We are proud to announce that this year’s Dance Festival at Priddy will feature the National Youth Folklore Troupe of England.
NYFTE (pronounced ‘nifty’) has been keeping English folk traditions alive through young performers since 1990 and comprises youngsters from all over the country aged 10-18 who busk, present concerts, and run workshops at festivals throughout the year.
The troupe perform a wide range of traditional English dance, including Cotswold, North-West and Border Morris, Molly, Garland, Longsword, Rapper, Playford and Ceilidh Dance, Clog and Step Dances plus solo performances. Team members also sing and play.
Unlike other dance teams, NYFTE is truly about youth – it retires it’s most experienced performers before their 19th birthday. It changes the repertoire every year and keeps the programme fresh for performers, leaders and audiences by continually developing new items or reworking existing material.
You can get a flavour of what this brilliant troupe do here
There are typically 20-40 NYFTE members each year and since the team started in 1990 there have been over 200 members, many of whom have gone on to continue their involvement in music and dance. Many other dance sides have benefitted from the input of NYFTE ‘pensioners’.
In addition, the Dance Fest has lined up a wealth of other talent, including Silver Flame Rapper, Northgate Rapper (from Bath), Pigsty Morris (from Bristol), Appalachian side No Mean Feet and Wyvern Jubilee Morris.
Lasair with caller Lisa Heywood are booked for the Saturday evening ceilidh and for the Sunday afternoon ceilidh which is part of the dance festival. All in all, a packed programme of dance awaits!