Folk Arts Education

As a Folk Arts educator, I give workshops in creative folk dance, maypole dancing, Morris dance, folk song and playing the melodeon.

Most of my Folk Arts Education work is with school children in Key Stage 2, but I also work with adults, particularly in my melodeon workshops.

Twice a year, I lead "Dancing for Fun" at the British Schools Museum in Hitchin, introducing and developing folk dance with children from age 6 to teenage.

In 2013/14, I was involved in the nationwide Full English education project, working with Graeme Meek and Patrick Dean at Loughton School in Milton Keynes, and I have also worked on other Heritage Lottery funded projects, mainly in Northamptonshire.

In 2018 I presented a workshop for "Evolved Cotswold" musicians at the Morris Federation's "Mastering Performance" workshop weekend.

During 2019 I led dance workshops for the Stevenage Schools Ceilidh Project, linked to the Stevenage Festival.  I've also run creative folk dance workshops for all the classes in a Hertfordshire Lower School, and have provided a package of folk arts education activities as part of an Arts Week for a large Stevenage Primary School. More recently I have been teaching Maypole dancing in a Hertfordshire village in preparation for a Mayday display in the village green!

During 2023/24 I have been involved with securing funding from Arts Council England for a Morris Federation project entitled "Old Dances, New People, New Age" to introduce Morris Dancing in its various forms to Primary School pupils and teachers who may not have experienced this aspect of British culture before, as part of a topic exploring cultural diversity in Britain.  The project is due to be carried out at the beginning of 2024 in Preston, Kirklees and North Derbyshire.