It was with great pleasure that I played as part of GIGCB Big Band at the Leipzig Folk Festival a few years ago.The enthusiasm for learning new dances was just amazing with between 150 -200 dancers attending the afternoon workshops and the dance in the evening absolutely packed.With some English Dances, as many of you know, there are usually some sets that struggle to get it right, but here all the sets danced to perfection.On stage it was wonderful to play for and to watch.There were a number of bands booked for the evening and even at two or three in the morning were all well attended with few going home.
French ,Breton,Italian dances were all featured as well as ours (a mixture of mainly English with ,Breton,and French)and these dances are rarely called just played, once again the standard of dancing was fantastic.I certainly came away thinking that the German Folk Scene is very strong indeed and from the age of the participants, being mostly young, will be for years to come.
Al