Dance Information
Instructions
and
MusicBooks
and
Recordings
Bookings
Downloads
Technique
Essays
CallersWhat
I
DoAll
Colin's
DancesWednesday Workshops (archive)
Videos
Links
Other links
- Elements of English Country Dance — A user-friendly explanation of moves, steps, formations, etc.
- Round Reminders — instructions for many well-known dances (often my interpretations!)
- The Country Dance Book — most of the source of Sharp's six volumes
- Some of Sharp's piano scores for these
- Lots of information about Square Dancing, mainly Modern Western Square Dancing (MWSD)
- Ed Gilmore's Square Dance Course Notes from 1949
- Thomas Green's list of barn dance information including lots of dances
- English Folk Dance and Song Society — national organisation
- Country Dance and Song Society — the American counterpart
Mailing Lists
The three lists that I belong to have now been grouped together under the site sharedweight.net. This is supported by CDSS and you can read about it here.- English Country Dance List. Here you can search the archives for a particular topic (for instance all message titles containing the word “technique”) or join the list, most of whom know what they're talking about when it comes to English Country Dance.
- Contra Callers List. Mainly for modern urban contra callers who expect a partner swing and neighbour swing in every dance.
- Traditional Dance Callers List. This group includes MWSD callers, traditional square callers and contra callers — and is remarkable for the way these three groups interact very positively to the benefit of all three. I believe you have to join the group before you can search the archives.
On Monday, June 26, 2006, Gene Murrow from New York, New York USA wrote:
An indispensable site for all serious callers and students of English and American dance.
The wonderful photos of the Hume house, gardens, and allotment personalize and brighten the site, making it a pleasure to browse.
Thanks!
On Tuesday, July 25, 2006, Dave Kerridge from BBC TV wrote:
Hi Colin,
Your web site is growing bigger every time I visit it and I am learning more at every visit too. May I suggest the creation of a section in your site that I know would be very useful to people such as myself.
I quite often come across a dance (as a dancer) (especially at big dances) and think “That's a great dance” but can not find it on the net, then if I do find it, sometimes, I look at the walkthrough and think “now what does the author mean by that”. EG “King of Poland” on the net says “Turn your partner half-way round”, now is that left hand, right hand or two hand? It would be great if someone like yourself produced a dance archive with clear walkthroughs and with any of the pitfalls that might occur when calling it explained (it's never been done before as far as I'm aware).
Just a suggestion, but it would be a valuable source of information to people such as myself who want to do the best he can for the dancers he calls for, but most of the time finds that that sort of information is just not available.
Best regards,
Dave Kerridge.
On Tuesday, September 19, 2006, Colin Hume from Letchworth, England wrote:
Dave -
I've added some hints in my callers' notes at callers1.htm#Learning - please let me know if that's what you had in mind.
On Tuesday, November 13, 2007, dora from bath wrote:
where can i go to a dance salsa club i need to dance and i dont no where i can go and i find it a bit silly not having no websites for eldery people. some other person might come on here thinking that there might be one and sign up for a young peoples dance clubs
On Wednesday, November 14, 2007, Colin Hume from Letchworth wrote:
I'm sorry, but I don't know about salsa classes. As you can see from my website, my interest is Folk Dancing.
You might be able to find some information at your local library.
On Friday, September 26, 2014, larry rider from United States wrote:
Hi
Colin,
Thanks for the great dance at Lake City in Seattle last night. I enjoyed your calling, and your teaching, and your dances, very much. I especially liked the way you taught the beginners at the outset by having a figure or two and then a progression, so people get the idea of the progression and waiting out at the ends. I teach a lot of beginners, and this is a hot idea!
Thanks again for everything,
Larry
On Tuesday, October 7, 2014, Philip Goodey from Hull United Kingdom wrote:
Hi Colin
Thanks for your great website
and the instructions for your many dances
It has been a great help to me as I prepare to start calling again after a 10 year break
On Tuesday, October 7, 2014, Colin Hume from Letchworth, England wrote:
Philip -
Thanks very much. I've never stopped calling, so I can't imagine what it would be like coming back after a 10 year break, but I wish you the best of luck!
On Thursday, July 2, 2015, Habbet kariuki from meru wrote:
I know to dance but am not prefer enough please I need to join dance crew so that I can get money to complete my studie in form four level and after that I join dance crew seriously