Folk Dance Group
Group Leader: Mike Billington
Venue: Verwood Hub. Fortnightly from 12th January.
Day/Time: Fridays: 2:30 – 4.30 pm
Contact: To email Mike click here
The Group
The dances suit any age, gender and ability. Dressing up is not required, comfortable footwear is.
There are no specific steps to learn. The dances can be skipped or walked, even if you think you have two left feet! The emphasis is on the pattern of the dance. The lovely music helps. The dances are called throughout.
Some of us may have a few minor mobility problems, so we miss out moves in the dance which would be difficult or make us dizzy, nobody minds!
Whilst we aim to get the dances right, inevitably things sometimes go wrong, so we laugh and try again. A lot of the time we get things right and we cheer, it’s all part of the fun.
In the spirit of the u3a it is a shared learning experience, for the callers as well as the dancers!
to be good for the brain and general wellbeing!”
The Leader
I am a keen folk musician, singer and dancer and I’ve been a member of the Verwood u3a since moving to Verwood in 2013.
We had an English Folk Dance (sometimes called Historical Folk Dance) group some years ago run by Jenny and Brian Hawkins and there seems to be a demand for it to be resurrected.
I play with the Wessex Folk Orchestra and it is my intention to put together a small group of musicians to provide live music at least once a month.
We will be starting with simple dances so no prior knowledge is required, but if you are experienced please come and help the newbies!
Mike discusses The Folk Dance Group live on air with Forest FM’s Chrissie Pollard.
26th October 2023