Chris Calliope

When 'I wurra lad', growing up in Lancashire back in the 70's, at high school the PE teachers had devised a form of torture far worse than cross country running in the rain - and it was called Country Dancing. Out would come the Jimmy Shand records and we would do The Gay Gordon's and Strip the Willow......... funny thing was I really enjoyed it and I bet the other students did too! Not that we would admit it. Not only did it give us a legitimate reason for getting close to the opposite gender there was something about the moving about in time to music that really made me feel good. The repetition of the rhythmic movements, once you get the hang of them, can be quite hypnotic. Just moving yourself about the dance floor with others gets the feel good endorphins racing around your system. After playing in various indie rock bands for 15 years I got the yearning for something different and rediscovered folk music and dancing. Joined a few ceilidh bands and got really interested in the dancing side of things – perhaps for nostalgic reasons. I spent hours trawling that well known video site for great dances and tunes and found plenty of them but it wasn’t until I formed my own ceilidh band and started to do the calling that I was able to express my passion for great fun social dance. At a dance I try to use a variety of different dance formations – circle dances, longways sets, square sets, ’round the room dances’, as mixers, progressives, couple and non-couple dances. Some events require very easy dances, others for a more experienced crowd, some more complex, possibly unfamiliar, dances. I recently called The Eightsome Reel which is definitely not for beginners or the faint hearted. Having done quite a few dances where there were quite a lot of children I’ve developed some ‘family friendly’ dances that even little ones can join in. Ultimately it’s all about people having a good time.