Michael Barraclough
Description
Michael has been dancing and calling for over 50 years. He has danced with London Folk (the EFDSS national dance company), London Pride Morris Men (Cotswold), Manley Traditional Morris Men (NorthWest) and founded/directed the Queen Anne Dance Company. He was also a Folk Camp leader for many years. He came across ‘country dancing’ at elementary school in England, but it was not until he went to a Barn Dance when he was 17 that he became hooked. He started calling in 1972 as the resident caller at Haystack Folk Club, the weekly London University folk dance and song club. Until work and family pressures dictated an early retirement in 1991, he had called at most of the major folk festivals in the UK and was the caller with the acclaimed electric folk-rock band Pyewackett for 10 years. In 2002 he decided that he couldn’t keep away and started calling regularly again. He has called at many UK and US festivals including Bromyard (‘02), Whitby (‘03,’04), Eastbourne (‘03,’05,’07), Lichfield (‘04,’05) and Sidmouth (‘06,’07,'10 and '17)., and in the USA: 3 dance weekends in Minneapolis, 4 dance camps in California, a dance camp in Florida and had appearances at NEFFA in 2007 (contra), 2008 (ECD) and 2009 (ceilidh and contra medley).He also ran a monthly zesty contra series in Newbury and created and ran the first five ‘sell-out’ zesty contra weekends at Halsway Manor. He has been heard calling on TV and radio in the UK. After 10 years living, calling and dancing in the USA he is now back in the UK and lives just outside Manchester where he calls regularly for Adlington and Hawk Green Folk Damce clubs. He is considered an authority on the authentic performance of 17th and 18th century English country dance. He was a member of the Dance Research Advisory Group of the Institute of Teachers of Dance (ISTD) and has served on the council of the Society for Dance Research. He has had papers published in the Folk Music Journal and Traditional Dance and presented a lecture/workshop at the Dolmetsch Historical Dance Society 2001 Conference on his new interpretation of Newcastle.