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.

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...

May 09 : Dance at Hawes Market House - Dancing Around the Dales

May 13 : Yorkshire’s 4th Heritage Summit

May 29 : Workshop: The Old Dances of the Dales

See Events page for full details

News

Sessions at the Buck Will Continue

Starting on Sunday afternoon October 13th, 2pm to 5pm for the Dalesbus summer timetable, then reverting to 1pm to 4pm for the second Sundays in the month from November to March 2026.

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 the first book.

RIP "Muppett"

It is with great sadness we have to report the sudden death of our dear friend and colleague Michael Pascal who we all knew simply as “Muppett”. With Bob Ellis he was the prime mover in the revival of monthly pub sessions at the Buck.

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.

Monthly Newsletter