Conference: Stepping On

A conference on stepping in dance

Saturday 16 to Sunday 17 November 2019

Cecil Sharp House, London

Britain and Ireland have a rich history of step dancing in many forms and contexts, spanning centuries and linking with traditions across the world. This conference aimed to further knowledge and understanding in these traditions and to stimulate debate.

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Contents of the proceedings:

Patricia Ballantyne: Are These Steps Percussive? An Investigation into Francis Peacock’s Highland Steps

Heather Blasdale Clarke: Steps in Australia: The History

Annabelle Marshall Bugay: Competition, Consumerism, and Conformity: A Study of the Manifestation of American Ideals in Competitive Irish dance Culture

Anne Daye: Finding our Footing: A Discussion of the Evidence for a Social Dance Step Vernacular to These Islands

Alexandra Fisher: In Search of Street Clog Dance: New Thoughts on Step Dance Analysis Based on Two Lancashire Clog Dancers

Sean Goddard: The Recording Output of the EFDSS in Two Case Studies: ‘Kendal Ghyll’ and ‘La Russe’

Simon Harmer: Whistling Billy’s Barefoot Hornpipe: A Presentation on the Process of Creating a Hornpipe Sequence from Named Steps in Henry Mayhew’s London Labour and the London Poor (1851)

Samantha Jones: Dancing Hands and Rhythmic Voices: Historical Traces and Archival Excess

Mats Melin: The ‘Scotch Reel’ as a Solo Dance: An Examination of the Circle Motif and Structure and its Connection to some Scotch Reels and Scottish Solo Dances

Chloe Elizabeth Middleton-Metcalfe: Hornpipe Stepping at Barn Dances and Ceilidhs in England

Heather Sparling: History of the ‘Scotch Four’: A Social Step Dance in Cape Breton

Lisa Sture: Devonshire Step Dancing: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Kathryn Tattersall, Ru Rose and Jon Davison: From Family to Team: The Transmission of Pat Tracey’s Clog Steps and the Formation of Camden Clog

Huw Williams and Angharad Jones: Everything You Wanted to Know about Welsh Clog Dancing but Were too Afraid to Dance

Promoted by The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library and InStep Research Team.

Conference partners:

Conference committee:

Anne Daye (HDS), Peter Barnard (HDS), Katy Spicer (EFDSS), Laura Smyth (EFDSS), Toby Bennett (Instep), Prof. Theresa Buckland (Roehampton), Michael Heaney