Thompson, in England we have borrowed the Scottish word 'ceilidh' to mean folk dancing done in a lively and informal style. The music is more often English or European, rather than Irish or Scottish. It can be distinguished from 'social dance', which 30 or 40 years ago was regarded by the younger generation, mainly with a background in folk song and morris, as hidebound and dominated by older people too interested in doing complicated and often recently composed dance figures. This younger crowd wanted to go back to more traditional forms of dancing, with more stepping, and which placed more importance on the music. The term 'ceilidh' was adopted for this, sometimes known as 'English ceilidh' or just 'e-ceilidh'.

Unlike a Scottish ceilidh or an Irish ceili, callers are invariably used for both 'social dance' and 'ceilidh'. The techniques the workshops will cover are about how to plan the evening and how to interact with the audience and band, and apply equally to both styles of dancing.