Arts Features

Over the last three years Shrewsbury Folk Festival has become one of the highlights in the English folk calendar. Now organisers are celebrating a £26,000 grant over three years from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The project hopes to introduce local schoolchildren to traditional music and dance and it's already drawing upon the expertise of folk's top talent.

From 16-20 June Oxon C of E Primary School is hosting young folk group the Demon Barbers, who will also be appearing at the Shrewsbury Folk Festival. Damian Barber, Bryony Griffith and Fiona Bradshaw from the Demon Barber Roadshow are introducing children to traditional dances such as clog stepping, rapper and morris dancing.

At the end of the week the pupils will be showing off their new skills at the Shrewsbury Music Hall.

While dancing has always been popular, it's rare for children to encounter the folk genre, as Damian Barber explained: "Although traditional dance is in the curriculum, children usually only learn a bit of country dancing. Often there aren't teachers with the specialist knowledge needed to teach some of the more obscure forms... This is where we come in.

"We can spend a week working with the children and encourage them to form their own teams."

Clog stepping is a precursor to tap dancing, performed in heavy wooden-soled clogs and popular in the north of England. Rapper dance was made up by the miners, dancing with the 'swords' used to scrape the dirt off the pit ponies when they came up from the pit.

It's the second time Oxon School have worked with traditional dancers and Neil Pearson, director of the festival is hoping another school will take up the challenge for next year.