English Country Dance
by Alan WinstonWhat is English country dancing?
English Country Dances range from elegant to rowdy and from easy to difficult, with a wide range of mood, meter, and music. The first publication of English Country Dances was by John Playford in 1651, and people are still writing new dances today. The modern style of English Country Dance focuses more on geography than on footwork, and you can enjoy it if you know right from left and can follow directions.
Alan Winston has been calling English dances since 1985, was the dancing master for the BACDS (www.bacds.org) Playford Ball in 2000 and in the same year led an ECD workshop at NEFFA (www.neffa.org). He has led dancing for groups as small as four and as large as 600, and is especially good with beginners. Alan's dance "Sparkling and Still" was published in the Country Dance & Song Society News and will be included in a forthcoming collection of dances based on tunes by O'Carolan. Alan also calls Regency dancing (see 4:00 pm), English ceilidh, Victorian, Edwardian, and early California dance.
http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/~winston/ecd/repasky.htmlx
