Press Release Summary = Folk Dancing can be fun, expressive, stress reducing and health improving. Why not get involved and meet new people.
Press Release Body = FOLK DANCE IN BRITAIN
Folk dances are traditionally performed during social events by people with little or no professional training. Folk dance refers to dances of historical European culture, which typically originated before the twentieth century. Folk dance comes into existence with social and economic changes which result in a clearly defined hierarchical structure in society. It takes many spatial forms, the circle, spiral and the chain to name some of them. The dancers nearly always touch one another thus strongly linking everyone into the dance.
England does not have an unbroken tradition of folk dance. It had almost completely died out before its revival. Morris dance is most closely associated with the English folk tradition. The dance has been characterized by a group of usually six men comprising a fool, a boy dressed as a woman and a man carrying the figure of a horse around his hips. All the dancers wear costumes decorated with numerous bells. Musical accompaniment is a flute and a small drum or bagpipe. Nowadays there might be a violin or an accordion. The dance itself consists of stamping, leaping and turning both in lines and circles.
Scotland has a very rich tradition of folk dance. Scottish Country dancing is a form of social dance involving groups of mixed couples dancing to a predetermined choreography .Scotland is also well-known for Highland Dancing. This is a style of fiery athletic solo dancing which evolved into its current form during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It is typically danced to bagpipe music.
\"Jig\" refers to the dance as well as the accompanying music. It is popular in both Ireland and Scotland. The dance is performed solo or sometimes in pairs.
The \"Reel\" is also both a dance and the name of the music. It is very rhythmic with simple steps and must be performed to a fast tempo.
The Ceilidh tradition is share by both Scotland and Ireland. The dance is performed to fiddle, flute, tin whistle, accordion and in more recent times with drums and electric bass guitar. The music is cheerful and lively and dancers have to know the basic dance steps.
Folk dance in Wales has had a difficult time. The non-conformist sects in the eighteenth and nineteenth century had a very unsympathetic attitude towards dance. The chapel considered the Welsh folk arts and customs as ones that were very sinful and not in keeping with chapel teaching. It was only in 1949 that the Welsh Folk Dance Society was formed to promote and resurrect the old dances.
At the moment there is a great revival in dance and more and more people are learning folk dances as a way of enjoying themselves, relaxing and improving their health.
2025
