Traditional English Folk Dancing at Eltham!
This Monday Eltham Lunch Club were treated to a splendid English Folk Dancing session from Jane and Jeremy from Let Us Dance.
Members were hesitant at first - many had not tried dancing before, or had had bad experiences with inaccessible sessions in the past. From the get-go, Jane engaged everyone in the session, showing everyone a calm sat-down dance with traditional jig dolls, some up to 150 years old! From there everyone was hooked. Jane and Jeremy taught the group 6 raucous traditional dances, with origins from Sheffield, Norfolk, London, Wales and even further afield throughout the UK.
The dances involved many steps and fantastic props, including huge Sheffield Flower Garlands, Lancashire Morris batons with bells and ribbons, and short and long Morris sticks! Members tapped, skipped, jingled and jigged their way through a wonderful day with their partners. It was smiles on faces all around, and by the end everyone was clamouring for more, asking when we would book a session again!
Thank you so much to Jane and Jeremy for their time - we can't wait to do it again!
