Pat Shaw Dance Week
Join callers Madeleine Smith and Adam Hughes, and musicians Paul Hutchinson, Karen Wimhurst and Dries de Maeyer and enjoy a glorious week dancing all things ‘Pat Shaw’: his own dances, dances which inspired them, dances he inspired, dances with links to him and old dances he researched. Plus opportunities to play some of the tunes.
Patrick Shuldham-Shaw (1917-1977) was a key figure in the evolution of country dancing following the second world war. He was steeped in the folk tradition from birth, becoming a brilliant dancer, musician, caller and singer. His wonderfully inventive compositions have their roots in his extensive knowledge and deep love of the dances and tunes across all genres from simple village dances to complex Playford. He was also open to new trends, for example eagerly embracing the square dance boom of the 1950s, and learning the dances and calls.
Without his imaginative choreography and music, and his wide-ranging research, today’s repertoire would be much poorer. As a highly regarded authority in the folk world, he singlehandedly enabled today’s view that writing new dances and being adventurous are part of a vibrant and creative folk scene – this had been rather frowned upon earlier. His teaching and research also kept alive the repertoire of old dances established by Cecil Sharp and Douglas Kennedy, while taking a fresh look at it and encouraging others to do the same.
He also collected in Shetland, and did a huge amount of research in Wales, helping to re-establish the folk dance tradition there. It is owing to Pat that Shetland fiddle music was passed on to a new generation by Shetland fiddle player, Tom Anderson.
For more, see http://www.patshaw.info
Who is it for?
Dancers with some experience. Come and explore Pat’s dances for the first time or enjoy revisiting old favourites. The teaching and calling will be clear, friendly and accessible, enabling you to enjoy bringing the dances to life.
Pat composed his dances at a time when dancers were not as used to complex patterns as they are today, so we now find the choreography of his harder dances more accessible. He also wrote for dancers who could move well and follow the musical phrasing, tempo and dynamics, so we shall be exploring very much more than just patterns, and the music will be at the heart of our teaching.
What to Expect
Everything Pat Shaw!
Workshops during the day, dances in the evenings. We hope to have a ‘Pat Shaw Ceilidh’ on Thursday evening, with opportunities for calling, performing, and sharing memories.
A concert from our brilliant musicians.
Opportunities to play – please bring your instruments. A massed ‘John Tallis’s Canon’ could be on the cards, also ‘Round Pond.’
Some free time to recharge your batteries and explore the countryside.
While preparing these notes, the death has been announced of Marjorie Fennessey, without whom we would not be able to dance Pat’s dances, as only some were published during his busy life, and he sometimes forgot what he had composed. Marjorie’s meticulous research enabled her to publish his complete dances after his untimely death, and she also helped with the editing of those that he did publish. So we will celebrate Marjorie too – a beautiful dancer and great teacher, as well as an invaluable collaborator.
The Team
Madeleine Smith was inspired by Pat to become a caller and learned many dances directly from him. She has become a well-known authority on his dances, sought after for her ability to present them clearly and accurately. She has a wide-ranging knowledge of country dances and their history, so will be able to place his dances in their historical context, demonstrating links and influences.
Adam Hughes, like Madeleine, calls and teaches across all genres, so is at home with Pat’s variety of styles, and is well-known for his excellent and clear teaching. Adam and Madeleine refer to original sources whenever possible, and enjoyed collaborating at Broadstairs Folk Week in 2024. Adam hopes to pass the dances on to a new generation, and has links with NYFTE.
The tunes are also across all genres, and some have become classics. We have a brilliant team of musicians to bring these to life: Paul Hutchinson (accordion), Karen Wimhurst (clarinets) and Dries de Maeyer (recorders and whistles). Their technical expertise, musicality and focus on danceability, will provide a week of unsurpassable musical delight. Paul and Pat would have been kindred spirits: two wonderful accordion players, open to exploring musical ideas, and sharing a mad sense of humour.
Paul and Karen came together through their love of traditional music cut through with experimentation, boldness, humour and risk. Their first duo album Coracle had five star reviews and led to them touring widely across UK and European Festivals. Both composers and improvisers, they now celebrate over twenty years of close collaboration and original music playing as a duo and with other bands and large scale projects.
Expect ethereal to turn gutsy, passion to be tempered by a good laugh and a tide of improvisation which means no two evenings are ever the same.
Paul Hutchinson is a BBC Folk Award Best Live Artist nominee with Belshazzar’s Feast, a much-feted accordion player and teacher. He’s equally at home on the concert stage, playing dance tunes for enthusiastic revellers or running workshops. His previous collaborations with Hoover the Dog, Pagoda Project and The Maniacs produced albums and performances that drew five-star reviews.
Karen Wimhurst is a widely commissioned composer ranging from chamber works to music theatre and large-scale, collaborative productions. Eclectic in nature, her own distinctive music manifests diverse traditional and jazz influences alongside a strong grounding in contemporary classical music. Latest works include Synthetica, an online opera in collaboration with MoDiP; Heart of the Matter, a bijoux chamber opera for Bass and piano featuring in Tete a Tete opera festival 2024; Freedoms for mixed choir and cello; a Song for Dorset one of the featured composer in the lockdown A Song For Us project and Jump, a solo work for clarinets, insect and amphibian sounds, featured at the British Library event Small but Perfectly Formed hosted by Martha Kearney and touring 2024 with an accompanying video by film maker Sonia Killmann.
Dries De Maeyer is a skilled recorder player trained at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels with a focus on early music. His artistic journey expanded during a formative year in Sweden, immersing himself in folk
and world music traditions. Currently, Dries is engaged in a variety of creative projects, including "Float" -
a duo blending folk, pop, and jazz. He also collaborates with theatre productions and leads engaging
music workshops in schools, sharing his passion with the next generation.
In fact, all the team share Pat’s zany sense of humour. His dreadful puns were legendary, and many are celebrated in his dance titles.