New dancers are always welcome, come and dance with us!
Jump right in or come to our annual
Introductory Session (Victoria Dance Days, in February each year).
We dance every Thursday evening to live music at the St. Matthias church hall
—spacious and bright with a sprung hardwood floor and a full stage
complete with a piano for our inimitable Dancehall Players.
You don’t need to bring a partner, dances are taught on-the-spot, gender roles are neutral, and the figures are prompted throughout. Experienced dancers are always ready to assist you through a dance—you don’t need to hesitate when invited to dance, and you can expect good dance etiquette on the floor. Our usual habit is to change partners after each dance and we often suggest that new dancers partner with more experienced dancers.
Note that our dances are fragrance-free. Please bring soft-soled indoor shoes for dancing (for your comfort and to protect the floor, per our rental agreement).

Dance Instruction: The Cordova Bay 55+ Association has offered two English Country Dance sessions this year (6 classes, 2:00-3:30 on Tuesdays). These are run by one of our dancers/callers, Joanne Thomson, who’s currently concluding a second series (20 Feb –26 March). Also, if you’ve been attending our regular Thursday evening sessions as a relatively new dancer you may ask to be included in our “Fundamentals” sessions (once a month on Sunday mornings).

Contact: by email (questions, and/or subscribe to regular email notices), and
Facebook (for occasional announcements, photos, etc).

Coming up: Save the Date for our annual Hands Across the Water weekend —September 13-15, 2024. Gene Murrow will be our dance leader. This is a well-attended event, with dancers travelling from Vancouver, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Seattle, Portland, and other far-flung corners of the world. It’s a time to meet new dancers, greet old friends, learn new dances, work on style, and generally grow as dancers.
—>The weekend begins with a Friday evening dance open to the community (registered or not) with a dance program led by local callers. Registration is required for Saturday and Sunday workshops; Saturday sessions generally begin at 9:30 and run through to 3:00, with a break for dinner, followed by an evening dance. Saturday lunch is catered and included with registration. There are usually two workshops on Sunday, ending by 1:00. See last year’s program to get the general gist of workshop structure/themes. We eagerly await Gene’s program for this coming September.

A little background, a little context: English Country Dancing is a traditional form of “country dance” that emerged in the 15th century and made its way into the court of Elizabeth I where it became particularly popular. While a number of our well-loved dances go back to the 17th century—thanks to John Playford’s 1651 publication of tunes and their accompanying figures—countless new dances continue to be composed. You can get a glimpse the variety of dances we’ve enjoyed here over the years.

The Jane Austen factor: You might be curious about the connection between English Country Dance and the Regency world that Jane Austen brought to life for countless readers? A bit of background: Dancing at the Netherfield Ball: Pride and Prejudice, and the wonderful BBC documentary prepared in 2013 for the 200th anniversary of the book. Here, you’ll see how the actor-dancers were prepared for the iconic 1995 BBC six-part production of Pride and Prejudice: Having a ball: The flirtatious Regency Balls of Pride and Prejudice.

Additional Resources: The Lambertville Database of dance videos with over 1,300 individual dances (an example, the 30 Year’s Waltz), and the Country Song and Dance Society CDSS Online Library (Books, Databases, Dances and Other Resources).

Dance events in the Pacific Northwest that we like attend (road trips, train trips): The annual Seattle Ball (February), the biennial Vancouver Ball (April), the annual Portland Ball (November), and the Hey Days English Dance and Music Week (at the Sonoma State University, northern California). And further afield, the Pinewoods English Dance Week (Plymouth, MA).

Our friends in dance:
Victoria Contra Dance
Island Thyme Morris
Vancouver Island Scottish Country Dance Society
Saanich International Folkdancers
Country Song & Dance Society