PLEASE NOTE ; CHILDWALL CLUB CEASED OPERATION, SUMMER 2009
This page last updated (partly) in Nov 2009
FAZAKERLEY FEDERATION building is just off Longmoor Lane, between Fazakerley Hospital and the Copple House Pub. Across the road from Fazakerley High School, the shops, and are in twin blocks, each with a little tower on the roof. A walkway between the shops, which leads to Formosa Drive, where the Library is on the left and the Federation on the right.
By car, come from the "Copple House" pub, and turn left into Elmham Crescent, then turn right twice, into Formosa Drive, aiming for the back of the shops. Back to the Top of the page.
HOW DO I JOIN? Just turn up, any Monday.
There are no forms to be filled in, no actual "joining", but we do ask for contact details, just to keep in touch about cancellations, changes of date, etc.
FAZAKERLEY COUNTRY DANCE CLUB This group was formed initially to provide some dancing for those who were students in the Country Dancing class, Liverpool Adult Learning, in the Fazakerley High School Adult Centre.
Mondays 10.15 - 12.15.
Fazakerley Federation accept that Country Dancing is a valid activity for them to allow in their premises, offering, as it does, the opportunity for gentle physical exercise, considerable mental stimulation, and many social benefits, for local people, especially those who are elderly.
This is a great opportunity to KEEP FIT by enjoying the learning of some of the basic movements and actions involved in the Country Dancing styles of England, Ireland, Scotland and America. You learn this by getting up and doing some dances, with groups of fellow dancers. You don't need to know anything at first. All the dances and movements will be explained, and "walked-through" before any dancing is done. This dancing is suitable for total beginners, yet it can develop to really challenge those who have done it before. Maybe you have had a "taste" of it at a PTA Barn Dance? Dancers usually start by howling with laughter at the mistakes that we all make together at first, and then progress to feelings of delight when it all fits together. Either way, it makes for a most enjoyable session.
This is a KEEP FIT activity, which can help to keep your body working well through the exercise involved in the dancing, and your brain exercised by remembering the moves, and who goes where and when. The idea is mental and physical maintenance. As a result there is no exam, no "standard" to reach, no "progression" to aim for.
There are extra benefits; after just one term, you will be able to go to English Barn Dances, American-style Square Dances, an Irish Ceili or a Scottish Ceilidh, confident that you will be able to take full part in the basic dances, and that you will have enough general knowledge to be easily helped through harder dances. Already, raw beginners will probably be looking up to you as an expert.
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COME AS YOU ARE!
You don't need any experience, equipment or materials - maybe a pair of comfortable shoes, and a few bob for a cuppa!
Your Tutor, Gerry Jones, has wide experience of English, Irish and Scottish country dance, both as a dancer and as a musician. He is regularly a "caller" with a Country Dance band at venues all over Merseyside, and can cope with all-comers, be they school-children, parents, students, pensioners, PTA members, or indeed anyone who will get up from their chair and give it a try. Back to the Top of the page.
Where can I go after I have been to the club for a while? Can I take this dancing further?
you are welcome to return to the club - as most dancers do, term after term, year after year - as the need to KEEP FIT never ends.
But you will have a good grounding in most of the basics of country dancing. So, you could also move on to joining another country dance club
which specialises in English, Scottish or Irish forms of country dancing.
Follow the LINKS on the right to local Scottish or English folk-dance clubs.
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