Well, the (very) old gentleman I know who dances these dances was a friend of Hywel Wood and is both 'the milk of human kindness' and an educated man - in the best sense of the word. I am also distantly related to one of the 2 women who kept the triple harp alive, with all its associated dance tunes, and she was very close friends with the Woods family. The other woman was a gypsy herself and wife of a man who became a very respected academic. (And mother of a guy who became a Welsh pop star, and rastaman) I doubt if any gypsy held their Welsh friends in such low regard as to slag them off like that.

This particular Mr Wood associates his dances with Ireland but his family were well established as 'Welsh' gypsies over long generations. So why shouldn't the dances be considered Welsh at some point? The 24 meters of Welsh poetry are considered Welsh, although they were actually codified at a great convocation of bards of the British Isles which actually took place in Ireland.

Also, when I say that the gypsies were a key element in clogging being an unbroken tradition, I do not mean to say that they were the sole element. Clogging was a popular activity in farm workers' lodgings (llofft stabal) and in the quarrymen's cabans. There was a brief break in the tradition during and immediately after WWII but when interest was shown in it again (1950s?) there were still older men able and willing to dance. In fact, we know that one particularly tricky step is now lost to us because the last gentleman to dance it kept it 'for himself' till the day he died - and that, within living memory.

Your book has an opinion, and that takes a sometimes opposite view to, or puts another 'spin'on, most of the research and personal testimony that I've come across.

I think you are right, Dazbo, about Jim Woods' attempt to flatter her. I don't know all that much about the Woods family. If 'Jim' is 'Hywel' then the very fact that he has changed his name for her benefit says something. And it is not so much a 'lie' as 'camoflage' (how do you spell that?), which is/was a perfectly acceptable subterfuge when dealing with these collectors/afficianados who swept down from on high from time to time. "Very good friend of mine" indeed. Bet she never had him 'round to tea.

Sorry - but the whole tone of these passages is in keeping with a lot of other stuff I've read by English who have a low regard in general for the Welsh ... and I don't feel like elaborating on that, as it takes us into Treachery of the Blue Books territory and, believe it or not, I think it's time for us to 'get over it'. All of us.

But I will say that, without an Englishwomen - Lois Blake - we would not be dancing in Wales to any great extent today. So please don't think I am knocking all English (my gran was English!), just the ones determined to suggest that all things Welsh are either second rate or must have come originally from elsewhere.

If you want the history of dance in Wales, get Emma's book (above). If you want some dance tunes or dances themselves, contact the Society or PM me. Hey! I'll send you Ty Coch Caerdydd - that will knock on the head any idea that our dances lack "gaiety and vitality"!

Thanks for your interest, Dazbo. Dance isn't my 'main thing' but I still enjoy a good twmpath.

sian