Feedback from dancers

Feedback from Dancers

Many thanks for a wonderful day inside and outside, up the stairs and down. In the labyrinth and beneath the trees. Jenny.

It was a pleasure to attend
your Circle Dance Workshop and experience your beautiful gentle
teaching. I will always have fond memories of this day and the healing
effects of the energy of the dances will stay with me for sometime.
Once again many thanks to yourself and your husband, Michael for such a
wonderful day.

Angela.

Your garden is a wonderful eco system and a tribute to all the hard work you have put into it.

I found the labyrinth fascinating too and you worked it very well into the dance day, it truly was an integral part of the whole.

A fabulous day all round.

Jean.

Circle dancing is a beautiful and gentle way of dancing. The dances all have positive meanings that you dance for, which is lovely and really adds to the evening. The meanings are very easy to grasp and simple. None of it is overdone and it is so relaxing.
Derrie is a brilliant teacher. She is really into the dances and is very patient. She also has a great sense of humour and the evenings are always lots of fun. It's a very nice thing to do at the end of the week, especially if you've spent the week hurried off your feet! It's very special to have two hours when you can just relax and take the time for you.
It's fine if you've never been before - it's all taught for beginners. It's nice that you don't have to make a regular commitment and can just turn up when you have the time and when you feel like it.
The music is superb, the dances are very enjoyable, Derrie is brilliant, and everything is a great laugh. 10/10!

"Circle Dancing is brilliant in so many ways. The effect of the dancing itself, the music, the atmosphere of the room, the group connection. Sometimes I’ve turned up tired or stressed at the end of the day, and after a few dances I realise I’m feeling energised and centred again. I love the variety of dances we do and the wonderful range of music from all over the world. The Bach Flower Dances are powerful in their healing effect, and leave you feeling stronger and somehow restored to balance. We learn other types of dances too, traditional folk, Native American and modern - some of them lively and joyful, others empowering, and some gentle and thoughtful.

Derrie’s teaching style is very relaxed and good fun, but she always manages to get across the deeper meaning of the dances as well. No-one ever needs to worry about getting the steps wrong. We all get our lefts and rights mixed up sometimes, or our mind wanders and so do the feet, but it’s easy to sort yourself out and just carry on. All the dances are fairly simple and Derrie carefully goes through the steps for each one before we start, so even total beginners can join in straightaway.

It’s a great feeling when the group has mastered a new dance and you’re moving together in a circle, or the pleasure in doing an old favourite once again and feeling the beneficial effect it has on you all. I’m very grateful to be part of this group."

"Humans always have and always will dance. It’s part of our make-up. We dance singly, with a partner or, in this case, in a group where all the participants dance together in a circle. Because it is co-operative rather than competitive, because you have no need to acquire or worry about a partner and because there is no audience judging your performance or appearance, you can relax and become absorbed into the rhythm and movement and music. You do not need any experience of dancing, the odd mistake never matters and you do not need to be super fit; it is more walking than running. And it takes place in a serene candlit room in an old stone building flanked by flowers, lawns and majestic copper beech trees – see Gallery. Derrie, our teacher, demonstrates the steps of each dance, we practice, and when we feel reasonably confident, we dance to the music which is beautiful, unusual and uplifting, and which brings dancers and the dance miraculously together.

Circle dancing is a very ancient tradition. The Bach Flower dances, also circular, are a more recent development. They are an extension, through dance, of Dr Bach’s philosophy that essences contained in various flowers are remedies to drive out negative emotions and replace them with positive ones, enabling us to heal ourselves. Whether or not you believe this, it remains a fact that circle dancing will lift your spirits, leaving you revitalised and energised, aided greatly by Derrie whose knowledge, enthusiasm and enjoyment is infectious."