Other Festival Activities

Dance Festival

Eastwater Marquee and Market Square

The Outside Capering Crew, an exceptional and highly entertaining bunch of English morris musicians and dancers andWe are delighted this year to welcome for the weekend:-

• Kemysk Cornish dancers who make at terrific impact wherever they appear bringing Cornish dance to a wider world.               

During the weekend we will also be seeing the excellent Bristol Morris Men, Bristol Rapper, Priston Jubilee Morris, No Mean Feet, The Mominettes with Ruth Farnell, The Brewery Band with Vicky Cooper and Halsway Manor Hothouse, an exciting performance and touring project for talented young dancers and musicians. And something completely different: Val Knight and her Jig Dolls, a display and workshop in the Village Hall on Saturday.

You can join Morris workshops with The Outside Capering Crew, Bristol Morris Men and Priston Jubilee Morris. There will be French/Breton dance and Cornish dance workshops and, on Sunday, a talk/workshop from Merv and Alison Davey who have been at the forefront of the renaissance of Cornish traditional dance and music. 

As well as the ceilidhs and late night dance in the Village Hall and the Sunday afternoon ceilidh, we have a Family Ceilidh on Sunday at which mums and dads and kids will be particularly welcome.

At the Market Square there will be a few opportunities in the programme on both days for anyone who wants to come along and perform – music, dance, mime, juggle or whatever.(see site notice board to book a slot)  

 

All weekend

 

The Outside Capering Crew
The Outside Capering Crew presents English morris dancing for the 21st Century: sometimes flashy, sometimes comic, and always with exhilarating music.

An eclectic repertoire features prize-winning morris jigs, broom dances and brain-bending "bacca pipes" jigs -England's answer to the Scottish sword dance. And all served up with a dash of showmanship.

The Outside Capering Crew have performed at festivals inGermany,Sweden,BelgiumandAmerica, at majorUKfolk festivals and even at The Big Chill (lots of techno stuff). Interval spots at ceilidhs are a speciality.

For more, visit: www.capers.co.uk/crew

Kemysk Cornish Dancers
Kemysk meaning ‘mixture’ in Cornish, are a group of friends from the length and breadth of Cornwall with a passion for Cornish dance, fishnet tights, and partying.

Originally formed for a one off to tour to Sidmouth Folk Festival and the Festival Interceltqiue in Lorient in summer 2010, we decided we were having way too much fun to leave it there. We have since danced at Wadebridge Folk Festival, the Eden Project, Lowender Peran Celtic Festival in Perranporth, Montol Festival in Penzance, Cwlwm Celtaidd in Wales, Yn Chruinnaght on the Isle of Man, and at both the South Bank Centre  as part of the “Festival of Britain” & at Kernow in The City in England.
We’d say ‘miss us at your peril’ but our costumes and outlandish behaviour mean you probably won’t…

For more, visit:  www.kemysk.wordpress.com

 

Saturday

The dance festival kicks off in truly traditional fashion with the children ofPriddySchooland some traditional English dance. Dancing and workshops will run throughout the day in the Eastwater Marquee and at theMarket Square.

Bristol Morris Men
Bristol’s longest established men’s morris side was founded over sixty years ago. The side has a strong mix of both young (energetic) and more experienced (old) dancers and musicians including several father and son pairings. Over the years BMM have danced at many festivals, both in this country and abroad, as well as featuring on television programmes such as “Skins” and “Hit the Road Jack” and the much acclaimed “Points West”. They perform dances from a number of Cotswold villages including the Oxfordshire villageof Wheatley. Dances from this tradition will be demonstrated and taught at the workshop on Saturday morning in the Market Square.    For more, visit www.bristolmorrismen.co.uk

 

 

Bristol Rapper
Bristol Rapper have been dancing rapper throughout the winter months for more years than they care to (or in some cases can) remember. The dances are from Newbiggin, Winlaton and High Spen and, like all rapper dances, are probably best viewed up close and personal inside a warm pub on a cold winter’s evening where the side is most frequently found touring on Friday nights. However, following (relatively) good behaviour, they have been allowed out for Priddy Folk Festival if they promise to be good – and they will be! The side is part of Bristol Morris Men – but please don’t hold that against them.

 

 

The Mominettes and Ruth Farnell - French/Breton dance workshop
Following last year’s successful debut, Priddy welcomes back The Mominettes and Ruth Farnell. Working with experienced dancer Ruth, The Mominettes are an offshoot of local festival favourites, Horizonto, featuring Tracy Walker (piano accordion), Andrea Green and Seona Pritchard (violins). Prepare yourselves for an accessible, energetic dance workshop accompanied by an inspired choice of traditional French and Breton tunes. Très charmant!  

 

For more, visit www.horizonto.co.uk

 

Halsway Manor Hothouse
Hothouse is Halsway Manor's performance and touring project for talented young dancers and musicians - integrating folk traditions with other modern styles such as contemporary, rock and hip hop. 

For a week in Spring, 23 young musicians and dancers joined together at Halsway Manor to work with leading musicians Will Lang and Niopha Keegan and dancers Jo Bowis and Natasha Khamjani. They created a new and exciting fusion, and formed the Hothouse Show, presenting a new piece of original music and dance.

The pieces made, which were premiered at Halsway Manor as part of Halsway Manor's Hothouse festival, take their inspiration from the turning of the year, and the songs and rituals associated with Springtime.

The Hothouse show is to be performed at a number of festivals and venues in 2013, including Priddy Folk Festival and Sidmouth Folk week

 

 

For more, visit: http://www.halswaymanor.org.uk

 

 

Sunday

In the Eastwater Marquee the day will start in now traditional exotic fashion with:

 

Priddy Village Ladies Fusion Dance Troupe
A belly dance workshop at the festival in 2009 was so stimulating that a group of local ladies formed the Troupe and this will be their fourth, ever popular, annual performance.

 

Brewery Band and Vicky Cooper:  Family Ceilidh
The Brewery Band has a wealth of experience playing dance music – mainly English, bouncy and lively. The line-up is Dave Byett, melodeons, Andy Brewer, bass and Nigel Hall, mandolin, cittern and guitar. Vicky Cooper frequently works with the band and, as well as calling, is a busy musician and dancer and member of City Clickers. 

 

Priston Jubilee Morris
Priston Jubilee Morris is a men’s Cotswold Morris side that has been entertaining the locals both far and wide since 1977. The group began in commemoration of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee and over 35 years is still 'alive and sticking'.

Based in thevillageofPriston, 4 miles southwest ofBathinSomerset, the group performs regularly in and around the surrounding areas as well as making the occasional trip further afield.

For more, visit:  www.pristonmorris.org.uk

 

No Mean Feet
NO MEAN FEET maintain a lively traditional style, with brightly coloured costumes and hard soled shoes with taps which emphasize the percussive element of Appalachian dance.  The group performs individual freestyling as well as precision team routines — accompanied by “Old Time” live music.

 

For more, visit:  www.nomeanfeet.org.uk

 

Childrens' Festival

This year the Children’s Festival will be full of new activities for children from toddlers to 12 year olds. There will be various workshops including…

 

Hop, Skip and Sing
Rhymes, songs and games for under fives with instruments to explore, props and many simple songs and movement games for little ones. The sessions will feature songs and games from the popular music sessions for toddlers and preschoolers which run in Glastonbury, Wells and Priddy.

 

West African Drumming and Dance with Landing Mane and Eliza Wylie who have been running workshops in drumming and dance for all ages for many years. Come and try the West African djembe drum and dance to some live drumming.

 

Folk Dance for children with live djembe and fiddle, helped by the children from Priddy Primary school who have been working with the dance festival in the lead up to this year’s festival.

 

Spoons workshops with Jo May and Matt Sullivan, both are very experienced folk musicians and workshops leaders who run popular Spoons workshops for all ages.

 

Song writing workshops with Andy Hawkings. Andy has been making a name for himself in Frome with his highly innovative and exciting collective song writing workshops. He will run these for the older children.

 

Stories and bubbles
Staff from Priddy preschool will read stories in a wind down at the end of each day with some bubbles and gentle songs.