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Inclusion/Seated Dance workshop and the Radio Session has been cancelled - both Sunday 9-10am.

Extra scratch band practice - Sunday 9:30-10:00am E/058

Dance out at the Display Ceilidh!

Saturday Afternoon

What is the display ceilidh and who should sign up?

Way way back many centuries ago, IVFDF actually included an intervarsity dance competition. Over the years, the competition was lost, but the fun opportunity to do a dance for all the other universities to watch and cheer remains! Displays are particularly welcome from university folk dance societies - it is an excellent IVFDF if every university attending does a display at the display ceilidh. We also welcome displays from the morning workshops - one year the mumming workshop brought their play to the display ceilidh! We love to have other displays as well if there is time for them. Displays can be to live music or recorded music, we have had everything from a single fiddle player to Pitbull’s Timber.

Just sign up for a display on the list at reception if you want to display. The order will be chosen based on who signs up, but let us know if there are times at the display ceilidh that will be difficult for you

You may sign up for a practice slot when the hall is free between 14:00 - 15:00, if you want to try dancing your display in the space.

Call a dance at the Survivors’ Ceilidh!

Sunday Afternoon

What is the survivors’ ceilidh and who should sign up?

The last dance of IVFDF is a scratch ceilidh where each dance is called by a different person. This is a great opportunity to introduce a pile of keen folkies to dances you love, get some practice calling in a friendly space where you only have to call one dance, (and maybe people will notice your calling and book you for more gigs!)

Callers must call gender neutral and pick a dance that the scratch band can play for (see IVFDF website for scratch band tune book).

We especially welcome student callers, young callers, career-young callers, and callers who have not called at IVFDF before. We will prioritise these if we get too many callers - but there is usually space for old favourite callers too!

Dancers will have a wide variety of dancing experience and be very tired by Sunday afternoon, so friendly accessible ceilidh dances are excellent choices. Please do not call a dance that has not been danced before.

Just sign up on the list at reception if you want to call a dance.

Not long to go.

At the end of the festival we have the survivors’ ceilidh - where anyone can call, play or dance. The form to sign up to call a dance will be available on the reception desk at the festival. If you would like to play and you would like to play through the tunes there will be two workshops (Saturday and Sunday 10:15am - 11:15am) where you can play through them beforehand… and if you’d like a look at the tunes before the weekend you can have a look through the tunebook.

If you play a transposing instrument there is also versions in Bb and Eb. Please contact us if you need it in a different transposition or clef.

We are delighted to announce that tickets are finally available from the University of York Students Union website https://yorksu.org/events/products/8939.

Separately we have opened pre-ordering of t-shirts - pre-order yours before 8th February using this short Google form.

Statement from IVFDF 2026 organising chair:

Hi everyone, sorry for any lack of communication – this has been harder than last time and we haven’t been able to confirm things until very recently.

• Yes the festival is very much still happening!

• we know not much information has been put out and that we’re in close proximity to the festival

• we are aware tickets aren’t out yet - hopefully within a week they’ll be live (we’re currently filling in forms and liaising with the university)

• we’re aiming to get artists line ups-announced now they’re finally being confirmed.

For more detailed reasons as to why things have taken so long, feel free to read the fuller details below.

We’re excited to welcome you and that we’re still able to host as the back-up location for IVFDF this year, thank you for your continued goodwill and understanding. Keep a lookout for announcements which should be made in the coming days and weeks!

Sorry for any inconveniences and see you soon for folky fun!

Fuller details

• Semesterisation at the university has meant no ‘semester 2’ room bookings could have been made until close to semester 2 (which starts in February), thus many things could not be sorted until very recently, including which exact rooms we could use, the artists’ line-up and tickets being made available.

• Flat floor space at the university is extraordinarily competitive – there are more than 200 different societies at our university, and various sports and dance championships approaching. We’re very lucky to have managed to procure the same three main dance venues as in 2024, but it has taken much time.

• Insurance policies everywhere are tightening, making it very difficult to find sleeping venues – many places which would have been open to things such as indoor camping in 2024 have no longer permitted this in 2026.

• The majority of us on the organising committee are students, who are giving time out of what is currently our assessment and exam period to string together a festival we hope you guys enjoy. Everyone has already put in an immense amount of hard work and communication to make this possible this year.

As IVFDF attendees ourselves we understand firsthand that it’s logistically a hassle for folks attending and/or partaking in the festival, especially when you haven’t heard much from people involved. Please know we are on it, we’re communicating with people every day, and we’re on track for things to run as normal – however it has been far harder than ever for a variety of reasons, and we haven’t wanted to provide any misinformation or false confirmations about things.

IVFDF relies of a team of stewards to help with the smooth running of the festival.

The responsibilities of the stewards differ depending on which events you are stewarding, but could involve: checking tickets, selling tickets and merchandise, or being the first point of contact for other attendees.

In return for your help, you will be given a full or partial refund on purchased tickets depending on the number of hours you steward (greater than 6 hours for a full refund, less than 6 hours for a partial refund), and a T-shirt that you will be wearing while being a steward.

Let us know if you would like to be a steward using this short Google form.

For questions message us on Facebook, Instagram or email us (email address on the form).

We are looking for a wide range of workshops to spread the joy of all folk traditions to all attendees! Please sign up using this short Google form if you have a workshop you would like to offer, whether it be dance, song, tunes, storytelling or anything else - no matter how wacky! We look forward to you being a part of this wonderful festival!

Feel free to send us a message if you have any questions.

The Morris tour for IVFDF 2026 will be proudly hosted by Ramshackle Morris, and will take place on Saturday 28th February in various locations around York from approximately 10:30am-4pm (subject to change).

Please fill in this form - if you would like your team to dance this event, one form per team.

We look forward to welcoming you to our beautiful city!

We are happy to announce that IVFDF 2026 will be happening at the University of York between Friday 27th February to Sunday 1st March 2026.

Keep following this website and our social media pages for more information and news.

While we’re very excited to host again so soon, please bear with us - with us being the back-up location for IVFDF this year, there are some complications, especially since we’ve essentially been given about half a year to prepare (as opposed to sometimes two years).

Most notably, as a result of tightening University/SU safety policies and a crackdown on “things that aren’t supposed to be sleeping venues”, we say with huge disappointment that, despite our efforts, it’s currently looking likely we will not be able to offer indoor camping to anyone who isn’t “a student at any University”. This is very difficult for us since we love the inherent accessibility, affordability and student-focus IVFDF is built around. The fact is, since the event is being held in connection to the UoY Folk Society, University/SU policies will apply regardless of where things are being held, including off-campus. This isn’t a lack of willing co-operation from them, so much as the fact that they’ve run into problems at similar intervarsity sporting events held on our campus and were told off. We’ll see what we can do about this, but to be on the safe side please look into alternative arrangements.

We apologise for the many complications this year, but hope this transparency will help. There will be an IVFDF this year, and the SU and Uni logistics teams are enthusiastic about it and keen to help things happen and run smoothly! Thank you for your understanding and good humor - we’ll update you again with further information when we can, but until then we’re excited to see you in February!