Dances from Playford's Dancing Master
(Ann Hinchliffe)

The dancing manuals begun by John Playford in 1651 include hundreds of country dances, apart from tunes without dance figures. Though they have many common elements, other aspects changed through the years, mirroring historical events: the Civil War, the Protectorate, and the Restoration.

In the dance evening, dances from earlier and later editions of the Dancing Master are offered, comparing dances before and after the English Restoration. We will also try some steps like coranto singles and doubles and fleuret steps.

Ann Hinchliffe, Wallasey, United Kingdom

I have been active in English folk music and dance from childhood, dancing, playing, performing  and teaching with folk festivals, morris sides, ceilidh bands, clubs, schools and community groups. As a young teacher, presenting Tudors and Stuarts to my classes, I encountered historical dance and fell in love with it, particularly the English corpus of the 16th to early 19th centuries which is so evidently the progenitor of morris and folk dance. Having joined HDS and EDC, I started running classes in south west England which led to a lively partnership over 9 years with the National Trust and English Heritage. This demanded more research, chiefly with HDS courses, and resulted in invitations to deliver lectures in the HDS lockdown series and classes or workshops at folk festivals across UK. I have worked with wonderful musicians playing a variety of instruments and hold that nothing is better than real live music for dancing.  

Anglaisen und Quadrillen aus Breitkopfs "Terpsichore" 1789
(Giles Bennett)

Christoph Gottlob Breitkopf (1750-1800) war nicht nur Enkel des Leipziger Verlagsgründers und Korrespondenzpartner führender Komponisten, er hatte auch eine Doppelbegabung als Amateur-Komponist und -Choreograph. Neben dem einzigartigen Oberon, ebenfalls von 1789, veröffentlichte er 1789 in seiner "Terpsichore" verschiedenste Tänze. Neben einem für einen vergnügten Ball wohl zu aufwendigen Gratulations-Ballet enthält das separat überlieferte Heft mit Choreographien Anweisungen zu unterhaltsamen und einfallsreichen Anglaisen und Quadrillen mit eingängigen Melodien, darunter eine „Gewitter-Anglaise“ sowie eine Folge von Deutschen, die als Anglaise mit Walzstrophe zu tanzen sind. Quadrillen und (mit französischen Pas zu tanzende) Francaisen runden sowohl die Sammlung als auch eine Rothenfelser Auswahl ab. 

Giles Bennett, München, Deutschland

Giles Bennett, Historiker, wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Zentrum für Holocaust-Studien am Institut für Zeitgeschichte München, Tänzer im Ensemble "La Danza München" (Leitung: Jadwiga Nowaczek - www.barocktanz.de), Mitherausgeber von " Barocktanz im Zeichen französisch-deutschen Kulturtransfers: Quellen zur Tanzkultur um 1700" Hildesheim 2008, verschiedene Aufsätze zum Tanz vom 17. bis zum frühen 19. Jahrhundert und dessen Rezeption ab dem späten 19. Jahrhundert.

From double step to rant step: 450 years of English country dance
(Cécile Laye)

The selection of dances will be chosen from the four main periods in relation to country dancing, to give credit to this long-lasting repertoire.

Going back in time as far as the repertoire edited by John Playford, direct heir of the measures and Italian Balli of the preceding century, we will proceed through the many 18^th century editors competing with the Dancing Master, reaching the Regency period to conclude with traditional dances and modern choreographies.

Lively dances will alternate with more stately ones, to cater for all tastes and abilities.

Cécile Laye, France

Cécile Laye is a trained dancer and comedian who specialized in early dance while studying in England (The Historical Dance Society - Nonsuch History and Dance - English Folk Dance and Song Society). In France, she worked under the direction of renowned pedagogues or researchers such as Francine Lancelot, Andrea Francalanci and Barbara Sparti.

In 1998, she founded CHESTNUT (chestnut.fr), producing dance-theatre shows in Paris and beyond. In 2002, she created a school for a methodical teaching of English Figure Dance within which she offers each year, a very extensive season of courses, dance classes, evening dances and periods balls both in France and in England. She worked as artistic director for the six dance albums produced by CHESTNUT.

In 2016 and 2022, she received a grant from Centre National de la Danse (CN D) to run two different research projects on two aspects of the English country dance repertoire.

She regularly teaches at charities, music schools, and festivals in France and abroad, including Belgium, the US (Amherst Early Music Festival), and Poland (Cracovia Danza Court Dance Festival).