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English Folk Dance and Song Society

{{Short description|Organisation that promotes the folk arts of England}}

{{Use British English|date=December 2020}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}

{{Infobox organization

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| formation = {{start date and age|1932}}

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| type = Nonprofit organisation

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| purpose = Research, study and promotion of English folk music and folk dance

| headquarters = London, United Kingdom

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| leader_title = Chief Executive and Artistic Director

| leader_name = Katy Spicer{{cite web |title=Staff |url=https://www.efdss.org/efdss-about-us/staff |website=EFDSS |access-date=20 September 2018}}

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| budget = £1.5 million{{cite web |title=Report of the Year 2016-2017 |url=https://www.efdss.org/images/EFDSSASSETS/PDFs/report-of-the-year_16-17.pdf |website=EFDSS |access-date=20 September 2018}}

| name = English Folk Dance and Song Society

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| abbreviation = EFDSS

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| region_served = England

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| website = [https://www.efdss.org www.efdss.org]

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The English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS, or pronounced 'EFF-diss'[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVTMoN4Arvo Challenges of Designing the Roud Folk Song Index], Library of Congress, YouTube, 9:00) is an organisation that promotes English folk music and folk dance.{{cite journal |last1=Vaughan Williams |first1=Ralph |title=The English Folk Dance and Song Society |journal=Ethnomusicology |date=September 1958 |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=108–112 |doi=10.2307/924653|jstor=924653 }}{{cite journal |last1=Pratt |first1=S. R. S. |title=The English Folk Dance and Song Society |journal=Journal of the Folklore Institute |date=December 1965 |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=294–299 |doi=10.2307/3814148|jstor=3814148 }} EFDSS was formed in 1932 when two organisations merged: the Folk-Song Society and the English Folk Dance Society.Karpeles, Maud and Frogley, Alain (2007–2011). [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/08822 'English Folk Dance and Song Society']. In: Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Online. Retrieved 24 October 2011. {{subscription required}}. The EFDSS, a member-based organisation, was incorporatedLimited Company no 297142 in 1935 and became a registered charityCharity no 305999 in 1963.

History

File:Cecil James Sharp (1916, full).jpg, a member of the Folk-Song Society and founder of the English Folk Dance Society; the two societies merged in 1932 to form the English Folk Dance and Song Society]]

The Folk-Song Society, founded in London in 1898,Keel, Frederick (1948). [https://www.jstor.org/pss/4521287 'The folk song society' (1898–1948)]. Journal of the English Folk Dance & Song Society, Vol 5, No 3, December. Retrieved 23 October 2011 {{subscription required}}. focused on collecting and publishing folk songs, primarily of Britain and Ireland although there was no formal limitation. Participants included: Lucy Broadwood, George Butterworth, George Gardiner,{{cite web|url=http://library.efdss.org/cgi-bin/textpage.cgi?file=aboutGardiner |title=G. B. Gardiner, folk song collector |publisher=Vaughan Williams Memorial Library |access-date=6 June 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726023655/http://library.efdss.org/cgi-bin/textpage.cgi?file=aboutGardiner |archive-date=26 July 2011 }} Anne Gilchrist, Percy Grainger, Henry Hammond, Ella Leather,{{cite web|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/101056851/|title=Ella Mary Leather|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=8 August 2009}} Kate Lee, Susan Lushington, May Elliot Hobbs,{{Cite journal |last=K. |first=D. N. |date=1956 |title=May Elliott Hobbs, Died December 1956 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4521532 |journal=Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=58 |jstor=4521532 |issn=0071-0563}} Cecil Sharp, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Mary Augusta Wakefield.

The English Folk Dance Society was founded in 1911 by Cecil Sharp. Maud Karpeles was a leading participant. Its purpose was to preserve and promote English folk dances in their traditional forms, including Morris and sword dances, traditional social dances, and interpretations of the dances published by John Playford. The first secretary of the society was Lady Mary Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis; Trefusis Hall in the EFDSS HQ, Cecil Sharp House, is named after her.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jY0GDAAAQBAJ&q=Mary+trefusis&pg=PA171|title=British Women Composers and Instrumental Chamber Music in the Early Twentieth Century|first=Laura|last=Seddon|page=171|date=15 April 2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317171348|access-date=24 April 2019|via=Google Books}}

One of the greatest contributions that the EFDSS made to the folk movement, both dance and song, was the folk festival, starting with the Stratford-upon-Avon Festival in the 1940s and continuing with festivals in Whitby, Sidmouth, Holmfirth, Chippenham and elsewhere.

Publications

Since 1936 the EFDSS has published English Dance & Song at least four times a year. This has become the longest-established magazine devoted to folk music, dance and song in the country. English Dance & Song is aimed at stimulating the interest of the membership of the EFDSS, as well as the wider folk music and dance community.

Their regular scholarly publication is Folk Music Journal, published annually in December, which was formerly entitled the Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society until 1965. The work continues the earlier journals of the two societies: Journal of the Folk-Song Society, 1899–1931;Dean-Smith, Margaret (1951). [https://www.jstor.org/pss/4521357 'The Preservation of English Folk Song in the Journal of the Folk Song Society']. Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, vol 6, no 3 (December), pp 69–76. Retrieved 24 October 2011 {{subscription required}}. Journal of the English Folk Dance Society, 1914–31.

Cecil Sharp House

The Society is based at Cecil Sharp House in Camden, North London.{{Cite web|title=History of the house|date=19 August 2019 |url=https://www.efdss.org/cecil-sharp-house/history-of-the-house}} Originally conceived as a purpose-built headquarters for the English Folk Dance Society, and now Grade II-listed, it was designed in the neo-Georgian style by architect Henry Martineau Fletcher,{{Cite web|title=CECIL SHARP HOUSE|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1130379}} and opened on 7 June 1930.

The building's most striking feature is Kennedy Hall, a large concert and performance space with a sprung ballroom floor for dancing. The space features acoustic-focused design elements, courtesy of Fletcher's friend and fellow architect Hope Bagenal.{{Cite web|title=Cecil Sharp House, Camden, London|url=https://manchesterhistory.net/architecture/1920/cecilsharp.html}}

The building was damaged by bombing in 1940 the Second World War. The basement and library were mostly undamaged, but the entrance, stairs, and main hall were all damaged. After the war, the architect John Eastwick-Field was commissioned to restore the building, which was reopened in 1951. The raised musicians gallery in the main hall, destroyed by the bombing, was not reinstated; in its place the British abstract pastoral painter Ivon Hitchens was commissioned to paint a mural, which shows English folk dances and traditions. When unveiled in 1954, it was the largest single-wall mural in the United Kingdom.{{Cite web|title=Ivon Hitchens' 'Mural'|url=https://artuk.org/discover/stories/ivon-hitchens-mural}}

In addition to Kennedy Hall, Cecil Sharp House contains several smaller performance and rehearsal spaces; a café and bar; and the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library and Archive. Cecil Sharp House is an active and popular venue for concerts, as well as conferences and other private functions. In 2015, the building was voted as one of London's 20 best music venues by readers of Time Out magazine.{{Cite web|title=The Best Music Venues in London: Cecil Sharp House|date=7 July 2015 |url=https://www.timeout.com/london/music/the-best-music-venues-in-london-cecil-sharp-house}}

Recent developments

File:Cecil Sharp House-1.jpg, London, is home to the English Folk Dance and Song Society]]

In 1998, with the folk movement strongly supported by a number of other organisations and the seeds planted by EFDSS thriving, the EFDSS altered its strategy to focus on education and archiving, with its primary goal the development of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library as the country's national archive and resource centre for folk music, dance and song.

In 2009, the society became a regularly funded organisation (now called a National Portfolio Organisation) of Arts Council England.{{Cite web|title=Our History|date=19 August 2019 |url=https://www.efdss.org/about-us/our-history}}

In 2011 the society entered into a joint commission with Shrewsbury Folk Festival to create the Cecil Sharp Project, a multi-artist residential commission to create new works based on the life and collecting of Cecil Sharp. The project took place in March 2011, the artists involved being: Steve Knightley, Andy Cutting, Leonard Podolak, Jim Moray, Jackie Oates, Caroline Herring, Kathryn Roberts and Patsy Reid.{{cite web |title=Cecil Sharp Project |url=https://www.efdss.org/efdss-artists-development/commissions/cecil-sharp-project |website=English Folk Dance and Song Society |access-date=20 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180920084253/https://www.efdss.org/efdss-artists-development/commissions/cecil-sharp-project |archive-date=20 September 2018 |url-status=dead }}

In 2013, EFDSS launched The Full English, an ongoing archive project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, The Folklore Society, the National Folk Music Fund and the English Miscellany Folk Dance Group. This free and searchable resource of 44,000 records and over 58,000 digitised images is the world's biggest digital archive of traditional music and dance tunes.{{cite news|last=Chilton|first=Martin|title='Staggering' digital folk music archive launched|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/10134011/Staggering-digital-folk-music-archive-launched.html|access-date=26 February 2014|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=21 June 2013}}

As well as folk music, the EFDSS is home to a number of performance artists, providing a regular performance platform for acts including the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, the Massive Violins and the Swingle Singers.

In September 2021, EFDSS opened consultation to consider changing its name, as it was felt by some that it did not represent the aims and outlook of the society.{{Cite web |date=2021-12-02 |title=A consultation about our name |url=https://www.efdss.org/about-us/what-we-do/news/10690-a-consultation-about-our-name |access-date=2022-04-07 |website=English Folk Dance and Song Society |language=en-gb}} A proposed name was 'Folk Arts England', a name formerly used between 2005 and 2014 by the Association of Festival Organisers. Of 65 members surveyed in November 2021, 74% approved this name, against other proposals such as 'Folk Arts Society'.{{Cite web |date=2021-09-01 |title=What's in a Name? |url=https://www.efdss.org/about-us/what-we-do/news/10479-what-s-in-a-name |access-date=2022-04-07 |website=English Folk Dance and Song Society |language=en-gb}} As of 2025, the organisation is still known as the English Folk Dance and Song Society.

EFDSS Gold Badge Awards

The EFDSS Gold Badge Award, created in 1922, is made to those deemed to have made exceptional contributions to folk music, dance, or the wider folk arts and folk community. Many past recipients are prominent figures not only within the folk community, but of wider British culture and society.{{Cite web|title=Gold Badge Awards|date=19 August 2019 |url=https://www.efdss.org/about-us/our-history/gold-badge-awards}}

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • {{Official website}}
  • {{EW charity|305999}}
  • [https://www.efdss.org/about-us/publications/english-dance-and-song/ English Dance and Song Magazine website]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:English Folk Dance And Song Society}}

Category:English folk dance

Category:English folk music

Category:English folklore

Category:Ralph Vaughan Williams

Category:Arts organizations established in 1932

Category:1932 establishments in the United Kingdom

Category:Charities based in England

Category:History of the London Borough of Camden

Category:Organisations based in the London Borough of Camden