Workshops

Too tired from last night’s dances? Well look no further than Early Morning Chorus Songs, a laid back singaround.

A partnered swing dance originating in African-American communities of the early 20th century. It is danced to uptempo jazz music which can also have European Folk influences.

Explore balfolk dancing in miniature. Instead of traveling across the floor, we’ll dance on the spot using tiny, intricate movements. Discover how to express the music through subtle shifts, small gestures, and delicate shapes with different parts of your body.

This workshop uses close embrace as the primary dance hold, with variation in how close partners choose to be. We’ll discuss how to communicate and negotiate comfort levels with your dance partners. The focus is on clear communication and practicing both leading and following within a minimal space.

Learn Portuguese Folk Dances found at festivals and social events. Not performance dances per se, but inclusive social dances. The dances we have in mind are in twos, fours and one progressive. Gender free calling.

Easy Contra for beginners to try Contra dancing, a social dance that one can attend without a partner. All moves explained & walked through - fun for beginners and experienced dancers alike!

This will be a guided walk and talk looking at the folklore and myths of some British plants and our embodied reactions to them, with an alternative of an art based collage session if particularly bad weather. Wear something warm and waterproof (if raining)!

Are you ready to gallop in an explosive social dance that survived decades in remote Italian mountains? Would you like to discover a playful foreign repertoire? Northern Italy has a strong and rich tradition of folk dance and music. The selected dances are energetic and joyful, easy to learn, and with a social purpose. We are going to teach mostly group dances and a couple dance. The workshop is suited for beginners.

I’ll be trying my best to get you Ball ready with some triple minors, cotillions and a very strange dance from Ukraine.

Run through the tunes which will be used in the survivors’ ceilidh. A great chance to play for a ceilidh if you have always wanted to but haven’t had the chance or just play through some tunes with people. Come to one or both of the workshops.

The tunes that will be played can be found in the tune book.

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.

This workshop will provide some practical basic tips and techniques to make you feel comfortable with improvising with your partner(s) on bal folk dances, especially couple dances and bourrées. Some of that dance improv techniques will be derived from improv acting techniques and will provide a simple framework to let you go wherever the music takes you. Some basic knowledge of bal folk dances is advised.

It’s the 18th or 19th century, it’s winter, and it’s cold. The agricultural workers in the Welsh Marshes have no work and no money left, so they disguise themselves by pinning odd rags on their normal clothes, smearing their faces with soot from the fire and going to the houses of the local gentry. You could describe what they did there as dancing with noise, energy and big sticks out of the hedgerows. You could (and the local magistrates did) also describe it as begging with menaces (and those very big sticks). They were perpetrating Border Morris.

Border Morris usually involves quite simple, but vigorous, stepping, typically a step-hop. A few traditional dances were recorded but, since the revival in the 1970s, many more new dances have been written in the style (or, at least, our best guess as to the style…). We will be looking at one of the newer dances.

If there is sufficient interest, it may be possible to dance it as a workshop display in the Display Ceilidh on Saturday afternoon. Please bring energy, enthusiasm and shock-absorbing footwear! Additional musicians are also welcome, especially at the ceilidh spot

This is a workshop of contra dances in which the choreography makes dancers swap roles with their partner within the dance – or looking at it another way, dances in which there are no roles and instead everyone dances the whole dance. The formation was invented simultaneously by Sam Tetley-Smith and Louise Siddon. People should be physically capable of swinging with both left and right pointy hands, and they should come wearing contra-dance-appropriate clothing, including shoes.

Learn dances from when English country dances were born!

Come and play some tunes.

CANCELLED due to workshop leader availablity.

Able-bodied and Disabled dancers (experts by experience) welcome. As well as practical try-out-seated-dance, the session could be an excellent forum for sharing good practice, opening up FAQ etc. Aspects – from many years’ experience – of taking dance to care homes, dementia groups etc; touches on some ways of supporting disabled dancers in performance groups e.g. morris. Note: disability refers not to only limited mobility but also visual / hearing impairments, learning disability etc.

CANCELLED due to workshop leader illness.

Session on the radio! Come down and have a go at being on the airwaves, we’ll be doing a live radio broadcast of a folk session on University Radio York

Fancy trying out a bit of Scottish reeling?

Whether you are a regular at local ceilidhs or have never heard of Scottish country dancing or reeling before, we would love for you to come along and give our beginner-friendly workshop a go!

Reeling is a social, beginner friendly form of dancing with most dances using repeat patterns of basic moves (setting, turning, casting off and figure of eights). There are over 11,000 reels that exist nowadays, although don’t fret, we’ll only be teaching a few!

Come along to the IVFDF annual reps meeting if you want to learn more about how the festival is run, or you’re interested in running IVFDF yourself. We will give a break-down of 2026, decide plans for 2027 and discuss any improvements for future IVFDFs. Each university society should send 2 reps to vote.

Come kick your heels to the jigs and reels, and enjoy the elegance of the strathspey. We can look at the steps and formations unique to Scottish country dancing. Suitable for all.

Solo jazz is one of the groups of swing dances that evolved out of the African American communities in the US in the early 1900s. Danced to swing music, solo jazz is energetic, explosive and contagiously fun. We’ll teach a short routine to introduce you to the dance, suitable for someone who has never danced jazz before.

Due to cancellation of Radio session -a chance for me scratch band tunes.

Run through the tunes which will be used in the survivors’ ceilidh. A great chance to play for a ceilidh if you have always wanted to but haven’t had the chance or just play through some tunes with people. Come to one or both of the workshops.

The tunes that will be played can be found in the tune book.

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.

An informal walk to get outdoors for some fresh air and learn about the nature around the campus. Max (@maximossnature) will introduce some foraging tips and share a few folklore stories! Wear sturdy boots and warm clothes.

Similar to American Square Dance. A brisk dance form involving choruses and a variety of fun figures such as “Shoot the Buffalo”, “Wild Goose Chase” and “Rattlesnake Twist”.

If you’ve never danced around a maypole with a ribbon, you’re missing out. It is the best. I’ll be bringing my maypole and both going over my most popular dances and passing on some tips for those who want to run their own maypole session in the future. If you’ve been to my workshops before I have some new dances to try out! Children are welcome.

A workshop on how to play Balfolk music for dancing (with dancing from some experienced Balfolk dancers!). Learn about the different music that fits the most common Balfolk dances, and how to make sure you’re playing at the right speed with the right emphasis for specific dances. Bring along instruments! Sheet music provided. Learn from experienced players for the Bal sessions in Hay-on-Wye!

Learn IVFDF Morris Tour hosts Ramshackle’s original dance, Tup’s Turn, to the tune of John Ryans. The product of a foreman creating a chorus, then the rest of us going mad and writing the figures in one practice. Expect lots of spinning, sticking and fun! Some Morris experience is preferable, but not required!

Run through the tunes which will be used in the survivors’ ceilidh. A great chance to play for a ceilidh if you have always wanted to but haven’t had the chance or just play through some tunes with people. Come to one or both of the workshops.

The tunes that will be played can be found in the tune book.

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.

Learn William and Nancy in the Bledington tradition from one of Black Diamond’s finest. Bring hankies if you have them, and wear comfortable shoes. Not suitable for absolute beginners.

An introduction to the very basics of traditional gamelan music from Java using the university’s very own ensemble Gamelan Sekar Petak! This will involve playing a range of gongs and metallophones, singing and sitting on the floor with your shoes off (wear your best socks!)

Come and learn some folk songs and sing them in beautiful harmony with the wonderful Fylingdales Folk Choir, based in Whitby.

Whether you’ve never done any folk dancing at all or are a Welsh-dancing pro, come along to this workshop where we’ll be learning several dances ranging from 17th century jigs to modern day reels. Danced in pairs and groups and consisting of different combinations of basic steps combined with fun elements, dawnsio gwerin is beginner-friendly and easy to learn. Come along and experience the fun that’s the reason these dances are now performed all over the world!

Appalachian clogging is a high-energy, percussive folk dance that originated in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, blending British Isles, African, and Native American traditions. Characterized by rapid, rhythmic, and intricate footwork. Wear hard soled or tap shoes.

This is a workshop of English dances beyond the Playford Dancing Master. There are literally thousands of dances that aren’t in Playford but were enthusiastically danced between 1700 and today – let’s fight monopolies and dance them! Clothes and shoes suitable for energetic dancing advised.