Once again, the Festival will be showcasing a diverse range of British dance traditions, performed by some of the very best teams from across the country and this year across an ocean too with Compass Roses bringing us dances and songs from North America.

During the week the teams can be seen in Processions, ‘Chance to Meets’, in displays around the town and along the seafront, in Dance Spectaculars in the Blackmore Dance Marquee and Connaught Gardens, and in other special events. Apart from these, Sunday will also feature as usual the astonishingly high standards of jig dancing in the John Gasson Jig Competition, while Chinewrde Morris are promising a fun packed evening as hosts of Morris Wednesday.

This year’s dance workshops will once again be catering for a range of abilities, and will include workshops in North West Morris, Rapper, Appalachian, Cotswold, Border, Stepping and Irish dance. Michael Heaney will be talking about his new rigorously researched book ‘The Ancient English Morris Dance’, and there will also be a talk on the origins of Sheffield’s Handsworth Traditional Sword Dancers.