Sheffield Eurosession

How to dance like a centipede

For April we are fulfilling a request for a kost ar c’hoat workshop. This dance has only 8 steps, but they are a little tricksy. On the plus side, you get to dance like a sideways centipede, with a unified body and a multitude of neatly tessellated legs, so that’s a fairly unique experience. See more about the workshop below, and come and learn to dance like a centipede!

As usual, we’ll follow the workshop with a more eclectic Eurosession, in which you can contribute dance tunes, request your favourite dances, or relax, get a drink, and chat.  For the workshop and for dancing, we recommend wearing comfortable shoes that can turn easily.  And of course, bring an instrument if you’d like to play in the session. 

Dance workshop: 8pm – 9pm
Eurosession: 9pm – 11pm
Venue: Shakespeare’s Pub ~ S3 8UB

About the workshop

The kost ar c’hoat is a neat little Breton dance from the gavotte family of dances. There’s a simple, typical basic set of steps, with options to subtly show off through slickness of execution and extra flourishes.

The arms are interlinked, and an ongoing pulse from the music is transmitted by the dancers as one interdependent organism. So in this workshop you will build some new connections between brain and feet, find your balance between community surrender and independent individuality, and garnish all this with the appearance of effortless energy.

Susannah Diamond has been sharing her love of balfolk at Eurosession for many years, whilst Anna Pack is a musician and dancer who performs and teaches driving danceable rhythms on diatonic accordion. 

Donations
We suggest £5 for the workshop and/or the session. Any extra helps us to keep events affordable, and provide fair fees to our experts and helpers. We accept cash, or PayPal transfers (see our donations page); alternatively you can contribute by teaching or playing for dancing.

Caring for others
We welcome diversity in our community, and encourage you to look out for everyone’s well-being.

Get involved
If you like organising gigs, getting publicity out, playing for or teaching a workshop, or can offer any photographs we could use in publicity, then we’d love to hear from you.

See you soon, x Eurosesh

Diary dates
6th April – Emily and Simon, with Feather and Fox, Crookes
18th April – Swedish Polska Workshop with Third Beat Collective, Walkley

Conviviality and craziness are in the air

March heralds the spring, and also has connections to madness… That’s a hint about our pre-session workshop with Susannah Diamond and Anna Pack. Find out more below, and join us on Thursday for some Italian exuberance and add some allegria to your spring steps. 

As usual, we’ll follow the workshop with a more eclectic Eurosession, in which you can contribute dance tunes, request your favourite dance, or relax, get a drink, and chat.  For the workshop and for dancing, we recommend wearing comfortable shoes that can turn easily.  And of course, bring an instrument if you’d like to play in the session. 

Dance workshop: 8pm – 9pm
Eurosession: 9pm – 11pm
Venue: Shakespeare’s Pub ~ S3 8UB

About the workshop

This workshop will highlight two popular dances from the diversity of Italian folk dances.
From the northwest of Italy comes the Sbrando, an exhilarating festival dance for groups of dancers. In the workshop we’ll explain how to build momentum to create an easy body swing and leg lift. The biggest challenge is coordinating with the music to do it on the other foot!
From the south of Italy we’ll share the Tarantella couple dance, with some distinctive phrases from the Neapolitan tradition, and some crazy conviviality from Calabria. Both offer an achievable arm-waving infusion of Mediterranean exuberance, to set you up for spring.

Susannah Diamond has been sharing her love of balfolk at Eurosession for many years, whilst Anna Pack is a musician and dancer who performs and teaches driving danceable rhythms on diatonic accordion. 

Donations
We suggest £5 for the workshop and/or the session. Any extra helps us to keep events affordable, and provide fair fees to our experts and helpers. We accept cash, or PayPal transfers (see our donations page); alternatively you can contribute by teaching or playing for dancing.

Caring for others
We welcome diversity in our community, and encourage you to look out for everyone’s well-being.

Get involved
If you like organising gigs, getting publicity out, playing for or teaching a workshop, or can offer any photographs we could use in publicity, then we’d love to hear from you.

See you soon, x Eurosesh

Diary dates
6th April – Emily and Simon, with Feather and Fox, Crookes, Sheffield
18th April – Swedish Polska Workshop with Third Beat Collective, Walkley

Too blissed, too busy; let’s dance and play the day away!

This Thursday, we return to Shakespeare’s for our usual Eurosession. There’s no workshop planned – this is due to a combination of factors: the committee have been too focused on our recent bal to organise anything else; also a couple of us will be away at the Kinnersley Winter festival.

However, you can still get your Eurosession fix. Indeed, we’re going to skip the formal workshop and jump straight into a slightly earlier Eurosession at 8:30pm. Even without a workshop, regular Eurosessioners will welcome newcomers to participate.

So join Eurosession for another lovely evening of music, dancing and catching up, to bring cheer to your week! In the session, you can contribute dance tunes, request your favourite dance, or relax with a good drink from Shakey’s excellent selection.

Eurosession: 8:30pm – 11pm
Venue: Shakespeare’s Pub ~ S3 8UB

Donations
We suggest £5 for the workshop and/or the session. Any extra helps us to offer affordable entry to our events, and provide fair fees to our experts and helpers. We accept cash, or PayPal transfers (see our donations page), or you can instead contribute by teaching or playing for dancing.

Caring for others
We welcome diversity in our community, and encourage you to look out for everyone’s well-being.

Get involved
If you like organising gigs, getting publicity out, playing for or teaching a workshop, or can offer any photographs we could use in publicity, then we’d love to hear from you.

Looking back in gratitude

Sunday’s gig with Airboxes in Walkley was a really lovely afternoon/evening with a wonderful bal, shared meal and fantastic session to finish. Many thanks to Bert and Guus, the venue, committee and everyone else who contributed. If you missed it then oops – sorry about the added FOMO; hope you make the next!

See you soon,
x Eurosesh

Come and play with bourrée formations

As we recombine after festivities and frosty nights, for January’s Eurosession workshop we welcome Andrew Swaine and Anna Pack. See more about the workshop below, and join us on Thursday for some interesting adventures in the land of bourrées. 

As usual, we’ll follow the workshop with a more eclectic Eurosession, in which you can contribute dance tunes, request your favourite dance, or relax, get a drink, and chat.  For the workshop and for dancing, we recommend wearing comfortable shoes that can turn easily.  And of course, bring an instrument if you’d like to play in the session. 

Dance workshop: 8pm – 9pm
Eurosession: 9pm – 11pm
Venue: Shakespeare’s Pub ~ S3 8UB

About the workshop

If you are interested in shapes and tessellating movements, this will be a great workshop to get to. Bourrées are often danced opposite a partner, coordinating between partners to swap position and introduce variations. In this workshop, building on that basic framework, you can learn some interesting bourrées for larger numbers of dancers, improve your capacity for nifty turns, practice moving with unflustered smoothness, and give your brain a minor workout in readiness for the year to come. 

Andrew Swaine is a caller who is a whizz at guiding a large roomful of people through complicated shapes for ceilidhs, contra and playford as well as balfolk.
Anna Pack is a musician and dancer who performs and teaches driving danceable rhythms on diatonic accordion. 

Donations
We suggest £5 for the workshop and/or the session. Any extra helps us to offer affordable entry to our events, and provide fair fees to our experts and helpers. We accept cash, or PayPal transfers (see our donations page), or you can instead contribute by teaching or playing for dancing.

Caring for others
We welcome diversity in our community, and encourage you to look out for everyone’s well-being.

Get involved
If you like organising gigs, getting publicity out, playing for or teaching a workshop, or can offer any photographs we could use in publicity, then we’d love to hear from you.

See you soon, x Eurosesh

Reminder – we’ve an exciting gig with Airboxes coming up:
Sun 1 February: Intro Workshop, Afternoon Bal, Session and Shared Meal.
More info coming soon on Facebook

It is at least a year since our last Auvergnate bourrée workshop at Eurosession. So we’ll return to the high mountains of central France for some driving rhythms, and dance encounters of playful connection.  Depending on space and inclination, they can be danced with wild waving of arms, and percussive foot frapping, or with skilful control and precision.

As usual, we’ll follow the workshop with a juicy Eurosession, in which you can contribute dance tunes, request your favourite dance, or relax, hydrate and chat. Bring instruments if you want to play later in the session.

Dance workshop: 8pm – 9pm
Eurosession: 9pm – 11pm
Venue: Shakespeare’s Pub ~ S3 8UB

About the workshop

In this workshop, we’ll begin by ensuring familiarity with the simple dance step and style, then develop a common understanding as to the rules of formation and engagement for the patterns of the dance, and the skills of observation and negotiation that underpin the connection and cooperation in the dance, and finish with optional embellishments which can add a personal flourish to the dance experience.

Our destination will be the two person Auvergnat bourrées which are a kind of hands-free cooperative game between the dancers, facilitated by the underlying energy of the musician. We may also take in some multiperson formations en-route to the two-person goal.

This workshop is brought to you by Joel Stewart (musician), and Susannah Diamond (dance teacher). Joel has a particular love of Auvergnat tunes, and we are looking forward to dancing to his fiddle. Susannah enjoys helping others to understand dance styles and find connection through dance.

Donations
We suggest £5 for the workshop and/or the session (if you aren’t contributing by teaching or playing music). Any extra helps us to offer affordable entry to our sessions and bals, and fair fees to teachers and musicians. We accept cash or PayPal transfers (see our donations page).

Caring for others
We welcome diversity in our community, and encourage you to look out for everyone’s well-being.

Get involved
If you like organising gigs, getting publicity out, playing for or teaching a workshop, or can offer any photographs we could use in publicity, then we’d love to hear from you.

See you soon, x Eurosesh

PS. Also mark your diaries for an exciting gig:
Sun 1 February: Airboxes ! – Bal, Session and Shared Meal.
Find out more on Facebook

Although the clocks have turned back and darkness gathers, the stars have aligned again, and it is time for the Branle D’Orsau to grace Shakey’s upstairs room again. We offer a workshop on this rather magical dance from a high, remote valley in Pyrenees. See more about the workshop below, and join us to create an illusion of defying gravity.

From 9 pm we move into an eclectic Eurosession. As usual, you can contribute dance tunes, request your favourite dance, or relax, get a drink, and chat.  Newcomers welcome. Bring an instrument if you’d like to play in the session. For dancing, we recommend wearing comfy flat-soled shoes that turn easily. 

Dance workshop: 8 – 9pm          
Eurosession: 9 – 11pm
Venue: Shakespeare’s Pub ~ S3 8UB

About the workshop

Following on from our foray into Gasconny last month, we are heading a little further south in November, to the formerly Occitan valley of Ossau, close to the border with Spain.

The Branle de la vallée d’Ossau (also known as Branle Béarnais) can be danced by all ages together “en chaine” (in chain) or “en couple”. This simple but mysterious dance has a subtle but elastic spring, giving a captivating impression of lightness and suspension . The dance includes intriguing puzzles of orientation, pauses, and impulse that are satisfying to unlock. Come and understand its secrets.

This workshop is brought to you by Susannah Diamond (dance facilitator), and Anna Pack and Jo Veal (musicians). Susannah has been teaching at Eurosession for many years. Anna and Jo have played together as a duo. Anna has tutored at Halsway Manor and contributed to performances with The Chase and Oscina. Jo contributes to a variety of dance bands and improvisational ensembles, such as Hekety, Outre-Manche, and the Emergence Collective.

Donations
We suggest £5 for the workshop and/or the session (if you aren’t contributing by teaching or playing music). Any extra helps us to offer affordable entry to our sessions and bals, and fair fees to teachers and musicians. We accept cash or PayPal transfers (see our donations page).

Caring for others
We welcome diversity in our community, and encourage you to look out for everyone’s well-being.

Eurosesh
If you like organising gigs, getting publicity out, playing for or teaching a workshop, or can offer any photographs we could use in publicity, then we’d love to hear from you.

See you soon,
xx Eurosesh

Hi folks, as Autumn comes upon us, we have a dance workshop with a couple of dances from Gascony to keep you warm, with music from Jo Veal. We’ll be focusing on Rondeau en Chaîne, and other dances that may be considered similar or perhaps false friends! See more about the workshop below.

From 9 pm we move into an eclectic Eurosession. As usual, you can contribute dance tunes, request your favourite dance, or relax, get a drink, and chat.  Newcomers welcome. Bring an instrument if you’d like to play in the session. For dancing, we recommend wearing comfy flat-soled shoes that turn easily. 

Dance workshop: 8 – 9pm          
Eurosession: 9 – 11pm
Venue: Shakespeare’s Pub ~ S3 8UB

About the workshop

Our October workshop will circle around the Rondeau en Chaîne, from Gascony. It is danced with a subtle but elastic spring, in short chains that can travel swiftly around the room. Along the way, we’ll take in a couple of other alternative dances: The popular Rondeau en Couple is historically and geographically related, and offers more options for variations. The ‘Italian’ polka is an imposter, but is a fun option for other bouncy tunes. So, you can expect a gentle workout for both brain and body, with some good interpersonal connections along the way. All welcome.

This workshop is brought to you by Jo Veal (musician), and Susannah Diamond and David Beasley (dance facilitators). Jo plays clarinet in several bands and ensembles and plays expressively for a range of different dance styles. David has taught workshops in swing dance and forró at events organised by Skint and Made. Susannah has been sharing her love of dancing with Eurosession for many years.

Donations
We suggest £5 for the workshop and/or the session (if you aren’t contributing by teaching or playing music). Any extra helps us to offer affordable entry to our sessions and bals, and fair fees to teachers and musicians. We accept cash or PayPal transfers (see our donations page).

Caring for others
We welcome diversity in our community, and encourage you to look out for everyone’s well-being.

Get more involved
If you like organising gigs, getting publicity out, playing for or teaching a workshop, or can offer up any photographs we could use in publicity, then we’d love to hear from you.

See you soon,
xx Eurosesh

Hi folks, hope you’ve had a good summer; did the last month go by super quickly?! September’s Eurosession has swiftly arrived, and we are chuffed to present a workshop from two of our regular dancers (Seonaid and Chris) with some of the secrets of their enthralling and fluid dance style, accompanied by music from Emily Bowden. See more about the workshop below.

From 9pm we move into an eclectic Eurosession. As usual, you can contribute dance tunes, request your favourite dance, or relax, get a drink, and chat.  Newcomers welcome. Bring an instrument if you’d like to play in the session. For dancing, we recommend wearing comfortable flat-soled shoes that can turn easily. 

Dance workshop: 8 – 9pm          
Eurosession: 9 – 11pm
Venue: Shakespeare’s Pub ~ S3 8UB

About the workshop

This workshop will focus on subtle and connective improvisation with the scottische and mazurka – playing with your partner without breaking the footwork pattern of the dance or the structure of your hold. We will explore ways to connect to the music and your partner by using travel and rotation, changing where the foot falls relative to the beat, playing with how much weight you transfer for each “step”, moving your torso in space, and more. This workshop is suitable for people who can already dance the basic footwork of the scottische and mazurka. We will encourage you to stick to a role you are familiar with.

This workshop is brought to you by Christopher and Seonaid (said “Shona”), two familiar faces at Sheffield Eurosession who have been enjoying dancing with each other for many years. Music will be provided by Emily Bowden (fiddle) who has a wealth of experience playing for bals and workshops throughout the UK and Europe both as a soloist and with her band Emily & The Simons.

Donations
We suggest £5 for the workshop and/or the session (if you aren’t contributing by teaching or playing music). Any extra helps us to offer affordable entry to our sessions and bals, and fair fees to teachers and musicians. We accept cash or PayPal transfers (see our donations page).

Caring for others
We welcome diversity in our community, and encourage you to look out for everyone’s well-being.

Get more involved
If you like organising gigs, getting publicity out, playing for or teaching a workshop, then we’d love to hear from you.

See you soon,
xx Eurosesh

Music and dancing; a tonic to turn and return to.

Whether you’ve been away to a festival or travels, or at home Sheffield, we invite you to return to Eurosession for another boost of music and dancing. In August the session will be preceded by a Scandinavian dance workshop, characterised by turning couple dances of various styles. See more about the workshop below.

From 9pm we move into an eclectic Eurosession. As usual, you can contribute dance tunes, request your favourite dance, or relax, get a drink, and chat.  Newcomers welcome. Bring an instrument if you’d like to play in the session. For dancing, we recommend wearing comfortable flat-soled shoes that can turn easily. 

         Dance workshop: 8 – 9pm          
Eurosession: 9 – 11pm
Venue: Shakespeare’s Pub ~ S3 8UB

About the workshop

More about these options:

Polska practice: Polska is a distinctive couple dance of Sweden, characterised by speedy turns around the dance floor. We will focus on the techniques for smooth turns at different speeds, with explanations and practice to move your polska along.

Secrets of Slängpolska: We’ll delve into an improvised form of slängpolska, with simple steps powered by rhythmic melodies. We’ll share strategies to co-create moves through attention to relationship and connection, yielding many fascinating experiences.

Fantastic Finnskog: This version of the characteristic turning polska comes from the border with Norway, and is characterised by a more driving rhythm, and a three-part dance. We’ll unpack the mechanics of the fast turn and the transitions between each part.

This workshop is brought to you by Susannah Diamond and Lucy Huzzard. Susannah has been passing on dance tips at Eurosession (and beyond) for many years and will lead the workshop. Lucy Huzzard is a barrel of awesomeness, having studied dance in Sweden, and co-founded the Third Beat Collective, as well as being a talented and eclectic musician and performer, (see duo Lucy & Hazel). Lucy will play for the workshop as well as injecting a sprinkling of dance wisdom.

Donations
If you aren’t contributing by teaching or playing music, then we suggest £5 for the workshop and/or the session. Any extra helps us to offer affordable entry to our sessions and bals, and fair fees to teachers and musicians. We accept cash or PayPal transfers (see our donations page).

Caring for others
We welcome diversity in our community, and encourage you to look out for everyone’s well-being.

Get more involved
If you like planning workshops, organising gigs, or getting publicity out, then we’d love to hear from you. We do have several workshops in the pipeline. However, if you’d like to try playing for or teaching a workshop, then also get in touch.

See you soon,
xx Eurosesh