At the start there were already about 70 people in the hall, many of them newcomers, wholly new to dance. Numbers peaked at 86 - probably a record for Kenn.

The first dance was a circle and (depressingly) the caller made no attempt whatever to tell the newcomers that (preferably and traditionally) women should be on the right of their partner, if he was a man. I corrected a few nearby couples. "Oh, thank you for telling us, we're new to this".

The dance involved a progression - many circle dances do. Because the final part of the dance involved swinging, and because so many couples had started out the dance 'on the wrong side of their partner' I had the unenviable experience of trying to swing with a considerable number of incompetent and (to me) unappealing men. This was rather less satisfying than with women because, with women, it can be more of a pleasure to try and teach them. And women (usually) do not try and act as though they are in a rugby scrum. So what could have been an enjoyable dance, meeting quite a few of the 'new' women and girls, turned into a memorably unpleasant experience.

There are several lessons from this one dance.

• Most men prefer to dance with women (and vice versa). So why not suggest that this is the arrangement that would best suit most people, most of the time? And indeed that it best suits many dances and is almost essential for some more involved dances. When dancers are side by side, the woman should be on the right of the man.
• Most newcomers might well prefer to know to dance 'properly' from the outset. Many are grateful when I correct with their positioning and especially their swinging. People ENJOY getting things right. Would you teach arithmetic to children and tell them that it didn't matter if they always got the wrong answers? The enjoyment of learning is in part - getting it right.
• Almost no-one these days would wish to return to the dark days of repression of 'gays' - days that included the death of the genius mathematician Alan Turing.
• But on the other hand - we are now in a new dark age - where a few variously militant and often variously gay/lesbian activists think they have the right to dictate to normal people what they should be doing and thinking. (in this context normal = large majority). The intimidation involved can lead dance callers to err on the side of caution - believing perhaps that 'normal' people may also be too frightened to object.

It is exactly these deep feelings of resentment that (in the analysis argued here) may have led to the election of Donald Trump in 2024 - and some would regard this as a new dark age for the Earth.

Amongst the nearly 1000 anti-woke comments reproduced here, are the following, directly addressing folk dancers.

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

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

Warning - don't anyone mention the Gay Gordons!

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

The impact of 'woke' and DEI culture in US and UK universities is separately discussed here - and the article that appeared in The Times is well worth reading for anyone interested in academic standards, or freedom of expression. Columbia University seems to be a target for both sides of a fierce debate - it has been a centre for Palestinian studies and discussion, one of only a few in the USA.

Exeter Contra dances are held only a few times each year, as 'ad-hoc' extras to Exeter Ceilidhs. They are events that I usually attend more out of 'loyalty' and to help make up the numbers, rather than out of expectation that they will be especially memorable evenings. There have been exceptions - several years ago the acclaimed band Vertical Expression played to a crowded hall, but it was before the days when 'gender neutral dancing' became so much of an imposed obsession.

March 22nd proved to be uncomfortable owing mainly to the number of 'gender swapping' dancers, and the high number of men.  So what exactly spoiled the enjoyment of many of the dances?

TEACHING AND CALLING. Some of the calling and some of the explanations could have been better, but these are minor gripes. For example, explaining the Rory O'Moore move. (This video also shows a more fancy twirl move, in the usual version, hands stay at waist level!). I always explain the the rotations are clockwise if you have right hands joined and anti-clockwise for left hands. The joined hand always goes backwards. I had to correct several women (and one or two men who were dancing as women).

Swinging needs to be taught at some length (I try to volunteer). It can take many sessions for some people to become proficient - then they really do enjoy it. The American 'walk swing', as taught sometimes in basic contra, is tame and not so enjoyable as a so-called buzz step swing.

At the start of the evening, I was dancing with a favourite partner. But we agreed we should separate to split up a middle-aged couple who were obviously new and having problems following the dance. This worked well: newcomers often benefit by being taught 1:1.  What didn't work well is explained below.

In most traditional folk dance clubs, where there are often more women than men who want to dance, the women who are playing the part of men wear a sash (usually blue, but any colour will do) to denote that they will be playing the part of a man. A few clubs use pink sashes for men playing a women's role. Sashes work as well today as they have done for probably a century or more. But they may not be deemed politically correct, and might fall foul of DEI legislation or rules in many organisations. One of my regular (and favourite) dance partners agreed that sashes would have been helpful.

SIMPLY UNPLEASANT: Many people who I would term 'normal' prefer dancing in traditional men-women partnerships. Some men (and I am one of them) simply do not like holding onto other men, swinging them around for example, and especially when we don't know them. We simply find holding women more appealing, even if we don't find some of them particularly attractive. There was a high number of men at this event - which exacerbated the problems. Many young women dislike being 'held' by older men, hence at dances they prefer to dance in groups by themselves. This again should be accepted - and is widely seen at folk festival ceilidhs.

DANCE FORMATIONS. The evening on 22 March was predominantly a single contra line. In such a formation, you have to dance with all the other people in the room if the dance goes on for long enough. The same can be true of progressive circle dances - see comments above for the event on 22 February. But in a venue where there are many people who prefer 'traditional' dance partners, and a minority who prefer gender neutral dancing, or primarily men with men, it would be far more satisfactory to have all or most dances as squares (groups of 4 couples) , or longways sets of 3, 4 or 5 couples. Thereby, people could always or usually arrange themselves so they danced with people they felt most comfortable to be with. And why not? I occasionally find myself in a dance set where I am the only man - and with 5, 7 or even 9 women. In more complicated dances, the women who are dancing as men could be identified by sashes, to avoid any confusion.

Within modern parlance, being made to feel 'uncomfortable' can almost amount to a crime. So why, outside perhaps of a small contra dance evening, can't we have dance grouping arranged so as to minimise people feeling 'uncomfortable'? A trivial computer programme that can make Gen Z women feel 'uncomfortable' appears these days to merit an article on the BBC website - and this despite that fact they are not going to be forced to use it. Reports in the Press suggest that some folk ceilidh venues have been 'taken over' by LGBTQ people. I know from dance contacts that Bristol Contra events are infused with political correctness and orders not to 'mis-gender' attendees. Normal people are made to feel excluded. Some good dancers who live around Bristol have told me that they do not attend simply because of the Lesbian / Gay emphasis.

Even at Contra evenings, one or more dance sets could be for people who preferred to dance traditional roles. Presumably, and under extreme DEI policies, this would not be 'inclusive' -  so everyone has to be forced to join in with the minority? Allowing people to 'self-select' who they dance with should not be contentious. As already noted, 'self-selection' happens all the time at folk festival ceilidhs - groups of young women very often dance together, experienced dancers tend to dance together, and groups of 'gay' men stay as a group. These are simply natural preferences. It would be helpful if experienced dancers made a habit of spreading themselves out more - to assist newcomers. Or at least, we could offer.

An arguably extreme example of a backlash against forcing people to comply with DEI (woke) diktats was published in The Times on 21 Dec 2024 (archive copy here). Children of 7 years old in the USA were addressed in school by an external speaker and taught about 'white privilege'. These children were advised that henceforth they should never sit in a lunch group without a 'minority' child present. It led to a Cuban-American (Latino) living in California (Robby Starbuck) becoming an anti-woke activist and forcing big-name companies to drop their more extreme DEI policies - or face boycotts from consumers. He is certainly a good speaker. Whilst extreme DEI exists, so do other extreme ideas - such as exposure to toxins being claimed to create LGBTQ children.

In summary - it would be so easy in most folk dance evenings to allow people to self select their partners and dance sets. On 22 March at Kenn, it was just a pity that neither the music nor some lovely dance partners could override the feeling that folk dance was being debased by mandating adherence to the extreme diktats of 'woke' culture. It was made worse by the number of men present. I am not the only experienced folk dancer who feels this way, but they tend to agree with me in hushed tones, so as not to be overheard by the thought police.

INTERESTING CONVERSATION. One appealing woman at this contra dance was (from her accent) from the USA or Canada, but lived in Spain. I mistook her originally for a novice - she soon dispelled that. We discussed the history of folk dance and the prospects these days for dances specifically aimed at men meeting women on a 1:1 basis - a sort of dating agency but with dance involved. This followed from an idea I published in S&TS magazine over 10 years ago.  We agreed it probably wasn't viable. But my 2013 webpage shows what fun folk dancing (including contra dance) used to be - pre-woke. One idea might be to combine the 'dating' idea with a charitable element. Many years ago, both the Green Party and Amnesty International held ceilidhs in Exeter, as did Water-Aid or a similar organisation. The problem with charity dances is often that they can attract a number of people who support the charity but who have no interest in dance.

As a postscript, impending legislation may be utilised to ban all discussion of 'misgendering' - so maybe soon we will no longer even be able to identify ourselves men and women, or to have the freedom to choose who we dance with?? This type of legislation is totalitarianism dressed up as freedom. A recent ruling from the UK Supreme Court may serve to limit the nonsense.

Encourage traditional man-woman pairings. This would best suit most attendees and most dances. It would minimise positional confusion, especially for new dancers. (This was done very well at Kenn on 29 March 2025 by Chris Jewell, a caller from North Devon.)

Encourage women to stand on the right of their partner when side by side. (Ditto on 29 March 2025)

Encourage callers to choose a range of dances that allow people to self-select who they dance with, at least much of the time. In contra dance this could be achieved by having designated sets for people who preferred traditional man/woman pairings, and for those who preferred gender fluid or gender swapping formations. The calling would be traditional and with the gender fluid people left to sort themselves out.

Provide structured teaching of dance moves, especially swinging. This could be done both pre-dance and in intervals.

Consider holding charity themed events as a part of publicity.

The music from Amber Fire (a local band) was excellent, as was the calling from Chris Jewell from North Devon.

It felt an incomparably better evening than the contra on 22 March (see panel above), although at 8 o'clock there were only about 12 people in the hall. I began to despair of ever having a decent partner for much of the time because several of my regulars had not turned up. However there were quite a few new people, and by 8.10pm the hall was acceptably full.

The calling started out on a good note with a very clear and authoritative explanation in longways sets and circles as to where the men should be - that is, left shoulders towards the band in a longways set and with the woman on the right of the man when in couples side by side (because women are always right!).

So the evening started off on a very sound note, especially for all the newcomers.

There was only a couple of people who danced in the opposite gender role. This made the evening acceptable for most other people.

The first was a club night at Willand Folk Dance Club on 24 April with Ray Goodswen calling - he lives locally but is a nationally known caller. The band was Petronella - again local. There were about 22 dancers - just about adequate in such a large hall.

The dances were interesting, unusual, and several illustrated the advantage of having the sexes clearly denoted. In particular Rockpools - Ray's simpler version of the well known Sea Caves, a Scottish dance. In these dances there is an unusual start to the reels - with active dancers (first and third couples in Sea Caves) facing someone of their own sex. For experienced dancers, there is no problem in getting into the right place, but for the less experienced, knowing that a man has to face a man (and women face a woman) increases the chances of getting it right. Ray kept the dancers on their toes all evening and without excessive rest periods. We don't need them! As usual, Ray called all the dances from memory. I can do a few like this - but not hundreds of complicated ones....... The whole evening used traditional men and women terminology.

The second event was a ceilidh/folkdance evening organised by Gittisham Club and held at the spacious Victory Hall in Broadclyst on the following Saturday. There were about 58 people, and most of them were very experienced dancers. I took a ceilidh dance partner with me, as I had persuaded her not to attend the Exeter ceilidh on the same evening, owing in part to the loudness of the band. Broadclyst hall was acceptably full on a warm evening. In the days when I used to organise the tickets for Gittisham club I set a limit of 100 people - and in those fondly remembered days we used to achieve those numbers, and we were packed in like sardines. The band was the local Dartmoor Pixies - who usually are accompanied by a number of 'groupies' from South Zeal, but sadly none of these turned up. Nevertheless it was a lively enough evening, with clear calling delineated as necessary by using 'men and women', music at the right volume, and few rest periods. Sashes were made available for women dancing as men - this aided a few dances but was not necessary for experienced dancers doing 'known' dances. But it is a sensible policy to encourage clear delineation of the sexes. The only disappointing aspect was the music to the last dance - Devil's Dream. It seemed somehow slow and lifeless for such a well-known dance - one in which I usually thrash around, spinning women around twice in the ladies chains. But the music simply didn't invite this to happen, so I had to switch into lifeless mode.

These days, publicity for dance events should surely include videos - and with more fun evident than in most folk dance offerings, for example in this version of Sea Caves. The dancers are competent, but would watching them ambling gently around really encourage young people to become interested? Some of the best fastest sets at evenings with the Dartmoor Pixies could be videoed, using fast lively music and maybe ceilidh dancers rather than folk dancers. The videos could be used as a part of publicity to invite newcomers to try the hobby. Exeter ceilidhs have done this in an ad-hoc way but it could become more organised.