Dance Reviews
BUXTON DAY(S) OF DANCE 2025 - Chapel-en-le-Frith Morris
Wouldn’t you just know it, Day of Dance arrives and so did the rain, and at times it did deter some of the troupes to seek shelter but it didn’t dampen their spirits!
Buxton was treated to a cavalcade of dancing around the town for a good part of the day. This year is the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Chapel-en-le-Frith Morris (Men back in those days) and their first public outing was in Sandbach. Since then they’ve gone from strength to strength and are still very active!
What better way to celebrate their Golden Jubilee than by putting on an extravaganza of Morris dancing over two days as part of the Fringe. It was all organised by Will, a long-time member and it looked to be going perfectly as I wandered around the town.
In addition to the Chapel dancers there were the Fiddle & Feet group from Yorkshire who specialised in traditional Appalachian dancing, the Maids of Clifton (the Nottingham one), the Ansley dancers from Worcestershire and from closer to home Chip off the Old Block from Derby and the Whaley Bridge Morris dancers.
They were watched by a decent sized audience throughout the day at each dancing spot despite all the rain. Sadly, the forecast is for more rain tomorrow but it won’t deter the dancers, don’t let it deter you – go and support them!
There are details of where and when you can see each troupe on the Chapel Morris website www.chapelmorris.org
Ian Parker Heath
VINYL DISCO EXTRAVAGANZA - Retro Mike
It’s great to have a new dance offering at the Fringe and the Vinyl Disco Extravaganza from Retro Mike proved a fun night with all proceeds going to Blythe House Hospice.
In the gracious setting of the Chatsworth Room in the Palace Hotel, the multi- coloured turntables never stopped spinning as our capable DJ treated us to fabulous hits - ‘bangers’ you might say - from the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies.
Most exciting for me were the Fifties’ tracks with two rock ‘n’ rollers on the dance floor generously teaching me some of their moves. My salsa friends were also in attendance and we did not let the lack of salsa music stand in our way. Who knew Lipstick on Your Collar had such salsa potential?
With life-size cut outs of Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley looking down on us, we felt we were in good company. There was even one of those seaside-style photo boards where two of you could poke your heads in the holes and have your photo taken as the fittest dancing couple ever!
I hope the Vinyl Disco returns to the Fringe and attracts even more people. If you missed it and would like to donate to Blythe House visit www.blythehousehospice.org.uk/support-us
Stephanie Billen
