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Wednesday, October 4, 2006
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How to.. Folk dance
I HAVE bad memories of country dancing at my first school.
It was the one time of the week when we boys had to actually physically get close to the girls.
And of course at that point in my young life (around about 7 or 8), girls were smelly and nasty.
In the years since I have discovered that as young boys we were entirely right . . .
Because of those memories, I had some slight misgivings about going to Peterborough’s folk-dancing club.
But I was so wrong. In fact, of all the dance clubs I have been to, I would go as far as to say it is the most fun I have had.
I didn’t miss a dance all night thanks to the extremely friendly club members who dragged me onto the floor every time the music started up again.
The club began in 1978 in the fledgling Bretton Woods School hall, as part of a drive to make the local community part of the new educational establishment.
The club has continued since then, meeting every Wednesday to go through old favourite dances and learn a few new ones.
And it is an ideal class to go to as a beginner. Every dance is walked through by the callers before you start, so everyone has an idea of what they are doing.
Each dance was prefaced with a brief introduction of the time period from which it came.
We danced the Knowle Park, which would have been danced at the time of Jane Austen, and no doubt was part of the dances featured in her famous novels.
And another dance, The Rose Tree, was a contemporary dance with the likes of John Clare and also Thomas Hardy a
little later.
The week I went saw more than 30 dancers taking part, so we also got the chance to try out the Danish Double Quadrill that needs 32 people!
The beauty of the club was that it was very relaxed – everyone was there to have fun, and there were dancers of all ages and all abilities.
Some I recognised from other classes I have attended across the city, others were schoolteachers, such as club treasurer Kate Benson who took me through some of the more complicated dances. Others were interested in the history of the dances, such as callers Ian and Vera Paul, others just enjoyed the social side of it, such as Beryl Courtney, Barbara Cheeseman, Christine Barber and many of the other dancers I haven’t named who I am very grateful to for taking me under their wing.
Most were just there to have a good time and meet friends they see every week.
The dances came in sets of two, with callers switching around, and time to sit down and catch your breath in between.
Because of the nature of the dances you were constantly switching partners, meaning you were constantly meeting new people to share a joke with, or apologise to for stomping on their feet!
Chairwoman Pat Turner, who comes from Bretton, has been with the club ever since it began.
She said: “You don’t have to wear anything fancy, just comfortable, and you don’t have to worry about coming on your own, you don’t have to be with a partner because you change partners anyway.”
The club has 28 signed-up members, but is always ready to welcome more. On this occasion they had welcomed some guests from the nearby Titchmarsh Folk Club, which marked its 60th anniversary this year.
It is not like going to a class, as everyone does the same dance no matter what their level of ability is.
By the end, I could see why Jane Austen’s heroines were always complaining of dizziness or giddiness whenever they went to a ball – I was spun around and jerked from pillar to post, but I have to confess I enjoyed it and made some new friends.