from the Festival Director - Sidmouth Folk week

Youth
Youth Workshops at
Sidmouth: Shooting Roots
For everyone aged 12-18
Festival season is in full bloom! We’ve
been waiting all year, but we’re finally
back at Sidmouth – join us and add
some Shooting Roots sparkle to your
summer!
Our fantastic workshops are a great
place for all you budding young folkies to
expand your skills, explore your ideas
and meet amazing people. From the
curious to the capable, we have
something for everyone.
We have a plethora of bright young
tutors standing by to guide you through
Shooting Roots
Boot Camp. Will
you be ready for
Thursday’s F-
Factor finale in
time to perform for
our villainous
judges?
So come along for a
week of creative
mayhem. Be part of
the magic!
Workshops
Sidmouth is peerless in the breadth of its
workshop programme. If you like to get
stuck in and involved – learn an
instrument or a new singing or dance
style or enjoy some communal musicmaking
– we have a workshop with your
name on it. Get close up and personal
with some of the fantastic musicians and
dancers booked at the festival in a
playground of 250 workshops, from oneoff
tasters to week-long series, from
beginners to masterclasses.
There’s a basic list of workshops on
the following pages, with more detail in
the main programme pages. The level of
the workshop is given as a guide in
some cases.
Our dance workshop programme
features a global foot-stepping feast
from flirtatious Flamenco to high-kicking
Zimbabwean, from graceful Breton to
Appalachian flatfooting, from contradance
to Eastern European dance steps.
On home turf, we offer Irish Set,
Welsh, Playford and plenty more for
aspiring Dance Callers and Beginners
and Improver Ceilidh Dancers. Plus a
Shooting Roots
Workshops this year...
Theatre – The world’s most cynical,
despicable reality-show format comes to
Sidmouth! Theatre will be exploring the
lives of judges and contestants as they
battle through the ferocious Folk Factor.
Somewhere backstage, amidst rapper
swords and violin-bows, the poor and the
downtrodden whisper of revolution. A
week of unpredictable events is in store!
Song for Dance – a twist on a classic;
learn singing styles and arrangements
suitable for dancing, and challenge the
dancers to work around your songs. We
have powerful harmonies; we have a
brand new medium; we need you!
Rapper – Join the phenomenal
Gaorsach for the chance to try your
hand at this racy Northern nonpareil.
Morris – Cotswold, Border or Molly...
Novice or expert... Teamed-up with
Song for Dance and with tutors from
teams such as Offspring, Boggart’s
Breakfast and Nonesuch, we’ll surely be
able to teach even the most jaded
Morris pro a trick or two!
Playing by Ear – back by popular
demand! Baffled by how players
magically join in without the dots? Come
along to learn the simple tools that help
you navigate unknown tunes and have
fun in a session.
Funky World Band – Big-band
bombast, little ensemble pieces...
Whether you’ve just picked up your first
penny whistle or you’re a monster on the
melodeon, we’ll be learning and arranging
a range of great folk tunes and adding a
generous pinch of Shooting Roots style.
Craft – after last year’s triumphant
expansion, craft is now a force to be
reckoned with. Come along to make
snazzy props for the theatre folk, and
bring big ideas for your own projects too
– this year we’re thinking outside the
(cardboard) box!
Storytelling – join special guest tutor
Rachel Rose Reid as she explores the
art of enthrallment and mesmerism.
Aiming towards participation in a storyround
session at the end of the week,
bring a story you’d love to tell or we’ll
find one for you.
Get stuck in! Please see the daily listings for details and levels of ability required.
solid line-up of Clog and Step, Border
Morris, North West Morris, Molly and
Cotswold Morris styles!
Festival favourite Kerry Fletcher
returns with a diverse array of
workshops, including an introduction to
dance for Absolute Beginners, a series of
European dance technique workshops
from Bourrées to Polskas via the
Fandango. Try out your fancy footwork at
our European dance nights and Bal!
Musicians are spoilt for choice with
Festival Concert Band with John
Kirkpatrick, Big Band with Nick &
Mary Barber, Spoons Orchestra with
Jo May, fiddle with Kirsty Cotter,
bodhran with Will Lang, Zimbabwean
traditions with Chartwell Dutiro,
melodeon with Ed Rennie, country
dance tunes with Tim Laycock & Colin
Thompson, Scan Tester tunes with Will
Duke, guitar with Gavin Davenport,
ukulele with Clive Harvey, Eastern
European fiddle tunes with Lebedek,
instrumental arrangements with Pete
Coe plus sessions for accordion and
concertina.
Singers strike a chord with Festival
Choir with Sandra Kerr, Big Sings with
the fairly spooky Stephen Taberner,
West Gallery Country Carols, Shapenote,
Harmony, Political Songs and song
workshops and presentations led by Len
Graham, Fay Hield, Peta Webb, Ken
Hall and Jerry O’Reilly.
Workshop Tickets
Admission £8 on the door for individual
workshops. Alternatively, a book of 6
workshop passes can be bought either
from the Festival Box Office or at the door
of workshop venues. The pass costs £38
for 6 workshops (a saving of £10) and
can be ‘traded in’ at all workshops
marked with ‘W’ in the events listing.
Workshop Showcases
Several of the workshops series lead to a
showcase event at the end of the week.
The Festival Choir, the Festival Concert
Band and Spoons Orchestra will be
guests at the Family Sidmouth Workshop
Showcase on Friday. There is a Shooting
Roots F-Factor Finale on Thursday at
4.30pm.The Big Band plays for an Anchor
Gardens ceilidh on Thursday at 7pm.
page 49