Erin Mansfield

Erin has been immersed in many genres of music and dance since childhood, though her true love lies with traditional and contemporary folk music, song and dance. This love led her to begin participating in English social folk dance (ceilidh/country/morris) as a child; before turning to calling as a teenager. She has since broadened her horizons and is an accomplished musician as well, playing a variety of tin/penny whistles, recorders and flutes; as well as the melodeon and vocals. Erin first began calling in 2016 with her first casual gig at a friend's party where dancing went on until the early hours of the morning! Following on from this, Erin now performs with various different ceilidh bands such as The Hilltop Ceilidh Band and Bowreed who perform across the UK! She was also invited to undertake a Traineeship in Country Dancing with the English Folk Dance and Song Society, which expanded her repertoire further, to include dances collected from as far back as the 1400s. One of the biggest achievements of her life so far is alternative folk-punk-rock band, Foot Down. Formed in 2015 as a duo collaboration of herself on whistles and James Kerry on melodeon, Foot Down has gained strength in numbers and is now a 5-piece line-up which performs at festivals anywhere that will have them. The year 2018 was Foot Down's first international appearance, performing at Playing For Change Festival in Ibiza! Due to a mix of influences and experiences throughout her life and musical career, Erin has a broad repertoire of dances and tunes from across the British Isles and beyond! As well as her band projects, Erin also does session work, freelances, performs solo, calls at festivals, teaches dance and instrumental lessons and workshops.