Hi all,

In the 20th century the English Folk Dance & Song Society published over 200 dances in its English Dance & Song magazine, and its predecessor E.F.D.S. News.  In 2016 Chris Turner very kindly gave me a large collection of the magazines.  Once I realised how many dances there were and that they were not only of historical interest, but also should be made available so that they could be danced again, I contacted the EFDSS and got their permission to publish the dances from the beginning, in 1921, up to 1989.  I contacted as many of the original authors as I could and started work. There were delays caused by COVID and in getting some of the approvals.  With the help of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library to scan the relevant pages from the missing issues, I have finally finished the project: http://contrafusion.co.uk/DancesEDS.html.

There are some great dances, some new and some historical interpretations, of all genres and styles, both simple and complex, plus some that may never be danced again, either because of their quality or their obscure directions. Each dance is presented on its own page, with a scan of the original article plus an interpretation using modern terminology, and historical analysis where relevant.

Some of the dances had interesting articles associated with them.  These articles are all indexed at the top of the Web page.

I hope you enjoy some of the dances and articles.  Please let me know of any insights or corrections.

              Thanks.

            Happy dancing,

                   John                      

John Sweeney, Dancer, England   john@modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & 07802 940 574

http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent