3pm-5pm – Poitou and Limousin dance workshop – exciting opportunity to learn these regional French dances from great dancer Lucas Thebaut. (PLEASE NOTE: DANCE WORKSHOP WILL BE AT ST. ANDREWS HALL, Upper Hanover Street, S3 7RQ. This is 5 minute walk from Broomhall Community Centre)
ALL EVENING EVENTS ARE AT BROOMHALL COMMUNITY CENTRE. 6-7pm – Shared meal. Bring and share something to eat before the bal. All welcome ! (if bringing food to share, please indicate if veggie, vegan, meat and potential allergens present, thanks!)
7pm-7.45pm Beginners’ dance workshop. Never danced balfolk before ? Don’t worry, just come along to this workshop to learn the basic steps, then you’ll be away!
8pm-10pm Turbobal. Come and dance or listen to fantastic music from Turbobal !
10pm-11pm session. Bring your instruments and join in ! All welcome !
Eurosession are delighted to be hosting Naragonia on their return to the UK this autumn.. They created several beautiful balfolk gigs in Sheffield in past years, and we couldn’t resist inviting them back again.
Tickets Tickets are available on our Promotix page. We can also accept cash or card on the door, but note that the music workshop may sell out in advance.
Please choose the pricing option you feel appropriate to your circumstances. Giving more helps us to support musicians with fair payment and keep prices inclusive.
Evening Schedule
18:30 – 19:30
Music ensemble workshop with Toon Van Mierlo from Naragonia
£5 / £10
19:30 – 20:15
Dance workshop – intro to balfolk with Jo, Anna & Su from Eurosession
£5
20:15 – 22:30
Bal dance or listen to Naragonia Quartet
£10 / £12 / £15
Please note: our schedule is packed – please be prompt for workshops!
About the Naragonia Quartet
As a duo, Pascale Rubens (button accordion) and Toon Van Mierlo (bagpipes) make award-winning music that can be intimately delicate or voluptuously passionate, and always underpinned by a steady pulsing energy. The quartet also includes Maarten Decombel (mandola and guitar) and Luc Pilartz (violin), both remarkable musicians, who complete the Naragonia quartet.
Ensemble workshop An opportunity to work with Toon from Naragonia to create a danceable soundscape through collaboration with others. The workshop will build on skills in playing by ear and gradually introduce ways of building variations and structure into the ensemble. Expect an enjoyable experience both in listening and in playing.
Dance workshop A quick introduction to some of the key dances for the evening’s bal and future balfolk events. The workshop is brought to you by Eurosession, with teaching from Susannah Diamond, and music from Jo Veal and Anna Pack. All welcome, no partner needed. Bring shoes that turn easily.
Evening bal You are welcome to join us to dance, listen or chat quietly during the evening bal.. Balfolk dances are a mixture of couple dances, mixers, long snaky lines, and more. We welcome dancers from other genres. The music is sure to be a treat, and the Crookes Social Club offers a bar to quench thirsty dancers and satisfy enthralled listeners.
Venue Crookes Club describes itself as Sheffield’s Premier Live Music Venue, and offers plenty of room for dancers, and a bar to satisfy thirsty dancers and enthralled listeners alike. There are carparks at both back and front. See (Website and Map)
Housekeeping Eurosession is a welcoming community and we want everyone to feel safe. Please stay home if you feel unwell. Also our schedule is tight – please be prompt for workshops!
This music workshop will focus on putting style and feeling into your ensemble playing with exercises to help you…
Listen attentively to others
Develop rich rhythms and harmonies
Innovate within the forms and genres of traditional dance music
Use dynamic musical energy to enhance the dance experience
You will enjoy developing your skills, and celebrate the achievements of the ensemble.
All skill levels and instruments welcome. Come with an intention to contribute sensitively to the tapestry of the whole.
Jo Veal is an accomplished clarinettist, and has played European music for at least 20 years, as well as playing a key role in a variety of bands such as OutreManche, Hekety, Bell Haggs Orkestar, and other performances for improv jazz and puppetry accompaniment. Anna Pack discovered European traditional dancing in the 1980s and plays diatonic button accordion and clarinet, regularly performing with several duos and trios, including with Blowzabella’s Dave Shepherd and Oscina (a trio with Frances Watt and Chris Walshaw).
Photo Credit: Anna Pack
Keep on Caring Eurosession is a welcoming community and we want everyone to feel safe. Please stay home if you feel unwell.
Donations We suggest a £5 cash donation for the workshop, although if you give more then we can better support our teachers and musicians with fair payment. We accept cash or card.
Bourrée Bonanza! Do you know your Berry bourrée from your Morvan moves?
This month, led by Anna Pack and with music from Emily Bowden, we are going to take a whistle-stop tour to experience some of the distinctive styles of bourrée danced in different parts of central France.
After the workshop we’ll continue with our regular Eurosession of offers and requests. Smooth-soled shoes are helpful for the dance workshop, and instruments are welcome if you wish to play in the session later.
This workshop will compare and contrast a few of the key stylistic features of a bourrée dance from the Berry, Morvan and Auvergne regions, and introduce you to some typical steps. Bourrees are dynamic dances, danced as individuals in combination with others in partners, lines, squares or circles.
Rather than being an in-depth look at a particular style, by the end of the workshop we’ll have shared several distinctive aspects of each style. You may enjoy learning how to show off with apparently effortless and laid-back continental style, and experience a small amount of chaos and laughter along the way.
No previous experience, dance partner or hats necessary.
Photo Credit: Anna Pack
Keep on Caring Eurosession is a welcoming community and we want everyone to feel safe. Please stay home if you feel unwell.
Donations We suggest a £5 cash donation for the workshop, although if you give more then we can better support our teachers and musicians with fair payment. We accept cash or card.
Musicians workshop with special guest Esbjörn Wettermark Calling all musicians for a fabulous workshop focusing on the repertoire of Hälsingland in northern Sweden. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn from an expert in music of the region. After the workshop we’ll continue with our usual Eurosession, and you are free to play, sing, request dance tunes, chat, drink, and put the world to rights. Note the slightly earlier start!
Bring comfortable shoes that turn easily, and/or instruments if you want to dance or play later on in the session. We’ll be hosted as usual by the ever popular Shakespeare’s hostelry.
About the workshop This workshop will focus on polskas, waltzes and other tunes from Hälsingland, in northern Sweden. We’ll look at style, ornaments and groove and maybe some harmonies. Hälsingland is one of the “big” folk music counties in Sweden with famous fiddlers like Hultkläppen and Snickar Erik as well as modern performers such as Draupner and Lena Jonsson.
All musicians welcome. Although primarily taught by ear, sheet music will be available during and after the workshop.
Esbjörn Wettermark is an authority on the music tradition of Hälsingland and Sweden. He was awarded the title Riksspelman in 2005 and is a woodwind specialist with the clarinet as main instrument. Now based in Sheffield he has worked with the folk music scene in Sweden and England for many years.
Esbjörn Wettermark
Caring for others Eurosession is a welcoming community and we want everyone to feel safe. Please stay home if you feel unwell.
Donations: We suggest a £5 donation for the workshop, although if you give more then we can better support our teachers and musicians with fair payment. We accept cash or card.
Hip hip bourree! Celebrate spring with some stylish moves!
Put a spring in your step with some interesting bourrée dances! No previous experience is necessary and we always love to introduce newcomers to the wonders of European dance as well as providing a refresher and further tips for those who already have some experience. We’ll continue from the workshop to our usual eclectic Eurosession.
Keep on caring! Eurosession is a welcoming community and we want everyone to feel safe. As dancing can involve being in close proximity to others, please consider taking a lateral flow test beforehand, and stay home if you feel unwell or have tested positive for Covid.
About the workshop:
Traditional Bourrée, as danced at the Fête des Chavans
For April we are heading to the very centre of France to the Berry / Bourbonnais region in order to learn some interesting bourrée dances for four people. Anna Pack will take us through the moves for some favourite and lesser known dances, such as Bourrée des Jeunes and Bourrée de Sarzay, which we will dance to the energetic and exciting clarinet playing of Jo Veal, along with Anna on diatonic accordion.
This style of bourrée is danced very close to the ground using small steps, as the dancers weave in and out and around each other in different formations. By the end of the workshop we hope you too will be able to respond to the driving music with the contained energy and effortless panache characteristic of the style. As a taster to whet your appetite, this YouTube video demonstrates four different dances in succession. We will cover some of these moves in the workshop.
No partners are required and these particular dances do not involve physical contact with others. Smooth-soled flat shoes are recommended.
Donations: We suggest a £5 cash donation for the workshop, although if you give more then we can better support our teachers and musicians with fair payment.
Zoom: We plan to stream again from Shakespeare’s into our usual Zoom room so you can tune into the pub from your home. You can obtain the Zoom details in return for a small donation – see our Donations page.
Save the date: There’ll be a bonus Scandinavian extra on Thurs April 28th, with teachers Isa Holmgren and Samuel Lundh for a music workshop, dance workshop, and combined session.
