Traditional Music and Dance in the Yorkshire Dales
The Dales Music and Dance Revival
Events
A series of events is being planned to keep this revival expanding. There have been several dances and sessions in the region already, and this web site will keep you up to date on what's happened and what's going to happen next.
There is a regular session based on traditional Dales music, at the Buck Inn, Buckden, every second Sunday afternoon of the
month, from October to March with maybe a refresher summer session in
June. They are afternoon sessions to link up with the Dalesbus
service from Leeds to Buckden so that non-driving musicians, singers and
poets can join in. Times are
October: 2pm to 5pm
November – March: 1pm to 4pm.
Coming soon...
Jan 12 : Session at the Buck, Buckden
Feb 09 : Session at the Buck, Buckden
Mar 01 : Dance at Grassington Town Hall
See Events page for full details
News
Sessions at the Buck — A Discussion About the Future On October 20th a total of 13 people made it to the Buck for this first monthly session of the 2024-2025 season. Eight people performing with voice or instrument or both, our dedicated trio of Dalesbus followers from Bradford and a couple of non-combatants or potential performers another time. After establishing the pattern of alternating instrumental tunes and songs or poems there was a pause for discussion on the future of these sessions. Without the leadership and inspiration of the late lamented Bob Ellis and Muppett were these sessions viable?
CONCLUSION: Positive commitment and desire to say we should keep going until March 2025 and review the situation at the end of the season.
Suggestions for publicising the sessions more widely would be welcomed.
New Book with Full Dales Dance Notation
Dance caller and musician Peter Barnard is publishing a series of books which fully notate interpretations of how the dances in Bob's book can be called. See Pete Barnard's Books page for introductory details of thre first book.RIP "Muppett"
It is with great sadness we have to report the sudden death after a fatal heart attack, of our wonderful, inspiring, funny, very dear friend and colleague Michael Pascal who we all knew simply as “Muppett”.It is almost inconceivable that larger than life character Muppett is no longer with us. With Bob Ellis he was the prime mover in the revival of monthly pub sessions at the Buck where his powerful rendering of a wide range of songs in broad Bradford/Yorkshire dialect can now be only a memory. They came from a lifetime of commitment to community support and fun in multi-ethnic Bradford.
See Colin Speakman’s Thoughts For Muppett at the Wake session in Guiseley on 14 September, 2024.
Bob Ellis Eulogy
Mark Sheridan give this Eulogy at the funeral of Bob Ellis, who died in January 2024. His book (see above) is central to the Dales music and dance revival.22 February 2024 echo <<
