Article from the Daily Telegraph, 19 February 2025, on the EFDSS stance regarding gender neutral calling at dances and ceilidhs.

Also considered - how 'wokeness' may have helped to elect Donald Trump in 2024 (transferred to page woke3).

The Telegraph is a right wing 'middle-class' UK newspaper with an on-line and print circulation of around one million.

(EFDSS = English Folk Dance and Song Society, based in London, UK).

In January 2025 I had a letter printed in the Sidmouth Herald about gender neutral dancing - and the excessive sound levels at many dance events at Sidmouth Folk Week.

A day after the EFDSS article in February 2025,(reproduced in part below), the same newspaper exposed how Ukrainian women prisoners of war were treated by Russian captors. The contrast could hardly be clearer - whilst in the UK the protagonists of the 'woke' movement appeared to be desperately concerned about people being offended by being referred to as a man or a woman, in the real world there was horrific mistreatment of women. But what was reported was nothing out of the ordinary for Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia, India, and some Arab countries where women (especially women) still have few basic 'human rights'.

This webpage summarises both of these articles and reproduces a selection of the comments about the EDFSS stance on gender neutral dance calling - which claimed in essence that folk dance could be made more 'inclusive' (read: politically correct) if terms such as 'ladies, gentlemen, boys and girls' were to be disallowed. In other words - that basic realities, acknowledged  by the majority of people, should by diktat henceforth be denied.

Another serious comment (again mentioned in one or two of the online comments) would be that - in line with my own observations at local dances during Sidmouth Folk Week in recent years - many newcomers to dance are put off by being called larks and robins or lines 1 and 2, rather than men and women - which after all, is something that the vast majority of them identify with and can understand. Gender neutral calling is also unsuitable for more complex dances. This is further discussed here.

In the UK, gender neutral dance calling is being almost force fed to both aspiring dancers and dance callers. The techniques being used - coercion, implicit blackmail and 'cancel culture' mirror those of Gen Z zealots within UK universities more generally.

Consider this quote, centred upon DEI at the University of Oxford, from the historian Sir Niall Ferguson:

On 19 February 2025, the Daily Telegraph in the UK published an article centred upon how the EDFSS (English Folk Dance and Song Society) were promoting gender neutral dance calling - and in particular that terms 'ladies and gentlemen' or 'men and girls' could be considered offensive to 'minorities'. The article provoked a furious response from on-line readers with well over 900 comments critical of the EFDSS position. Later, many of the comments were deleted or removed, leaving around 700. Some of the most telling comments were those alleging that it was adherence to Arts Council 'wokery' that needed to be addressed - and that public money should not be spent on such nonsense. There were no comments either in support of gender neutral dancing or supportive of the EFDSS position. A few comments suggested that EFDSS had probably been mandated into their 'woke' stance as a condition of receiving Arts Council funding, upon which they continue to be highly dependent. Whilst this may indeed be true in respect of staff at EFDSS, there are many dance callers who have agreed all too readily to adopt gender neutral calling - fearful perhaps of being seen as reactionary, or non-PC. Given that most dancers prefer traditional calling (if only because it works so much better, especially for beginners) dance callers need to consider that the age of 'wokery' and DEI policies may be drawing to a close - and not only because of 'Trump2'. (DEI = Diversity, Equality, Inclusion. In the UK the 2010 Equality Act was a basis, devolved from the 1948 UN Declaration following WW11). Although laudable in initial intentions, many zealots have extended the ideals to an absurd (and often profitable) degree.

Extracts from the article: Ukrainian women taken as prisoners of war are being tortured and humiliated by Russian soldiers in a systematic campaign of abuse, survivors have revealed. Some have been subjected to cruel degradations, including being forced to march naked in the snow and expose themselves to their captors. “They led us to the showers with bags over our heads, where we were forced to undress. We had to walk naked in front of the men....bent over, through freezing cold water,” “Afterwards, we were forced to sing the Russian anthem while naked. We returned to the cells in tears, utterly distraught, crying and in a state of hysteria… To them, we were nothing.” ....described being “slammed” against the wall by a guard and beaten with a metal pole, and then being denied medical treatment for the open wound it left on her leg. ..... at least nine out of ten POWs returned to the country suffered physical and psychological torture. She described being crammed with fifteen others in a cell meant to house two, with only a hole in the middle of the floor as a toilet. Every day the women were forced into stress positions – another form of torture where prisoners are forced to hold agonising postures – for hours at a time, and made to do near-impossible exercise routines supervised by guards who would beat them if they failed. ....... prisoners were fed porridge mixed with water, ....barely enough to survive. “We were like skeletons,” ...we were given electric shocks by cattle prods and power cables during the repeated interrogations. “They turned me to face the wall and undressed me. Someone touched me, .....they felt everywhere with their hands.” ........ for the first 50 days she was kept in a tiny cell she likened to a “torture chamber” alongside 20 other women, with no sanitation and little food. Like others she was forced to stand for over 12 hours a day. Younger girls would be taken to a dormitory where Russian soldiers stayed. “When they returned, they cried,” ..... Other women were often raped by soldiers who promised they would get food or see their children again, she said. “I heard terrible screams. I could hear people beating and people were screaming. It was such a horror. In my life, even when I was already beaten, it was not as horrible as listening to this.”

The article in the Daily Telegraph about gender neutral dancing and the EDFSS (abridged, ask Google for the full article)

Folk dancing should drop terms like “ladies and gentlemen” to avoid “offending minority genders”, a leading music organisation has said.

The English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) is attempting to make centuries-old traditions more “inclusive”.

The charity, which is backed by the Arts Council, has created guidance that tells teachers and those hosting group dances to use “gender-free language”.

Barn and ceilidh dances often have defined male and female roles, with the caller, who guides participants through complex steps, using terms such as “men and women”, “ladies and gentlemen” or “boys and girls”.

The society’s guidance on inclusion and accessibility states that this vocabulary could offend “minority genders” and should be dropped to avoid anyone being “misgendered on the dance floor”.

The term misgendered is used by non-binary and transgender people to mean that they have been described as a gender with which they no longer identify.

The guidance says: “Use gender free language when calling dances. This ultimately makes your event more accessible to everyone and prevents people, usually women and minority genders.

“If you address a dancer directly, do not assume their gender or pronouns if you don’t know them, as there are plenty of easier ways for someone to be identified, such as their position in the set or the colour of a piece of clothing they are wearing.”

It adds: “Consider introducing yourself with your own pronouns to make others feel more comfortable to do so. It’s important to note that in some circumstances, gendered calling can be more accessible to some people. In all circumstances call with your dance community in mind and be careful to avoid misgendering dancers as a default position.”

Often ceilidhs are arranged on a vast scale, involving crowds of people who need to be efficiently arranged by a caller and then coached through traditional dance patterns.

EFDSS has raised concerns over other long-established and fundamental dancing terms, such as “partner”, suggesting that it could be problematic.

The guidance states: “Saying ‘couples’ or ‘partner/partners’ in some contexts can make single people who are attending alone feel excluded, or could make people feel uncomfortable in regard to how their relationship status is being perceived.”

Guidance produced for the folk dancing community in 2024 stipulates that callers and organisers should “model good consent” by not pressuring people into joining a dance.

Dancers themselves have also been advised to be conscious of dance floor consent, with guidelines stating: “If you ask someone to dance, you should be prepared to accept no as an answer without expecting an explanation.”

Participants should also “avoid touching other dancers unnecessarily”, according to the guidelines, which also offer advice on making events more accessible for disabled people.

The EFDSS said the guidelines will “provide a framework for building safer spaces within the social folk dance world”.

The EFDSS, founded in 1932, is based in Camden and has taken a leading role in both preserving and promoting folk music and dance.

It also maintains the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, named for the famed composer and folk enthusiast, which is England’s main repository of folk songs.

Following Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, the organisation made a series of commitments to equality and diversity and pledged to “foster a new, more diverse folk scene suited to our multicultural, 21st-century landscape”.

The charity has also repudiated its own founder, Cecil Sharp, a leading Edwardian collector of folk songs, because he “held some offensive opinions, and his writings identify him to have expressed racist views”.

A selection of COMMENTS (many from people identifying as women) as published online on the Telegraph website (and highly abridged!). In almost 1000 comments I could not find any that were supportive of the EFDSS position. Some are highly amusing and/or perceptive as to the contempt in which the 'woke' movement is held by ordinary people.

Comments directly related to experience at folk dances, or by folk dancers, or relating to Arts Council funding are printed in red.

My personal favourite is highlighted in green. (scroll down!)

The first 692 comments published by the Telegraph are reproduced in full as a pdf . Those given below are a selection, and easier to read.

I am a folk dancer and a caller. As a woman, I often dance as a man, indicated by the wearing of a red band. I react to the men’s calls, but it does not mean that I am trans, or want to use the men’s cloakroom (heaven forbid). We also have a few pink bands at our club, for the odd occasion when we have a superfluity of men and one or two dance as ladies, which they do with good grace. I will give up calling if I am forced to use gender-free instructions.

All pilots and flight attendants were told to use the term 'folks' instead of 'Ladies and Gentlemen' in Canada a couple of years ago. I ignored it. 'Ladies and Gentlemen' is a lovely expression, 'folks' isn't. 'Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome aboard flight......' is how all flights should start.

Is there anything more likely to destroy the traditional folk scene than detaching it from its culture and history.
By the time all of this nonsense is finished the actual link to the culture and traditions will no longer exist.

But there ARE only female and male human beings. Some female humans like to believe they’re a cat or something other than what they actually are, but they’re still a female human. Likewise with males. They can pretend all they like but they can’t alter their state.

Second word is off!!!

As stated to avoid offending a minority, tough the majority don't care.

You're suggesting that callers take on that role and use "L & G" principally to offend a small number of Highly Sensitive Souls? You must be joking.
If H S Souls are offended perhaps they should be excluded or stay away of their own volition; do they have a right to change years and years of normality and tradition?

It is remarkable how thoroughly the malignant trans nonsense has taken over every single organisation in the land, especially those in receipt of taxpayer funding. The solution is, as always, first tell them to foxtrot oscar and then withdraw all their funding.

The Vaughan Williams library is important, but can be funded separately and fairly easily.

No way am I ever stopping saying ladies and gentlemen. I don’t see that it offends anyone.

How on earth will the French cope? In any group of men and women they are addressed as Messieurs, Dames even if only one man is present among many ladies. Surely, that is both misogynistic and trans- insulting?

EFDSS are utter woke - pc nonsense!

How about "Ladies, Gentlemen, and self-important, thin-skinned delusionals"?

I take it the new requirement was one of the boxes they had to tick to obtain Arts Council funding.

I’m sorry Ladies and Gentlemen but the EFDSS is bonkers.

Oh stop this nonsense.

Trying to cancel traditional British greetings is deeply offensive, EFDSS.

I thought English folk dancing would be a great thing for the kids. I tried a few celidhs but we stopped. In London at least it seems to be appropriated by "LGBTQ+" new agers who despise it's very origins in culture.

Not sure that regulating language is a good thing.

How about "Ladies, Gentlemen and others"?

What a load of rubbish. Please continue with 'ladies and gentlemen'.

Originally I thought If some one wants to join a dance group give them a document telling them age old traditional terms that are used so they have the opportunity to give it a miss however I then realized they would go straight to the police social service telling them they are not wanted the owner will be arrested and the dance club sued. What a world we live in how did it come to this.

Nothing to stop Dolly Mixtures organising their own puff-and-fluff parties/ceilidhs

fools and idiots

Woke is over so do give over.

These people are morons

The wokeraties should folk off.

"Non-binary" etc are figments of the imagination.

We're heading towards civil war.

Have they nothing better to do?

You couldn’t make it up

Why is it in this benighted country that the indigenous majority are required to assimilate with the tiny minorities rather than the other way round?
Why are the powers that be, whoever they may be, so keen to undermine and ultimately destroy our culture, our nation?
Will someone PLEASE make them explain?

I have always found ladies and gentlemen very courteous.

Judging by the number of skirts in the photo (of Scottish dancers) this is an all female space. Its quite difficult to spot the differences in gender amongst the Caledonians. A bit like robins in the back garden.

a kilt is not a skirt, just like a caftan is not a 'dress' and leggings are not pants. wearing a kilt is a mighty sexy thing for a man to do if he has good legs I'll have you know.

Kilts are healthier, erm, downstairs.

EFDSS repudiates its own founder, "he held some offensive opinions, and his writings identify him to have expressed racist views". He was living pre WW1 for goodness sake.
On this basis we need to repudiate our parents, grandparents, great grandparents etc. ad infinitum as I'm sure they were also guilty of similar indiscretions.
This is Orwell being proven to be 100% correct in his 1984 prophecy as to where Marxism leads us - in this case the Asylum.

How truly depressing. My sympathies to Ceilidh dancers for having to put up with this woke garbage.

Bet you that the ladies are all partnering each other because the young men are too embarrassed to go on the floor. I've seen it plenty of times.

The Woke are doubling down. Let’s hope it’s the death throes.

Best just ignore the idiots, Ladies and Gentlemen is a perfectly acceptable way of introduction.

Ladies and gentlemen might be offended if they're not referred to as such.

We are changing this for 0.55% of the population! This is why the left culture wars will fail because normal everyday people see this stuff and think “idiots”.
Ladies and Gentlemen has been used for centuries so let it stand as 99.45% of the population support it!

Ignore them, who do they think they are ...the thought police ??

The dumbing down of society.

So be offended. Then get over it.

It's obvious really: "Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right" should do.

And they're doing this in the hope more people will take part?

Cecil Sharp House, the HQ of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) costs a massive amount in upkeep, which means that the organisers have to spend a great deal of time applying for grants from the Arts Council and other funding bodies, all of which have DEI policies embedded.
It is unsurprising that any article designed to make the EFDSS more relevant and visible will publicise its policies concerning gender equality.
This article may make some people more likely to dip a toe in the water of ceilidh dancing. I hope it does.
I would prefer to see more emphasis on including disabled people (blind, hearing impaired, and physically disabled) into dancing, for their health’s sake. I suspect there is a bigger proportion of disabled people in the population than gender distressed.

I have seen one or two people in wheelchairs taking the floor (you need to give them a bit more room on turns, otherwise no problem). But how do you do you deal with somebody who's partially sighted (poor peripheral vision may be an issue) or who is deaf?

Trust me, we have enough issues with people who couldn't hear the caller (or plain weren't listening) without including people who are physically unable to do so.

Ceilidhs and folk dances are quite different beasts. Ceilidhs dances are rarely called, there are often not enough men so women dance together and a woman in the men’s side is totally unremarkable. You’re lucky if one pair in a set of 4 pairs actually know the dance. All is chaos.
Reinventing the wheel by using Bands and Bares, Leads and Follows etc sounds twee, patronising and much more offensive than the straightforward Ladies and Gentlemen.

I must admit that over the past 30-odd years, the ceilidhs I've been to at least included a walk-through. People knew what they were letting themselves in for before the music started.
As to "one pair in a set" knowing the dance - absolutely not true. Most of the ones I've been to had well over half knowing the dances, and most knowing the basic moves. It doesn't take a lot of experience to do a right hand star or to cast out at the top.

I really don’t understand why people who choose to join a microscopic group of a different gender cannot accept that they are different, that the world doesn’t revolve around them, and just try to fit in where they can. No-one presumably wants to go out of their way to give offence to this minority, so why be so sensitive? Grow a backbone.

Ladies to the left, gentlemen to the right, anyone who isn't sure what they are, just make a f...ing mess in the middle. How the hell can you dance like that?

It will definitely offend majority genders..

Ladies and Gents is fine. The woke liberals can take a running jump.

What's wrong with ladies and gentlemen or boys and girls. I was under the impression that even the trans community consider themselves ladies, gentlemen, boys and girls according to what gender they identify as. There are so any people in this world that just aren't capable of thinking.

So…A trans woman, who therefore identifies as a woman, would feel offended at being called ‘lady’?
And… a trans man, who therefore identifies as a man, would feel offended at being called ‘gentleman’?
And… a single person who happily attends the dance without a partner, would feel offended by the mention of the word ‘partner’?
Have these people had a logic bypass? ‘Woke’ be blowed! Half asleep bordering on catatonic, more like!

Truly pathetic

What does the The Village Green Preservation Society have to say on this matter?

Preserving the old ways from being abused..

The powers that be in this country are so afraid of offending a minority.
They have failed! I feel as if I'm in a minority and I AM offended by this dictat.

The perversion of normality. Thankfully the tide is changing, we'll look back on this nonsense in disbelief.

“ The charity has also repudiated its own founder, Cecil Sharp, a leading Edwardian collector of folk songs, because he “held some offensive opinions, and his writings identify him to have expressed racist views”.
“The past is a foreign country they did things differently there.”

Sausages and clams?

Not saying 'Ladies and Gentlemen' is highly offensive!

At the start of every dance perhaps a vote could be held. 'All those in favour of Ladies and Gentlemen please raise you hands.' Pretty sure each vote would be 100% in favour.

Surely it is a private matter what/who people want to identify as ?
What IS important is to be respectful to the individual?

Jesus H Christ. The more they talk, the more they tie themselves up in knots. Just wake up to what you're doing people. Ladies and gents will be fine as it has been for hundreds of years. The fear of offending a tiny minority, and they are tiny, means the vast majority are now disadvantaged. I am a gent, full stop. If a trans whatever can be called whatever they want, so can I. I AM MALE SO CALL ME A GENT.....PLEASE!

What a load of BS. Plus if someone single is there on their own why would they worry? They wouldn't be there if it was going to upset them. Stop trying to second guess people’s feelings and thoughts. Stop policing our lives and activities. In fact, just wind your neck in and go away!!!

I wonder what Mr Musk would say about it all? Ah yes, go f...

What are minority genders? Llamas?

Surely these alternative terms are not llama inclusive and may be banned in the near future to comply with views of our new minister

Cecil Sharp collected my favourite Cornish folk song, The West Country Way.
Twas sad as what happened to my cousin Jim,
Now sombody threw a tomato at him,
Tomatoes are soft and they don't bruise the skin,
But this ****** did, it was still in the tin.

... how to adapt the Highland sword dance for disabled dancers ... can I imagine wheelchair Morris dancing?

Warning - don't anyone mention the Gay Gordons!

... strip the willow could be problematic ...

"Saying ‘ladies and gentlemen’ is offensive". Good to know that, as I'll now be increasingly using the phrase at every and any opportunity, alongside my now recharged ability to be judgemental. Life is Good!

More PC rubbish. We need Trump over here to squash DIE clap trap.

The Dashing White Sergeant - now a problem on so many levels.

More woke rubbish, time to get real, there are only two sexes, suck it up for heavens sake.

WHAT? Dear God this has gone too far now.

Vaughan Williams would be rolling in his grave...

For heaven's sake!

If they started this at an event I was attending I would ask for a refund and leave.

Surely the very description of folk dancing implies a tradition dating back several generations, To dump on it all these weird safeguards of not using traditional language in case it upsets people seems both anachronistic and frankly bonkers. Perhaps the practitioners of folk dancing could form a new organisation which isn't driven by this madness.

Er? If I'm a bloke and wish to identify as a woman - then surely I'd be happy to be called a lady.
This pandering to tiny minority groups, is not 'inclusion' it is 'exclusion'.

Well said Sir. Or have I misgendered you?

I hope someone tells these bullies to get lost.

i bet they all have the surname Pratt.

I am offended at the loss of 'Ladies and Gentlemen'.
It elevates all and (should) offend none.

Try telling that to the ladies down our golf club........

This one thinks there is nothing wrong with ladies.

"Folk dancing should drop terms like “ladies and gentlemen” to avoid “offending minority genders”, a leading music organisation has said."
The presumption that we should bend over backwards to avoid offending "minority genders"* is itself extremely offensive to anyone who understands basic biology and sociability. Why do these twassocks insist on offending everyone else, in order to pander to the oddballs?
* whatever they are...

Ladies and Gentlemen, and any other cross dressers or oddities out there...
Is that inclusive enough?

And other fairy tale creatures lol

In NeoMarxism-diseased Britain it is deemed acceptable to identify as a llama.

Lads and Lasses then, or Cocks and Hens.

What utter claptrap. IGNORE any instruction to comply.

Will this madness never end? I'm offended by anyone who is offended by my male gender!

What happened to "my Lords, ladies and gentlemen".

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Non-Gender Specifics, Ladies that Identify as Men, Men that Identify as Ladies, People that Identify as non-humans ........... take your partners by the hand

er hang on, not everyone has hands... differently abled etc... partner is non inclusive to single people... take is exploitive and oppressive...

FFS give it a rest its as if these people are children. Its polite and it's etiquette.

For God's sake...

What a load of nonsense! There are ladies and there are gentlemen and even those who think they are in the wrong body want to belong to one of those categories! Trans women want to be treated like women and trans men want to be treated like men. And those who are even more confused want to belong to both... So "Ladies and Gentlemen' covers everyone !!!
Unless there are any llamas in the group, in which case it doesn't matter because llamas are not bothered by such matters.

Where did it all go wrong?

It started in the schools, now the children brainwash program is complete and will spread until every part of the fabric of our society is whitewashed.

Adam and Eve, with two male children - oops God.

Just Keep calm and carry on, @ Telegraph, why do you focus on divisive articles, why not author a real engaging, useful and thoughtful news piece,

Yes, the readership they’re trying to lure largely doesn’t exist today.

I recall being in a dog-themed pub, where the loos were marked 'Setters' and 'Pointers'.

I suppose sticking one finger up to EFDSS will also be offensive ?

Aaaaaaaargggh! Ladies, Gentlemen and Alphabet People doesn’t have the same ring to it!

Stop this NONSENSE!

I'm extremely offended by people disrespecting ladies and gentlemen.

The UK goes barmier and barmier. Never mind, Sharia law will change all that!

Well, as someone who has attended many charitable dancing events over decades, all I can say is that there are a lot of charities that will miss out on contributions when people stay away because of this new guidance.

Talk about making a song and dance about something...

EFDSS based in Camden - no surprises there.

Other than idiots who identify as hedgehogs and other animals, members of the human race are either born male or female. Everybody can therefore be addressed as Ladies and Gentlemen or Boys and Girls. Even the folk who wish to change gender cannot possibly be 'offended' by the terminology (whichever sex they choose to be). The decision to trumpet this idiocy by the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) is not attempting to make centuries-old traditions more “inclusive”. It is attempting to publicise its existence as the majority of the population have never heard of it. Come to think of it - we never want to hear of it again!

As a one time Morris dancer, all I can say is the person is a cuckoo’s nest.

Woke gone mad. I’m lost for words

Benefit claiming weirdos, mentally unbalanced and harbourers of false and constructed victimhood, welcome!

The Arts Council clearly need even fewer breadsticks if they can afford utter waste like this.

Never heard such rubbish in my life

Seriously, these people need to get a life (perhaps a real job) don't they have anything better to do than try and emulate BLM which has been removed from cultures everywhere. I find them offensive and should be shut down.

Well it offends me I am a woman and like to be called lady !

So just say 'Ladies, Gentlemen and Things'. See how that goes down.

If the caller has to name every sex, gender, non binary, asexual etc there would be no time for dancing ffs. This is our culture at risk.

Crazy people cancer everywhere!

Noted and ignored.

Just how inclusive is dancing anyway?

How have these woke idiots ever got into a position where they can make these announcements?
It’s time the majority took back control and allowed sanity to return.

What ridiculous nonsense.

Why don't they just folk off

The EFDSS can EFOFF

So is "folk dancers". Should be "mammalian terpsichorists".

they can stick their 'guidance'' where the sun doesn't shine and better they create "safe spaces" for easily offended people to meet others likewise - I am sure they will have a ball

They're making a song and dance over it

Really? Wow ,woke gone crazy. Don't they read the news any more XX = Male ,YY = Female ,Y Y Y Delia.

I AM A LADY , FEMALE , WOMAN

I feel terribly sorry if non binary people can't be flexible enough to adjust to Ladies and Gentlemen - they've heard the phrase throughout the childhood and adult life.

they are offensively arrogantly assuming we all need to bend to their whims, this is passive aggression and we all should be mightily offended

How about plonkers and non-plonkers, oh sorry that will confuse them even more

Why are we giving time to the people who want to tell us what to do? Its a simple case of Yankee Foxtrot Oscar.

how about trousers and non trousers - that would work well i think!

Or in Scots - "Breeks and Nae Breeks"...

So it's ok to offend the majority of the only 2 real genders but not a plonker who wants to identify as a llama

'based in Camden' tells you all you need to know; possibly the highest proportion of woke weirdos per head of population with the exception of Brighton.

This is the problem, you bend the knee once and they expect you to everytime. Ladies and Gentleman is not offensive and if you're offended you need to grow up.

Centuries of tradition being pushed to one side to accommodate a tiny minority who seemingly don't know their a**e from their elbow.

Wokery will fall!

Have the EFDSS been pushed into this by the Arts Council? I wouldn't be surprised.

I am sick to death of all this woke nonsense

Foxtrot Oscar! It is English greeting even in Scotland . Ignore these arrogant Stasi and just carry on!

Safe space definition: An enclosed area where everybody agrees and enthusiastically participates in quasi- religious gender ideology. Any mention of reality is strictly forbidden due to the severe danger it poses.

What next - the Royal Mail being renamed the Royal Persons??

Ladies and gentlemen i announce the world has gone barking mad

For a minority of how many? Is there a Gaelic equivalent of the old English FO that these idiots would understand?

"Ladies and gentleman" has been used for centuries, has a polite, well-mannered ring to it, and I for one shall always use it.

Yet again the utter stupidity is cloaked in anonymity, The report that " A leading music organisation has said" is incorrect someone has said or written . So exactly who did so?
With almost daily examples of moronic woke edicts the DT always fails to identify those responsible , allowing it to continue unchecked, .

These people just aren’t very bright, so humour them.

I think that's what they want. We'd best ignore them as hard as we can.

Remove funding and charitable status from EFDSS. They are a disgrace.

This country is getting worse each day

when will this BS end- its so fing tedious

I am surprised that an intelligent newspaper like the Telegraph wastes any page space talking about these idiots.

It isn't to me. A pox on this woke stuff and the fragile snowflakes who are chronically offended. There are two pronouns to me (with their respective declensions). [Edit: 3, if you include 'it']

Ensuring the death of tradition

There'll be a backlash sooner or later.

Why would a gentleman who identifies as a lady object?

Crikey stop the world, I want to get off.

What a load of old codswallop.

Just out of interest does the society have a safeguarding officer on a five-figure salary and a diversity and equality lead on similar salary?

Or as written into a Dr Who episode 20 years ago
Ladies, gentlemen, mixed sex, undecided and robots
What foresight that script writer had

I do care if people are offended by "Ladies and gentlemen". I want them to be offended. I want them to be hurt and disappear up their...

What a load of rubbish. Why must we always cater for the minority?

Don't. They either comply with the majority or sling their hooks.

Dancers should be prepared to accept no as an answer to a request to dance, good god If I had been upset at the number of girls that refused me prior to marriage i should by now be a screaming lunatic

I really couldn’t care less if someone’s offended at the use of ladies and gentlemen

I know I haven't been paying attention but to hear Cecil Sharp has been cancelled is a bit of a jolt. Cecil Sharp house was the centre of middle class leftie right-on wokeness back in the sixties.

Let the 'others' self-identify as ladies or gentlemen. If they walk out they'll not be missed.

Now come on ladies and gentlemen let’s calm down here. More idiocy from idiots. The individuals who are calling for this can do what they like but I won’t be dictated to or influenced by such nonsense.

I suspect much of this lunacy is driven by subsidised organisations like dance groups desperately trying to think up ways to meet the 'diversity' requirements of the taxpayer funded bodies like the Arts Council which hand out their grants.

You're suggesting that callers take on that role and use "L & G" principally to offend a small number of Highly Sensitive Souls? You must be joking.
If H S Souls are offended perhaps they should be excluded or stay away of their own volition; do they have a right to change years and years of normality and tradition?

OK. Let's use IMs and Ers

,...and they wonder why people take the piss about their activities.
Promotion of folk dance is a great aim. If someone wants to dance as a woman when he clearly isn't (or vice versa) then tolerant London society would be quite accepting without the need to be dictated to about what words they should use. Today's woke movement need to learn some tolerance themselves and let people use whatever words they are comfortable with.

Unfortunately there is a very vocal minority who expect the majority to conform to their daft preferences..I don’t care is someone thinks they are a cat but don’t expect me to go along with it.

Give them a bowl of milk, a plate of Whiskers and a litter-tray.

The last paragraph says it all. These clowns have 'repudiated' the bloke who started the organisation.

The EFDSS pledged to “foster a new, more diverse folk scene suited to our multicultural, 21st-century landscape”.
Are you going to promote Rap music and techno and dump traditional folk music from England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland? Beyond idiotic The BLM train hit the buffers at top speed a while back.

EFDSS, yet another organisation of publicly funded half-wits in thrall to ideological gibberish. There's a lot of madness out there!

The alternatives are ridiculous. and in the case of Leaders and Followers, the Leaders just happen to be the dancers who would traditionally have stood on the side called 'men' and the Followers on the side traditionally called 'women'. I think not.

Obviously, we need a few more Crocodile Dundees on the dance floor!

I think all Ladies & Gentlemen who want this term and similar to continue in use should stop any affiliation and subscriptions to this society. I imagine if only those few offended by these terms are left to subscribe the society will quickly have to change its mind or cease to exist, and good riddance.

The EFDSS is funded by you and I. as follows, from their 2023-2024 annual report:
Arts Council England (National Portfolio Organisation funding) £ 261,358
Arts Council England (Transform Programme) £199,175
Arts Council England (National Youth Music Organisations) £38,642
PRS Foundation Talent Development Partnership grant £15,000
Scop Arts Trust £7,500* National Folk Music Fund £2,167
Do we want our hard earned cash going to fund misinformation?

Tell the EFDSS to take a hike and to make it a very long one!

Heaven help us !! Which tediously boring editor commissioned or allowed this non story to be published. This paper should not be pandering to this nonsense.

Nothing important going on in UK and the World?

So they want to make folk dancing more inclusive? i would have thought that it was (like all hobbies and interests) self selecting. Are we to be conscripted and forced to dance so as to tick the inclusion boxes? Should Chess be made easier so that those who may be mentally challenged can play against a Grand Master - by the way would a female Chess Tournament Winner be a Grand Mistress? Should a 20 stone person use a tennis racket 8 times the normal size to create some form of equality? Madness!

Utterly idiotic suggestion from an organisation that has been eaten alive by Stonewall & the luvvie brigade.

There aren't any minority genders. About 50% men and 50% women, with a vanishingly small percentage of people with DSD who may not be sure. A small number of activists should not subvert well-established folk traditions for their own self-importance. If you don't want to side with either sex in a dance, please go and find another hobby where your mistaken views don't impinge on everyone else's fun.

All I know is that if it's a quarter-pounder, it's a McDonald's. (You need to think about this comment, by a woman, in the context of Scottish men wearing kilts)

“in some circumstances, gendered calling can be more accessible to some people. In all circumstances call with your dance community in mind”
When the dancers are humans, male and female are sufficient.

Another load of woke crap!
Call out and shame this cult of idiots!
Trump, Musk; rescue us from this lunacy!

The EFDSS would not even exist without Cecil Sharp. How long before the "English" in their title gets cancelled? Deeply, deeply offensive.

Inclusivity and diversity = exclusivity and division.

Woke reminds me of Michael Palin's character in 'A Fish Called Wanda' - the more animals he tried to save, the more he ended up killing.

Why can't these people just crawl under their own rock of unhappiness.

If we have more "ladies" than "men" the ones to take the man role wear a sash.

Backed by the Arts Council, afraid my prejudices kicked in there and read no further

Reminds me of the old joke “They’re all out of step but our Jimmy.” If everybody is excluded for one reason or another, who is left?

I prefer my gender to be acknowledged as a trout, basically because every time I go folk dancing I feel like a fish out of water.

EFDSS founded in Camden. Say no more. The assumption that single people are so fragile they cope with the word ‘partner’ is extremely patronising. Everyone who’s ever been to a ceilidh knows you don’t dance all night with your own partner - single people are not excluded. As for the directive on misgendering - my opinion is unprintable.
 

Contact details for the SeeRed author = stevewozniak42 (AT) hotmail.com  and replace (AT) by @

Home page.

woke2 - a webpage expanding on and giving examples of where gender neutral calling has disadvantaged dancers.

woke3 - a webpage centred upon the damage done by 'woke culture and especially the claim that it helped Donald Trump to be re-elected in 2024.

Folk Dance teaching (using the terms men and women!)

Sidmouth Folk Festival

Charlotte Rich-Griffin (folk dance caller and keen advocate of gender neutral folk dancing).