So you're thinking about coming to a dance. Wonderful — we're delighted you found us. This page is here to answer the questions most people have before their first English country dance, and to reassure you that yes, you really can just show up.
You don't need a partner. We change partners for nearly every dance, and anyone may ask anyone.
You don't need experience. Every dance is taught and walked through before the music starts, and the caller prompts the moves while you dance.
You don't need a costume. Comfortable clothes you can move in are perfect. (The fancy attire you may have seen in photos is for our occasional balls — not regular dances.)
You do need clean, soft-soled shoes. Anything that grips a wood floor (sticky rubber soles, hiking boots) or wobbles (heels, flip-flops) will hurt your knees and ours. Leather, suede, or smooth flat soles are ideal.
Please come fragrance-free. Several dancers in our community are sensitive to perfume, cologne, and scented products. See our Fragrance-Free Policy.
Arrive a little early. Newcomer orientation typically happens just before the first dance. Check our Local Dancing page for the start time at the venue you're attending.
That's really the whole brief. The rest of this page is for the curious.
English country dance (ECD) is a social dance form with roots going back to the 1600s — it's the dancing you've seen in Jane Austen films and in Bridgerton, though our community spans the full repertoire from John Playford's 1651 collection through dances written this year. We dance in sets of couples, usually in two long lines facing each other, to live or recorded music ranging from stately and graceful to lively and joyful. The basic step is a comfortable walk. The patterns the dancers weave through — circles, stars, figures of eight, and the like — are what make it beautiful.
If you can walk, you have what you need. (Even better if you can tell your left from your right!)
A typical dance evening (or Sunday afternoon, depending on the venue) goes something like this. People arrive, change shoes, and chat. The caller introduces the first dance — explaining the figures and walking everyone through the whole sequence at slow speed. Then the music starts. The caller continues to prompt each move just before you need to do it; as the dance settles in and people start remembering, the prompting fades back. Each dance lasts a few minutes. Then we find new partners and start the next one.
There's usually a break in the middle for water, snacks, and conversation. We dance for two to three hours total. You're always welcome to sit out a dance and just enjoy the music.
The caller is the person at the microphone, and they are your safety net. Their job is to teach the dance and guide everyone through it. Before each dance they'll lead a walk-through — a chance to practice the figures slowly without the music. Once the music starts, they'll keep cueing the moves out loud. You won't be asked to memorize anything.
Our regular callers include Mady Newfield, Tammy Bretscher, and Cheryl Yenter, plus visiting callers throughout the year.
Whatever's comfortable and breathable. Jeans and a t-shirt are completely normal. So are loose skirts and dresses, which feel lovely when you turn. Layers are smart — you'll warm up quickly once you're dancing.
For our occasional special events (like the Harvest Moon Dance Weekend or the Jane Austen Ball), some folks enjoy dressing in Regency or other period attire. It's never required.
This is the one rule we're particular about, because it protects your joints and the floors at our venues. Please bring a separate pair of clean, indoor shoes to change into. Look for:
Soft, smooth soles — leather, suede, or smooth synthetic. They should let you pivot without your foot catching.
Flat or very low heel. A turning foot stuck to the floor while your leg keeps rotating is the fastest way to a knee injury.
Closed and secure. Anything that might fly off mid-spin (flip-flops, mules) is a hazard.
Please avoid: high heels, spike heels, flip-flops, hiking boots, and most modern athletic shoes (the rubber tread is too grippy).
If you're not sure, just come in whatever you have — the organizers can usually advise, and you can shop for proper dance shoes once you know you want to keep coming.
The full statement is on our Health & Community Care Policies, but here are the things most useful to know your first time:
Anyone may ask anyone to dance, regardless of age, gender, or experience. You can also dance either role (sometimes called "lead" or "follow," or "first" and "second") regardless of how you present.
You may always decline a dance without explanation, and we will respect anyone's "no" the same way.
Mistakes are completely normal, including for people who've been dancing for thirty years. If you get lost, look up — someone will probably be holding out a hand to guide you back into place. Then you laugh and keep going.
Don't teach on the floor. This one's mostly for experienced dancers reading along: please save corrections for after the dance, or just dance well yourself and let newer dancers find their place. Unsolicited advice in the middle of a dance is overwhelming.
Hold hands gently, with firm fingers but no death grip. If a turn or a swing feels uncomfortable, say so — quietly, kindly, in the moment.
Ask before adding anything fancy. Extra twirls and flourishes are fun between experienced partners who've agreed to them; they're disorienting for newer dancers. When in doubt, dance the dance as called.
You don't need any of this to attend — the caller will explain everything. But if you like to read ahead, here are the words you'll hear most often. Most of the figures below link to George Williams's English Country Dance Basics tutorial, which has a short top-down animation of each one. (Watching the patterns in motion is much clearer than reading a description.)
The set — the formation we're dancing in. Most often a "longways set," meaning two parallel lines of dancers facing each other.
Partner — the person you said yes to for this particular dance.
Neighbor — the person beside you in the line (not your partner).
Up the hall / down the hall — toward the music (up) or away from it (down).
Progression — the magic that means after each round of the dance, you've moved one position along the line and are now dancing the same sequence with new neighbors. By the end of the dance you'll have danced with most of the line.
Cast — turn outward and walk along the outside of your line.
Set — a small side-to-side step, right then left. Often paired with a turn single.
Turn single — make a small circle by yourself, usually to the right.
Hands across (or "star") — four people meet in the middle, take hands, and walk in a wheel.
Back to back (do-si-do) — pass another dancer right shoulder to right shoulder, slide across, and come back left shoulder to left shoulder.
Up a double — join hands with your partner, walk four steps up the hall, and four steps back. A common opening to older dances.
Siding — face your partner, walk forward to meet them shoulder to shoulder, then back to place. (Two versions exist; the caller will indicate which.)
Arming — link right elbows with another dancer and walk around in a circle, then repeat with left elbows.
Hey — a weaving figure where dancers pass each other in a continuous flowing pattern, alternating shoulders. Looks complex; feels great once you find it. (Comes in many varieties — circular, straight, for three or four dancers.)
Right/left/two-hand turn — take the indicated hand (or both hands) with another dancer and turn around once together.
Lead — join hands with your partner and walk together in the direction the caller indicates.
Half figure eight — weave around a couple to end up on the opposite side of the set. (A full figure eight returns you to where you started.)
Poussette — a two-couple figure where partners hold both hands and trade places by one pushing while the other backs up.
Right shoulder round (Mirror) — circle around another dancer while looking at each other, without touching.
Giving weight — the gentle, springy tension you maintain when you're holding hands or arms with someone in a turn. Not floppy, not crushing — like leaning back slightly together so you both have something to balance against.
You don't need to study before coming. But if you're the kind of person who likes to watch a few videos or read a bit first, here's what we recommend.
Watch a real dance happen
The Childgrove Channel on YouTube — Paul Ross's videos of English country dancing in New York. Reliably good footage of regular community dances.
Regency Dance Figures — a YouTube playlist from Fain Music UK with short, focused video clips demonstrating individual figures. Useful complement to George Williams's animations if you want to see the figures performed by real dancers.
English Country Dance: An Introduction — a 40-minute video from CDSS that walks through the basics with cheerful, imperfect dancers (they kept the mistakes in on purpose).
Lambertville's ECD video index — searchable index of hundreds of dances on video. Quality varies; the better videos are marked with an asterisk.
See the patterns from above
George Williams's dance animation database at upadouble.info — top-down animated diagrams of hundreds of full dances (the glossary above links to his tutorial page for individual figures; this is the catalog of complete dances). Wonderful for seeing how a whole progression actually works.
Read about the tradition
Country Dance and Song Society (CDSS) — the umbrella organization for English country, contra, and related dance traditions in North America. We're a CDSS affiliate.
Elements of English Country Dance by Hugh Stewart — the standard reference work on ECD figures and terminology, written for Cambridge University's beginner sessions and freely available online (also published in print by CDSS). Comprehensive, clear, gently opinionated.
Colin Hume's website — a UK caller and composer with thousands of pages of dance instructions, history, technique notes, and tunes. Deep, idiosyncratic, and lovingly maintained.
John Sweeney's Contrafusion — extensive articles on the history and mechanics of specific figures (the mirror, the hey, swings, siding, giving weight, and dozens more). Excellent if you want to understand why a figure is the way it is.
Lambertville's "Enjoy the Dance" tips — a friendly read on ECD etiquette that aligns well with our own.
Village Green English Dancers' Dance Manual — a comprehensive PDF reference covering figures, styling, and music in considerable depth. Free download.
For more, see our full Links page.
Email us at ChicagolandECD@gmail.com — we love hearing from people thinking about coming for the first time. You can also find dates, locations, and directions on our Local Dancing page.
We hope to see you on the floor soon.