Calling for Ceilidhs
"Thanks to the musicians and caller (Louise) that came to play for us. They were absolutely fantastic and did a perfect job. The evening achieved exactly what we had hoped - all age fun with great music and good clear instruction so everybody felt able to get involved." (2022)
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After years of calling barn dances in the US, I transitioned to calling ceilidhs when I moved to the UK in 2021. In 2021 Linda Game and I received a mini-grant from the English Folk Dance and Song Society to create Brighton Gender-Free Contra+, a series designed to create a dance series with the diversity and accessibility of a folk dance club, but with the welcoming atmosphere characterised by the gender-free calling movement and queer ceilidhs around the UK. When we moved to Winchester, we transitioned that funding to WinQeilidh -- Winchester's in-town ceilidh series. WinQ dances are approximately once a month during term-time. Drawing on English, Irish, Scottish, and American traditions, I call accessible, entertaining dances for private functions and public ceilidhs, primarily with the Brighton Ceilidh Collective. |