Dales Traditional Music and Dance Collective

The Dales Music and Dance Revival

The launch of the Yorkshire Dales Folk Dance and Tunes Project at the Dales Country Museum in Hawes and the publication in 2020 of Bob Ellis’ book “There was None of this Lazy Dancing!”, a collection of folk tunes and dances from the Yorkshire Dales, sparked a lot of interest in traditions of music making in the Dales which were in danger of slipping away.

Events

The revival is continuing with a series of dances, workshops and other events, and this web site will keep you up to date on what's going to happen next, as well as reporting on some of the events that have happened.

We are continiung the Buckden sessions, originally at the Buck but temporarily in other locations. They are 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.

Check Events Page for confirmation

News

Sessions Return to The Buck

14 February, 2026

PUB SESSIONS. The Racehorses Hotel in Kettlewell did us proud for the sessions in January and February after the Buck in Buckden had closed for emergency refurbishment last October. Thank you, Kevin and your staff, for the warm welcome, and the publicity poster! However, after discussion it was agreed that the March session should be back at ‘Our Spiritual Home’: the reopened Buck Inn in Buckden.

Session at the Buck — Sun March 18th 1-4pm

This will be the final session of the Autumn/Winter 2025/26 season. Jeremy and the staff at the Buck will be delighted to have us back. We don’t meet in the Summer.

Triggering Memories

From Peter Barnard, August 2025

When we played for dancing in April this year in the Buckden Institute, some of the dancers spoke to us about their memories of dancing these very dances – but many decades ago. These memories are still alive. As a result, I now want to hear from anyone who has danced these Dales dances. If you have danced them – or if one of your relatives or friends has danced them – please contact Peter on 07919 627270 or at peter.barnard@me.com

This will add to our knowledge of these wonderful dances and help us to restore them to life. These dances and tunes are part of Yorkshire’s heritage, and we are proud to be working to keep them alive. There was none of this lazy dancing then – and there doesn’t need to be any now either!

New Book with Full Dales Dance Notation

23 October 2024

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 article page for introductory details of the first book.

RIP "Muppett"

9 August 2024

We were very sad to have to report the sudden death of Michael Pascal who we all knew simply as “Muppett”, and who with Bob Ellis was the prime mover in the revival of monthly pub sessions at the Buck.

See Colin Speakman’s Thoughts For Muppett at his wake session.

Bob Ellis Eulogy

22 February 2024

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.

Monthly Newsletter

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