For our September Eurosession, join us for a live session in Shakespeares’ covered courtyard space.
Musicians at Shakeys’
We can enjoy re-visiting familiar faces and tantalising tunes, and contribute some drinks funds to the pub, our wonderfully resilient and supportive venue.
Venue information The large covered area in the courtyard will be reserved for us, so we’ll go ahead even if it rains. People can also sit at tables nearby.
Shakespeare’s courtyard with session space just visible on the left.
Musicians: We prioritise tunes for dances from the balfolk scene and other traditional genres from across Europe. [avoiding English and Irish, because those are well represented in other sessions!]
Dancers: Shakespeares has requested that we don’t dance outside on the cobbles, as the likelihood of trips and falls is just too high.
Eurosession is an inclusive and caring space for all. Friends and teddy-bears welcome. However please stay home if you feel unwell or have been in recent contact others who were ill.
Courtesy Masks are helpful for use inside the pub. Please also respect other people’s personal space as we all have different ongoing risks and concerns.
Looking to the future If guidance permits we plan to return to Shakespeares more fully in the autumn, although we’ll also continue to host online sessions and workshops for those in our community who can’t join us in the pub.
To kick off our August Eurosession, come and sing danceable songs from Scandinavia!
We are delighted to welcome Louise Wanselius, a wonderful singer and song teacher from Sweden on Thursday July 12 (see below). After the workshop we’ll continue on with our Eurosession to play tunes, enjoy dancing and see some friendly faces, or breakout for a chat.
Session access and donations: To obtain the Zoom details, please pay/donate via our donations page. We ask for a £2 minimum payment, but if you enjoy our sessions and can donate £5 or £10, that helps us to give fair payment to our musicians and dance teachers.
More tips: You’ll have the option to join and leave Zoom breakout rooms to move between the session, workshop, and the bar. See our quick guide if you get stuck.
If you plan to share a tune: It may sound better if you turn on the Original Sound feature when playing – please check out the Zoom Help about how to enable this this in your Zoom settings.
About the workshop:
Singing for dancing workshop with Louise Wanselius
Louise is a wonderful singer, songwriter and fiddler with more than 20 years of experience from concerts, workshops and music projects in Sweden and Europe. She plays traditional music and also loves to compose new melodies.
In this workshop Louise will share danceable songs from Dalarna and Västergötland where her folk music roots originate. From past experience we expect Louise will bring her joyful energy to the workshop, inspiring us to feel good about ourselves, whilst learning how to bring a lilting energy to the dancers.
The song texts will be available on-screen and available after the workshop, and recordings are also sent out afterwards. For some of the songs, notation will also be available after the workshop.
Tips for enjoying the evening
The rest of the evening should provide similar experiences as previous sessions – marvellous musicians, delicious dancing, and a bit of chatting. Here are tips for maximum enjoyment:
Zoom tips for Everyone: Please mute your audio when you are not speaking / leading the music, and use the Chat feature for background communication. To switch views between seeing one individual (Speaker View) and all participants (Gallery View), consult How-Do-I-Change-The-Video-Layout. Head to the bar for a longer chat alongside the workshop or session; for help see our quick guide, or Zoom’s longer guide to Self-selecting a Breakout Room
Musicians: Please play tunes for dancing, prioritising dances from the balfolk scene and other traditional genres from across Europe. [Preferably avoid English and Irish, because we have plenty of those in other local sessions!] In the Zoom sessions, only one person (or device) can broadcast at any one time; use the chat to help create a a rolling running order of dance tune offers. It generally sounds better if you turn on the Original Sound feature when playing – please check out the Zoom Help about how to enable this in your settings. When you’ve been chosen to lead, let the dancers know what dance type you’ll be playing if you can. Then select Original Soundwhen you’re ready to play, and turn it off again for normal voice transmission.
Dancers: Get your dance shoes on; if you have a danceable space, book it for the evening, You can attempt to dance the right genre of dance at the right time (albeit half a beat behind!), or dance whatever takes your fancy. More important is to dance as though no-one is watching, or as though you can cheer up everyone else who is watching! It’s also fine to turn your video off if you feel freer dancing in private.
Eurosession is an inclusive and caring space for all. Invite your co-space-sharing mates / family / teddy-bear along if appropriate 😉
