Charlotte Rich-Griffin. A clever little Muppet - but also a narrow-minded dictator?

At Sidmouth in 2024 callers were required to denote the style of calling they could be using - see the panel below.  Before 'political correctness' took over, dances were called using the terms men and women, or men and ladies  - much as they have been for the last 400 and more years. For an historical summary of Folk Dance in England, I would recommend Dr Lucy Worsley's series Dancing Cheek to Cheek on YouTube, originally on BBC TV. All traditional folk dances were written for men and women (more correctly, for men and ladies!).

For a history of dance in England and Ireland - and the obnoxious involvement of the catholic church in Ireland - see here. These religious zealots were bigots in another age, and in another country.

There is some early discussion of gender-neutral dancing. The examples used, of a B chain and an A chain, (instead of the disallowed and sexist Ladies Chain!), date from my attendance at Towersey festival - as early as 2013. In a Ladies Chain, one person (the girl) has to be 'submissive' in that she has to allow herself to be whirled around by a man - who has his arm around her in a controlling way. It was explained that this was no longer acceptable: not only would be term 'lady' no longer be used, so would the need to appear submissive be banished. So the chain had to be replaced by half a right turn in the middle of the set (by the two B dancers) and half a left hand turn by the opposite A person. So we are all now equal: the A dancers would no longer be in any way 'controlling' the B dancers! It spoils a traditional dance in the pursuit of political correctness.

Since being appointed as dance coordinator at Sidmouth, Charlotte Rich-Griffin has annoyed quite a few people - dancers as well as callers. Amongst those I spoke to at some length was Lynne Render, herself a nationally known and renowned caller of English Folk dances. Many of her dances are more complex than anything you would probably experience at a contra event.

Lynne does not agree with many of my observations over the years on folk dance - but said that she agreed with me 100% on this topic, especially as "some of my dances really cannot be called successfully without using the terms men and women".

At Sidmouth in 2024, I watched for a while one evening as Lynne called what I think was Colin Hume's The Wrong Star - a square set that I last called years ago. It is not too difficult, but it really helps to have 4 genuine men and 4 women - because in one of the moves, the solitary woman and man who are in the wrong star have to cross between stars (in a move used in the simple dance TAG) - and it helps if everyone knows who they are! My own calling uses an unusual term - "Group of four  - up cast and back". Followed by 'Brexit' (because you need to get the next move done, in no time at all!) But I have to explain these unusual terms to the dancers. Lynne did it so much better.

Probably 80 to 90% of people would prefer to dance in man-woman pairs. it also makes many dances easier to learn and follow. So, unless politically correct zealots wish to be further accused of imposing their narrow and minority views on the majority of people, 80 to 90% of dances (and dance teaching) should perhaps align with the majority preference.

Move to new webpage:

So what should Sidmouth be doing to improve and further folk dance in an age when so much of it is dying out, and when so many of the few remaining local clubs only do dances to a minimal standard of complexity? So many people in the UK no longer have access to a local folk dance club where there is any teaching of dance, beyond a few trivial moves.

Here is one suggestion: in advance of the festival, email everyone and ask for 20 or 30 people who only had a basic knowledge of dance (probably most of them would be young). A 50:50 mix of male and female would be invited to participate in 'closed' workshops during the early part of the week where they would learn some more advanced folk dances - those involving diagonal reels, dolphin hays, double teacup chains and the like. In effect they would be taught one or two dances until they could do them to perfection. Then in an open session, maybe during the interval in an evening ceilidh, they would give a demonstration of what they had learned - and with the suggestion that others too could aspire to the same standard. They would do the dances with minimal calling. It might encourage others to try to be more ambitious - rather than being satisfied with endless contras and endless simplistic ceilidh dances.

The other suggestion for Sidmouth would be to reduce the sound level in Blackmore Gardens by 40% and that at the LNE by 85%. (add links to letters in local paper)

Years ago, when it was on the original village sites, Towersey festival used to teach youngsters (I think it was called Shooting Roots?). Some were quite keen. Ceilidh dances in those days were fantastic - and with dozens of partners to choose from. At Chippenham, again years ago, there was a session to encourage newcomers to learn folk dance - a set of experienced dancers learned a dance and demonstrated it. Then each dancer asked a member of the audience to do the same dance - so every novice had an experienced partner. It was an idea that as far as I know has not been repeated. But as with so many festivals, I have not attended for many years, primarily owing to the music being absurdly loud in so many venues.

Towersey festival folded in 2024 but was immediately reborn as a new, smaller event on the same lovely site. The T&Cs show that the organisers are well aware of the risks of stupidly loud music. Yet still the nonsense continues.

In February 2025 the Daily Telegraph published an article centred on the mandating of gender neutral dancing. It provoked a furious anti-woke reader response. Many of the comments were from dancers - and none of them agreed with mandating gender neutral calling.

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