Andrew
Shaw
Andrew
was dragged kicking and screaming to his first country dance as a teenager back
in the 60s, but has got over that and is now one of the most sought after and
respected English Country Dance leaders at home and abroad, highly regarded for
his detailed knowledge, high standards and precise, good-humoured
instruction.
At home he has run
the Lemmings Reprieve dance club for 40 years and his annual Kyndred Spirits course, dating back (under different names)
to 2001, attracts an international group of country dancers. Although he can
sometimes be found teaching modern dances in the same style, 17th
and 18th century ECD is his passion, formed under the influence of
his friend and mentor Tom Cook. He researches, reconstructs, then teaches these
dances, not as museum pieces, but in a way that will appeal to the dancers of
today.
He is
uncompromising in his belief in the value of dancing well: that doing so can
raise the dancer to another level, that dancing, like singing, is one of life’s
redeeming pleasures, that lemmings may indeed be reprieved.
He
has published seven collections of dance reconstructions to date, the most
recent, entitled Black and Gray, accompanying the CD of the same name by
John Hymas. The books contain a wealth of information on the
social and historical context of the dances, on little-known dancing-masters
like Nathaniel Kynaston and Richard Motley and on bibliographical aspects of
ECD publications, such as his Guide to the editions and volumes of
The Dancing-Master.
In-between times,
he also edited The Dances of Brian Wedgbury, in memory of this fine
dance composer and near-neighbour, who died in 2002.
For
a list of his forthcoming engagements, click here
For
price and availability of his publications, click here
For
lists of the dances taught at his annual weekends, click the following links:
For the Furthur
Improvement of Dancing (2008-2015)
Kyndred Spirits
(2016-2020, 2022-2025)