18th century dancers

Central Illinois English Country Dancers

What is ECD? Who are we? Our Schedule Our Email List Our Newsletter Dances Our Band FTWK Useful Files Other Links

Welcome to the Central Illinois English Country Dancers' home page

What is English Country Dance?

English Country Dance is the dance form that was popular in England and America in the 1600's, 1700's and early 1800's. It is one of the dance forms from which modern contra and square dance are descended. If you've seen any of the recent Jane Austen movies then you've seen this sort of dance. We also do some early American dances from the Colonial and Revolutionary War eras. Follow this link for more information.

Who are the CIECD?

The Central Illinois English Country Dancers are a group of local dancers who do English Country and Early American dances. We are affiliated with the Country Dance and Song Society and the the Urbana Park District and we hold monthly dances at the Phillips Recreation Center at 505 W. Stoughton in Urbana. (MAP) We also hold special dances twice a year, a Christmas Ball in December and a Playford Ball in June. In the summer we often have a pool party and dance in the water. Our dances are primarily social and recreational. All dances will be taught and we always have live music provided by our band, The Flatland Consort. Partners, costumes and experience are not necessary. Wear comfortable clothes and shoes. Some dancers like to dress in period costume at the balls. This can be fun and is encouraged, but is certainly not required. No admission will be charged at our regular monthly dances, but we do ask for a $2.00 donation to raise the fee for the use of the hall.

In the spring we hold a special Weekend of Traditional Dance and Music in cooperation with the Urbana Country Dancers and the Illini Folk Dance Society. This is great opportunity for dancers in our area and we hope that everyone will make plans to join us.

Pictures from past dance weekends

CIECD Email List

To receive the latest news on CIECD activities you may want to subscribe to the CIECD email list. We have a Yahoo! Groups email list. Visit the group web site or subscribe below. Contact ciecd-list-owner@centralillinoisecd.org if you have any trouble with the list or if you wish to be added to the list without creating a Yahoo account.

Subscribe to the CIECD email list

Powered by us.groups.yahoo.com

CIECD on Facebook

Facebook

Join us on our Facebook group

CIECD Schedule For 2013

Most of the dances are at the Phillips Recreation Center, 505 W.Stoughton, Urbana. We ask for a donation or $2 at our regular dances to help pay for the use of the hall. Special events may have a higher admission price.

MONTH DAY EVENT TIME LOCATION
January Sunday 20 English Country Dance 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. Phillips Recreation Center
February Sunday 24 English Country Dance 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. Phillips Recreation Center
March Friday 8 -
Saturday 9		 Marchfest Traditional Dance & Music Weekend   Illini Union
March Friday 22 Pride and Prejudice Ball
In honor of the bicentennial of the publication of Pride and Prejudice, we will be holding a a Jane Austen themed ball. Costumes are encouraged. Admission is $5, but bring a snack to share and get $1 off.
Flier for the event (PDF - 97 KB) 		7:00 - 10:00 p.m. Phillips Recreation Center
April Saturday 6 Unity Dance
An evening of Contra, English & Folk dancing
Workshop - 7 p.m.
Dancing - 8 to 10 p.m.
 7:00 - 10:00 p.m. Illini Union, Room 314
April Saturday 20 English Country Dance 7:00 - 10:00 p.m. Phillips Recreation Center
May Saturday 18 Festival of the English May
 1:30 - 8:00 p.m. Andersons' barn
May Saturday 25 English Country Dance 7:00 - 10:00 p.m. Phillips Recreation Center
June Saturday 8 English Country Dance 7:00 - 10:00 p.m. Phillips Recreation Center
June Saturday 15 17th Annual Playford Ball
Dance warmup 7:00 - 8:00
Suggested donation $7.00 		8:00 - 11:00 p.m. Illini Union

CIECD Newsletter

CIECD Newsletter Back Issues

The Dances We Do

Lists of dances done at previous CIECD Balls

The Flatland Consort

Flatland Consort logo Our band is called The Flatland Consort. There are a wide variety of instruments in the band, from violins and piano, to flute and harp.

If you would like to hire the band to play for your event contact Tom Anderson at:
thandthand@gmail.com

 

 

A Dance For Those Who Know

We will be trying an experiment this spring by including a dance at all of our monthly dances and then having it at the Ball without any teaching or calling. This is sometimes referred to as "For Those Who Know", that is those people who know the dance, or who are experienced and can easily pick up a new dance can join in. People do this all the time at contra dances and it is also possible to do this with English country dances. While we do want to make our dances as inclusive as possible, so we will still be teaching all the rest of the dances at the ball, it is also enjoyable to occasionally do a dance with no teaching or calling, so we are trying this out for the benefit of the people who regularly attend our monthly dances. As I said this is an experiment and if it works out we will do it again in the future, if not we'll do something different.

Originally we wanted to do a dance that was a bit more challenging, but the number of new people we have had this spring has made that difficult, so we have decided to use a more accessible dance for this.

The Comical Fellow

duple proper longways
A1
Gent 1 set forward to Lady 2 (1-2) and fall back to place (3-4),
1st corners two hand turn (5-8)
A2
Lady 1 set forward to Gent 2 (1-2) and fall back to place (3-4),
2nd corners two hand turn (5-8)
B1
1's lead down the center (1-4),
Skip back up and cast into 2nd place, 2's moving up (5-8),
All clap 4 times (9-10) and two hand turn with partner half-way (11-12)
B2
Circle left (1-4),
Back to the right (5-8),
All clap 4 times (9-10) and two hand turn with partner back to place (11-12)

Notes:
There are several variations of this dance with little differences, so be aware that others may do it slightly differently.
In the A parts the 2's have the option of observing while the 1's do the setting, or setting back at the same time, depending on how enegetic they feel.
The circles in B2 can be done with just a walking step, or if you feel energetic enough they can be done as slipping circles as the music seems to indicate.

A video of some people doing this dance

Useful Files To Download

Other links of interest

For more information contact
ciecd-info@centralillinoisecd.org

Subscribe to the CIECD email list to receive schedules and special dance announcements.

For a related dance form try contra dance, traditional American country dance, with the Urbana Country Dancers. They do contras and squares which are the dance forms that English country dance evolved into here in America in the late 1700's and early 1800's.

For some additional variety you might want to check out the International Folk Dance Society. They do dances from all over the world.

The Central Illinois English Country Dancers is affiliated with the Urbana Park District and the

CDSS logo  


Country Dance and Song Society
 


CCCC logo  
and is a member of the Champaign County Cultural Consortium.
 

StudyWeb Award Our website has been awarded the StudyWeb Excellence Award

Central Illinois English Country Dancers' web pages are maintained by webmaster@centralillinoisecd.org, last update April 21, 2013