English Miscellany are a folk dance group founded like a good number of others in 1975. That must have been a very good year for new beginnings!

Beginnings

Based around the historic city of St. Albans in Hertfordshire it aimed then, as it does now, to perform dance in the English Folk Tradition to the widest possible audience. The dancers have always enjoyed performing to their own live musicians.

From a country dance group the club soon expanded, with a men’s Cotswold Morris side and women’s group dancing in the North-West tradition.

A step clog section followed and a Mumming Group who perform traditional folk dramas, usually around a theme of good versus evil.

Add to that our song group who not only perform a selection of traditional songs but lead us in our processions and accompany our dancing, and you have English Miscellany, a name which perfectly represents the group as it is now, forty years later. Many original members still perform with the group even though they have moved far away from the Hertfordshire base, and if not maintain their links as the Friends of English Miscellany.

English Miscellany Now

English Miscellany dancers perform in a variety of public arenas, for the usual English summer round of fêtes and fairs, for weddings, at festivals and in the winter months to carol singing and winter gatherings.

From the outset the group have enjoyed an annual visit abroad, usually to Europe, staying with members of a dance group whilst away and creating lifelong friendships with their host families. In return, EM hosts a foreign group each year and takes them out and about during their stay. See Photo Gallery for two recent trips.

and in the future

Now we come to our 40th year, a real reason for celebration, and we hope to celebrate it in style as we have our dance over the years. Forty events are planned, beginning in February and culminating in our Country Dance Workshop and Barn Dance in October. Details of our calendar will follow…