Not all folk dance clubs are as Greg Stephens describes (on 24th March): exclusive and unwelcoming of new dancers and people new to folk dance. Not all folk dance clubs baulk at doing dances commonly done at ceilidhs.

I don't think that the ceilidh / folk dance divide exists across the board, though. (Even if a minority do persist in preserving it.) I do both and so do a lot of friends (of a whole range of ages).

And anyway it's all a complete non-issue for many, especially those outside the folk scene, as they don't differentiate between ceilidhs, barn dances and folk dances at all.