Top Tips

At a Folk Dance

Just about anywhere where there’s space to move, you could find yourself at a ceilidh. Inside halls, schools, marquees, barns or outside in car parks, village greens or fields. It may be a family or friends ‘do’ such as a wedding or party or a social event organised by a club, village fete, carnival or folk festival.

Folk dances usually last between 2 and 4 hours although some may be longer.  They are usually cheap to attend (some are even free) and will be with a live band or to recorded music.

When you arrive, slip into your dancing shoes and onto the floor. If you don’t have a partner - ask someone to dance! If that doesn’t appeal just stand on the dance floor and wave your arm in the air. Your caller will find you a partner. This ‘arm waving’ is convention in the folk dance world, it means “we need more people to dance.”

The Caller will take everybody through the dance with a slow ‘walk-through’ without music until everybody is happy with what they should be doing. The set then reforms with all dancers moving back to their original positions (“experts to the top”) before the dance starts.

Each dance lasts up to 5 minutes often with a short break in between every single or every other dance to allow dancers to catch their breath. Sometimes there is a longer interval for food after which you will soon find yourself at the last dance! You will leave feeling satisfyingly tired having met new friends in mixer (progressive) dances and no doubt eager to dance again soon.