Dancing for the camera – responses at BBC
Responses to broadcasting the programme Dancing for the camera within the series of the European Roots at BBC 4 on 26 October 2007 at 19.30.
European Roots
What a wonderful broadcast. It's amazing to see the similarities between folk ritual dancing in the UK and other countries. As an ex-morris dancer and now a French traditional dancer I can only say more please - keep up the good work.
David Cunningham, La Chatre, France
I have just been watching the programme about sword dancing across Europe, and that wonderful archive of film found in Brno! It took me right back to the late 1950s, when I was in junior school in St Albans. We all learned country dancing, and every summer, we would troop off to the grounds of Gorhambury House, the home of the Earl of Verulam, for the annual Folk Dance Festival. Some of the dances were performed by the St Albans Folk Dance Society, all in their splendid costumes, and there were lots for us, the school children, to join in with. However, the highlight of the lot for me was when groups of young, and not so young, men would pick up their 'swords', and perform The Sword Dance, weaving in and out and ending up, quite magically it seemed to me, with the interlocking symbol of the EFSDS, the symbol on the badge the Czech gentleman wore in his lapel. It was quite fascinating to see how that dance, or variations on it, were to be found from the Basque country to the island off Croatia. Thank you so much, for a wonderful ethnological investigation and a trip down memory lane. I shall remember it for a very long time.
Joyce Yendole, Glasgow
Source: BBC websites on 29 October 2007 http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/yoursay/index.shtml