Keeping Yorkshire Traditional music and dance alive!

DALES TRADITIONAL MUSIC AND DANCE COLLECTIVE

A date for your diary: Dancing around the Dales – Village Dance, Ripley, 1^st April.

Yorkshire residents are already intensely proud of their cultural heritage and there are many events celebrating the diversity of Yorkshire traditions. March 2020 saw the publication of a fantastic collection of traditional Yorkshire Dales music and dance: “There was None of this Lazy Dancing! Folk Tunes and Dances from the Yorkshire Dales” by Bob Ellis. It was launched as part of the Yorkshire Dales Folk Dance and Tunes Project at the Dales Country Museum in Hawes.

The publication date coincided with other events which upstaged this project, but nevertheless, it has sparked a lot of interest in traditions of music making in the Dales which were in danger of slipping away.

The Hawes Museum collection spans a wide range of traditional Dales culture, including texts, images, and recordings; Bob Ellis’s book contains an impressive wealth of tunes, songs and information about traditional cultural life in the Dales. The project has led to a number of events promoting the continuing interest in Dales customs, including pub sessions of Dales tunes and Dales village dances.

In November, Kettlewell village hall hosted one of these village dances, with music from the Buttered Peas dance band. Dances were called by Sue and Pete Coe – all dances were explained and walked through before the music started. The hall was full of people from far and near, old and young, and the floor was filled constantly with dancers who were inexperienced as well as old hands.

Another of these Dales dances will be held at Ripley Town Hall, on Saturday April 1^st, as part of Nidderdale Dancing around the Dales. Pete and Sue Coe will call traditional Yorkshire dances to traditional Yorkshire tunes. Again, no dancing experience is necessary and all ages are welcome. For more information about this, email nidd.music.and.dance@gmail.com.

To find out more about Dales Traditional Music and Dance Collective events, newsletter and general information, please email strand@hawkswick.net.

Several of these events have been timed to link with the Dales Bus service, which reaches places other buses don’t. To find out more about the Dalesbus service, and walks enabled by the service, have a look at this site: https://www.dalesbus.org/fodb-join.html.

Time: doors 6.30, 7pm start

Contact Mark Wallace for details and tickets:

nidd.music.and.dance@gmail.com

07714 939646