to Bridport, she teaches weekly classes in Modern Jive and Charleston, in both Bridport and Chideock. 

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1.30pm - 2.30pm  - Making Tudor Music
With Ann Hinchliffe, Director and Music Leader,  Same Difference Dance Tutor, Historical Dance Society.
At St Mary's Church, South Street

A workshop and a session: all folk instruments accepted warmly. Simple Tudor dance music will be offered for those who play from sheet music; others are invited to contribute, at a gentle welcoming pace that less confident musicians may appreciate. It's hoped that some musicians will stay to play for the Tudor Dance workshop 3 - 4pm

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1.30pm - 2.30pm - Morris Workshop
With Wyld Morris
At The Town Hall

This will be an introduction for new dancers or those who would like to add a new dance to their repertoire!
Dance tutoring for “Piggy in the Middle” a five person Border dance to the tune Waltzing Matilda. Or, “Skiddaw” a six person Border dance to a Hornpipe-Portsmouth.
The session will end with the popular Devon Tinners Rabbit.
Members of Wyld Morris will be there to demonstrate, partner, support, and encourage in this lively session.
Come dancers old and new!

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1.45pm - 2.45pm - Line Dancing
With Anne Rathbone
​At The British Legion Hall

3.00pm - 4.00pm - Line Dancing
With Anne Rathbone
At The British Legion Hall

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The club is run by Anne and Sue who share the teaching who have classes in Bridport and Musbury. 
We have an absolute beginner class in Bridport followed by an Improver class. occasionally we will attempt an easy Intermediate dance.  
We very rarely deviate from Country music but will if the dance is popular elsewhere.
 In February 2007. we danced a ‘marathon’ -   14 of our dancers completed a distance equivalent to a marathon in 7 hours of dancing whilst the rest managed over 20 miles each.  We raised £2,250 for the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance. 
In 2017 another Marathon saw us raise £3,269 for The Air Ambulance.

We will be running two linked workshops during the folk festival, at the British Legion hall on Saturday afternoon.
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honkytonkstompers.co.uk

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3pm - 4pm - Tudor Dances
With Ann Hinchliffe Director and Music Leader,  Same Difference Dance Tutor, Historical Dance Society.
At St Marys Church, South Street

It was all slow and stately, wasn't it? Well, some was but most wasn't! Have a go at dances invented before central heating, led by experienced tutor Ann from the Historical Dance Society. Bring your own farthingale or codpiece.  

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3.30pm - 4.30pm - English Stepping
With Somerstep
At The Town Hall

SomerStep is group of musicians and step dancers based in Somerset, who aim to encourage social dancing and step dancing.
We have musicians with an impressive repertoire of Dorset and Somerset traditional tunes.
We dance the steps of Dartmoor steppers Bob Cann and Les Rice and freestyle to southern English jigs, polkas and hornpipes. Where possible we use traditional steps collected in Somerset, Dorset and Hampshire.
As a group, we dance reels such as the Dorset four-hand reel, and Wiltshire six handed Reel, New Forrest Dances and local Somerset Ribbon Dances and demonstrate Clog steps from across the British Isles 

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Sunday
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11.00am - 11.30am - An Exhibition of Dances With A Dorset Link 
With Steps in Time
At St Marys Church House Hall

11.45am - 1.00pm - Dorset Dances Workshop
With Steps in Time
At St Marys Church House Hall

Steps in Time are a youth traditional dance group for boys and girls aged 3-15, based in North Dorset. We have an ongoing aim to keep local traditions alive by passing them on to the next generation and sharing them with the wider community. Some of the traditions we concentrate on are: many styles of traditional dance both regional and from further afield including Playford, Maypole and Morris and mummer’s plays such as St. George and the Dragon.  

Our costume is in a regency style with girls wearing white dresses, coloured Spencer jackets and flowered hair garlands and boys wearing white shirts, coloured waistcoats and black breeches.​

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Facebook: EuroBal Wessex

2.00pm - 4.00pm - French Dancing
With Steve Earwicker 
Music by Confluence Folk Duo
At St Marys Church House Hall

Steve Earwicker will be teaching you to Bourrée, to Schottische, to Waltz (French style!) and perhaps even to Mazurka! We may also slip in the odd Breton dance as well. The music for the workshop will be from Confluence, who are Gill Redmond on ‘cello and Alasdair Paton on Accordion. Together with Nikki Muckle, we ran the French Dance Workshop & Bal at Chippenham Folk Festival in 2018 & 2019 and have appeared at several local Festivals in South! Steve & Nikki were involved in the early days of the French Music & Dance Sessions at The Nottingham Playhouse which later became the Ockbrook French Dances – still running every month. We also run our own EuroBal Wessex French & Breton dances at Ibsley in the New Forest.

Confluence folk-duo
Confluence are an instrumental meeting of cello (Gill Redmond) and accordion (Alasdair Paton) based around the New Forest. They join traditional folk music from the UK with melodies from continental Europe, and self-penned tunes. They take influences from their diverse musical experiences in classical, jazz, baroque as well as folk – providing listeners with a fresh take on familiar material. 

Confluence played for the Bal Folk Dance at Chippenham festival in 2018 & again in 2019, Confluence have played concert sets at folk and cabaret clubs in Hampshire, Dorset and Wiltshire. They have also been playing for bal-folk dancing around the South of England at Brighton, Bristol, Reading and for their own Euro Bal Wessex events in Hampshire and Dorset. 
Facebook: confluence.duo

French Dance Workshop with Confluence at Chippenham Folk Festival 2019

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3.20 - 4.20pm - Eastern European Circle Dance
With Mythos
At The town hall

Mythos is a local small but multi-instrumental band formed to support weekly circle dance sessions in Shipton Gorge Village Hall. Mythos plays and sometimes sings arrangements of music from across Eastern Europe, Greece and Israel. No partners are needed for this very sociable dance form, and no experience is necessary for the workshop as all dances are gently taught.

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