The kind of folk dance we are discussing is the English social dances collected towards the end of the 19C and the early years of the 20C. The general assumption seems to be, perhaps with all things 'folk', that it was part of our heritage, what ever that means, it was dying out and it must saved.

The dances and the tunes were collected by Sharp et al and eventually stored at Cecil Sharp House. The EFDS and later the EFDSS promoted the dances via demonstration teams and dance clubs. How is this strategy related to the way people danced the dances during the last couple of hundred years? I guess we don't really know. A large proportion of rural working people had left for the factories of the Industrial Revolution. They enjoyed the Music Halls and concerts by all kinds of professional musicians and the started to dance in pairs.

In the early part of this century we look back on a collection of dances and tunes and a practice where a caller explains and leads dances at events called variously Barn Dances, Ceilidhs, Hoe Downs and knees ups. How does this relate to what people did just before or just after the Industrial Revolution, the early years of the 20C or the 60s and 70s when folk song clubs brought new life to English social dances? Well, again I have to say I don't know and I am too sure it matters much.

The main thing about social dance is simply that it is social and it is about dancing. It is one of the opportunities we have to be in close physical contact with other people. Single people can meet and befriend other single people and people with partners can meet and enjoy the company of other people with out breaking too many taboos.

I would echo above about the need to teach country dancing - or more to the point its irrelevance. One walk through is usually enough to get even the most inexperienced dancers dancing. The novices often seem to enjoy the dances more than the so called experienced dances.

The spirit of dance bands of the 18 & 19C seem to be who ever had an instrument could play if they knew the tune - see my thread about Dance Bands. In that spirit I am all for big rocking bands if that's what you want. My personal preference is big accoustic bands. We have had 28 in The Beech Band, need no PA and can still hear each other at the end of the night - people not dancing can also chat with out having to shout over the PA.

I'd like to speak against villages also. Most of us live in Cities, towns, urban and suburban places. Sometimes we have community halls but we are much more likely to find schools, church halls, Irish Clubs, The British Legion, Sports Clubs and Halls, Trades and Labour Clubs and ,god forbid, conservative clubs.

The future? If all the dance bands simply organise dances - maybe for and with the involvement of local charities - then dancing will continue

L in C#