Known for their innovative instrumental compositions rooted in Flemish traditional music, siblings Ward & Hartwin Dhoore have been roaming international stages together for over 15 years. They have been the oiled engine behind award-winning bands & projects such as Trio Dhoore, Estbel and The Flemish Folk Caravan, just to name a few. For those with long Eurosession memories we’ve already enjoyed Ward Dhoore playing as part of Snaarmaarwaar in January 2018, so we know it’ll be a great night.
We are very excited to have them play for this special event in Sheffield as part of their UK tour. Read more about them at www.siger.be, and we look forward to a lovely night on 27th; don’t miss this opportunity to dance/listen to their fantastic music!
The evenings are suddenly seeming long and dark, so following on from last month’s excellent bakmes workshop, in November, Eurosession again invites you to follow us north and flex into some less familiar Scandinavian territory, this time with the Swedish Minuet.
After the workshop we’ll continue with our usual Eurosession of offers and requests with dances from Brittany, France and further afield.
Anton Schneider & Anna Öberg dancing Swedish folk minuet.
About the workshop
With this workshop we hope to introduce the Swedish folk minuet into our Eurosession repertoire. This is a dance that began to sweep across France in the 17th century, and remained popular in parts of Finland until well into the 20th century.
It’s a hypnotic dance that can flex between a stately elegance and a more dynamic lilt. Furthermore whilst it’s essentially a couple dance, it’s even more compelling when danced in coordination with more than one couple.
If you’re interested to acquiring the gently lilting stride of a Scandinavian dancer, improving your balance, and playing with non-verbal communication with a partner, then come and join us.
The workshop is brought to you by Susannah Diamond (dance teacher) and Emily Bowden (fiddler). Wear comfortable shoes that can turn easily. No need to bring a partner!
For some demonstrations of the minuet, see the following links:
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 any extra helps us to keep Eurosession inclusive and offer fair rates to teachers and musicians. We accept cash on the day, or via PayPal (see our donations page).
Save the date Plus, please make a note in your diary for an extra Eurosession event on Monday 27 November; a bal with the rather marvellous Siger (Hartwin & Ward Dhoore).
Hot on the heels of last night’s lovely Bal with Steve Turner, we can confirm that we’ll be meeting next week as well for our regular Eurosession evening. Plus we’ve an exciting pre-session workshop with two stars of the UK Scandi dance teaching scene, Ella and Lucy, from the Third Beat Collective. After the workshop we’ll continue with our usual Eurosession of offers and requests.
Dance workshop: 8pm – 9pm Eurosession: 9pm – 11pm Venue:Shakespeare’s Pub ~ S3 8UB Zoom: See below for details
Two dancers at the nearby Skint Festival in Ashover.
About the workshop Our workshop leaders Ella Sprung and Lucy Huzzard spent a year in Sweden, benefiting from some of the best traditional dance teaching in Sweden, and we are pleased to have this opportunity to have their dance expertise and musicianship at Eurosession. They will extend our skills and confidence in one of the extended features of Scandinavian turning dances, so not focusing on the polska but rather on the bakmes – an additional element that can bring a sense of elasticity, balance and togetherness to your turn. No previous experience necessary. No need to bring a partner. But do bring smooth-soled shoes that can turn easily.
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 any extra helps us to keep Eurosession inclusive and offer fair rates to teachers and musicians. We accept cash on the day, or via PayPal (see our donations page).
We are delighted to offer a very special event in October. Steve Turner, wonderful accordionist and craftsman of beautiful tunes will come to Sheffield on 5th October. Join us for a music workshop with Steve, followed by an evening dancing to his sumptuous music. We’ll have our usual sessioning too after Steve has played.
Steve Turner and his accordion
Schedule 7:30pm . . . . Music workshop 8:45pm . . . . Bal 10:15pm . . . Session
Because there’s more to mazurkas than meets the eye…
The sunshine is still with us but summer holidays have slipped by and September has come round again. There’s one more Eurosession to go before we get to celebrate Naragonia again, and they play some beautiful mazurkas in their repertoire.
Although we’ll offer a quick bal basics workshop before the Naragonia gig, we have a chance this month to devote a bit more time to delve into the more marvellous possibilities of the mazurka music and dance idiom. So we’ll use the workshop to explore the mazurka as a springboard for playful and responsive possibilities. After the workshop we’ll continue with our usual format of Eurosession offers and requests.
Dance workshop: 8pm – 9pm Eurosession: 9pm – 11pm Venue:Shakespeare’s Pub ~ S3 8UB Zoom: See below for details
About the workshop
Photo by Luc Rocher (https://rocher.lc/photography/)
The mazurka provides a simple off-kilter framework that is both intriguing and comforting. This workshop will invite you to begin beyond the framework, building an intuitive relationship between the musical energy and our bodies’ inclination for movement, and then learning how to communicate that with another person. We’ll use simple exercises, progressing from solo to partner work, drawing on a range of modern influences for the mazurka, from blues to tango. All levels of experience welcome. No partner necessary. Bring shoes that turn easily. The workshop is brought to you with teaching from Susannah Diamond, and music from Jo Veal.
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 any extra helps us to keep Eurosession inclusive and offer fair rates to teachers and musicians. We accept cash or card.
See you soon… oh, hang on, there’s more!
PS. Did we mention the forthcoming Naragonia event? Includes a music ensemble workshop with Toon, and an intro dance workshop – tell your friends! See info and find tickets: Naragonia Quartet – Thursday 21st September 2023
Plus, this weekend: Hathersage Village Hop – 8th to 10th September. Includes dance workshops, an aqua-ceilidh (5pm, the Lido) and an evening dance (French, Scandi, other) (8pm Memorial Hall), and indoor camping. Cost: just £20 (not including meals), or negotiable. Contact patgoodacre@gmail.com
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!
All the ingredients for a lovely evening and some new dances
There was a lovely buzz of people at the July Eurosession, despite competition from summer holidays, and so we’ll go with the same format for August Eurosession. Do bring your tune offers and dance requests for another lovely laid back evening. Bring instruments, dance shoes or both as you prefer, and we’ll see if we can pull off that trick of making a bunch of people happy together all over again. Newsflash: During the evening there’ll also be brief workshops from J2ohn Stewart and Andrew Richards, and Jo Veal on clarinet, with J2 and Andrew fresh back from Le Grand Bal de l’Europe (dance festival in France, a.k.a. Gennetines), they’ve got some dances to share, which could be Menuet de la chaîne, 3- or 4-person bourrées, or an Israeli or Eastern European dance or two.
PS. Looking ahead to September, make sure you have the Naragonia gig on Thursday 31 September in your diary so you don’t commit to owt else by mistake. It’ll be a grand opportunity to listen to beautiful musicianship and/or dance your way to intentional contentment.
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.
We’ll meet again in Shakespeare’s come rain or shine
It was great to see such a mix of people in town on Saturday for Chance to Dance. Despite the occasional downpour it was a pleasure to participate in such a fab day. Now we can turn our attention to Eurosession, which is coming up fast this Thursday along with a sprinkling of rain.
Summer holidays may have taken people far afield, but if you are in Sheffield, then come on down to Shakespeare’s as usual. We won’t have a workshop, but we expect a lovely laid back evening, so folk can get connected and play or dance as usual. Bring instruments, dance shoes or both as you prefer, and we’ll see how we can make a bunch of people happy together.
PS. If you still have itchy feet, but haven’t made plans, then check out Le Son Continue if you fancy a quick trip to a French festival, with concerts and dancing through the night), or later in July there’s Gennetines, an amazing dance festival beginning on Bastille Day and lasting two weeks. It’s packed with dance workshops and bals.
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.
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.
