Terminology
Barn dance, Celidh, Country dance, Folk dance...... all these have/are used to describe what we do.
It's a funny thing; English social dance doesn't seem to have a "proper" or catchy name. Maybe it's because it's just there, a thing that we all know about and have been doing for hundreds of years.
In more modern times, times which like to stamp, label and commoditise everything that we do, a lack of a proper brand name can be a problem for some people. How do we explain it all?
The term "branding" originally comes the practice of burning an mark onto livestock to show ownership. The thing about English social dance is that it is not owned by anyone except those that do it, and that could easily include you. It's owned least of all by the music industry and the self appointed guru's of fashion, taste and style in the media.
It's old, but it is also bang up to date. It's not cool and exclusive, it's inclusive and fun to do with your mates. It's not sophisticated, it's done for the simple unadulterated pleasure of dancing and stepping to music.
That can all be said about any social folk dancing from any country. What's so special about English social dance? Well, that's just it, it's ours.
There are jigs and reels, hornpipes, rants, polkas, and scottishes with hundreds of different tunes that have grown and changed over the decades and centuries alongside the dances, dancers and musicians.
It's a unique conglomeration of our history, pure, but added to and adapted by every generation and group of newcomers to our shores.
If that sounds like you'll get a lecture with every dance, don't worry, because if the fundamental question is "why do we continue to do it?" The answer is "because it's bloody good fun!"
