Stepdance Day 2011

The 2011 Stepdance Day took place on Sunday 10th July at the Swan in Worlingworth, near Framlingham in central Suffolk, a little gem of a pub with a real old-fashioned feel to it.

11 year-old Ella Beal won the Steve Monk Memorial Stepdance Competition. Ella has been stepdancing since she was 7 years old, but that’s 4 years ago now, so she has a few years experience behind her, but it still came as an amazing surprise when she was announced as the winner, beating dancers of all ages. Ella’s mum, Lindsay, has been “instrumental” in supporting her, as she plays melodeon for Ella to dance to. Second was Simon Ritchie, and joint third were “Uncle” Mo Allum and Simon Harmer. Best newcomer was Pam Russell and best under 16 Stevie Chenery.

The Font Whatling Traditional Stepdance Trophy was won by the irrepressible Percy West with Lenny Whiting second and Doreen West third. Special mention was made of 8 year-old Alfie Matthews for superb dancing in this competition.

Many thanks to Teresa and staff at the Swan at Worlingworth for providing the marquee, beer and food, and to everyone else who helped out, joined in or watched!

Stepdance Day 2010

The 2010 Stepdance Day took place on Sunday 4th July in Worlingworth, near Framlingham in Suffolk.

After a short tutorial session, there followed the Steve Monk Memorial Competition (allcomers) and the Font Whatling Trophy. It is just over ten years since Steve Monk died, and his widow, Marilyn, spoke movingly about how much she appreciated the fact that this event was still keeping his memory alive amongst so many people. Marilyn is a judge for that competition, and Font Whatling's son Brian is on the panel for the Font Whatling Traditional Stepdance competition.

There were plenty of participants in the workshop session and both competitions, the results of which were as follows:

Steve Monk Memorial Stepdance Competition

Overall Winner: Leo Temple (Baker)

Best Newcomer: Simon Harmer

Under-16:  Alfie Matthews (7)

Font Whatling Traditional Stepdance Trophy

Simon Ritchie

Stepdance Day 2009

The 2009 EATMT Stepdance Day took place on Sunday 5th July and was the fourth such event we organised, having taken over the reins from the Delarre family who founded and ran the Steve Monk Memorial Stepdance Championship at Moreton in Essex for the first few years. Their original idea was not only to keep alive the memory of Steve Monk, a great entertainer who introduced many people in Essex to traditional music and dancing, but also to encourage anyone to have a go and take part in stepdancing. This aspect has really taken off in recent years, as may be seen by the fact there is now a stepdance day in Blaxhall as well, and people in Norfolk have also taken it up again keenly. Last year we expanded our event to include a second competition to encourage a higher standard of traditional-style dancing, as a tribute to Font Whatling, a legendary stepdancer who lived in Worlingworth, the village where our Stepdance Day has been held for the last couple of years. There are various other awards for newcomers and youngsters, thanks to patrons Gloria & Trevor Buckley and other supporters, but the real joy is in the fantastic atmosphere and the chance to see and meet up with other dancers.

The event took place at the Worlingworth Swan, thanks to the continuing support from both landlady Maxine, who supplied a marquee, and from Percy & Doreen West who provided enough boards for everyone to have a go in a workshop. The informal event kicked off about 1pm with a short tutorial session hosted by Simon Ritchie, followed by a music and stepping session. There then followed the two competitions, the Steve Monk Memorial Competition (allcomers) and the Font Whatling Trophy (hard-soled shoes only).

Winner of the Steve Monk Memorial Stepdance Competition 2009 was Lenny Whiting. Runner-up was Leo Baker, (previously best newcomer) and best newcomer was Sue Mitchell. A new prize of best under-16 was awarded to Catrin Pena.

Winner of the Font Whatling Traditional Stepdance Trophy was Cyril Barber, aged 86, who astounded the entire audience by bounding up on stage unaided and won everybody over with his energetic and precise dancing. Runners up were Simon Ritchie and Doreen West.

More photographs of the event may be viewed online, thanks to EATMT member and photographer John Halliday who has kindly provided an opportunity for you to see more of his photos from EATMT events, and to make links with other enthusiasts on Facebook. You don't have to belong to Facebook to see the photographs, just click here to see the photos: Stepdance Day 2009.

Stepdance Day 2008

The annual Stepdance Day again took place at the Swan, Worlingworth, Framlingham, Suffolk on Sunday 3rd August. It featured the 9th annual Steve Monk Memorial Stepdance Competition and the 1st Font Whatling Traditional Stepdance Competition. A stepdance workshop at 12.30 was followed by a music, song and dance session until the Steve Monk Competition at 2.30 followed by the Font Whatling Competition. Steve Monk lived near Framlingham, and was a great character who influenced many people to 'have a go' at joining in with music and dance, and the competition was set up by some of his friends to keep this spirit alive. This year we introduced the Font Whatling competition in memory of the Swan's resident musician and stepper (1919-1998) who was for a number of years also a member of the Old Hat Concert Party and became well known at folk festivals around the country. The aim is to keep the older style of dancing with hard-soled shoes going. Dancers were welcome to enter both competitions. The Steve Monk competition is for allcomers at any level, and dancers had a free choice of music and musician. For the Font Whatling Trophy, entrants were not permitted to wear clogs or tap shoes, and had to dance to two specific tunes: Pigeon on the Gate (hornpipe) and Oh, Joe, the Boat is Going Over (polka) played by the same musician.

Despite exceptionally rainy weather, the event was extremely well-attended:  we estimate that nearly 400 people came along to watch or participate! Simon Ritchie ran a short workshop at lunchtime, which was followed by a tune-up.

The Steve Monk Memorial Stepdance Competition attracted 25 entrants of varying ages and standards, including several first-timers. It was won by Percy West, with Shaun Kelly winning the best newcomer award, and prizes given to all six children who entered. It was followed by the new Font Whatling Traditional Stepdance Trophy - a new class instigated this year with some stricter rules, designed to really raise the bar for experienced dancers. This was won by Lenny Whiting, who was a friend of Font Whatling, and runner-up was Doreen West .

The Swan is a lovely old-fashioned pub and has recently been under threat from developers ... it deserves your support all the year round! Many many thanks to Maxine and all her staff for being so supportive of the Stepdance Day for the second year. Thanks also to Percy West for again sorting out enough boards for everyone to dance on and to patrons Gloria and Trevor Buckley for their support of the event.

Photos:

Top row, left to right: Brian Whatling (Font's son, and a judge), Catrin Pena dancing to Simon Ritchie, Doreen O'Connor dancing to Steve Matthews, Steve Matthews.

Middle row, left to right: Lenny Whiting dances to Katie Howson, judges Simon Ritchie, Marilyn Monk & last year's winner Pam Buckley conferring, Dusty Smith (another judge) deep in thought, Gloria Buckley with some of the children who entered.

Bottom row, left to right: Gloria Buckley and Catrin Pena, Brian Whatling presenting Lenny Whiting with the Font Whatling Memorial Trophy, Marilyn Monk presenting Percy West with the Steve Monk Memorial Cup, Shaun Kelly with Best Newcomer award.

More photos of the event are on the Facebook website, courtesy of John Halliday: More photos of Stepdance Day 2008

Stepdance Day 2007

This took place on a blazing hot day, but the marquee and mature trees in the garden of the Swan at Worlingworth provided enough shade for the two hundred or so people who attended the 8th Annual Steve Monk Memorial Stepdance Competition.
 

Simon Ritchie ran an informal and informative workshop over lunchtime, and eighteen people entered the competition in the afternoon. Steve Monk, who died age 48 in April 2000, was a great entertainer with a mischievous sense of fun. He introduced Simon Ritchie to traditional music, and Simon continues Steve’s light-hearted approach in this event. Joining Simon as judges this year were Percy West (last year’s winner) and Marilyn Monk.

Overall winner on points was Pam Buckley from Wisbech, with local boys Lenny Whiting and Billy Heffer as runners up, and a new prize was awarded by Gloria and Trevor Buckley to the best newcomer: Leo Baker from Tiptree.

Many thanks to Maxine at the Swan for making us so welcome, and to Percy West for providing step dance boards for everyone.

Photos:

Top row, left to right: Doreen O'Connor, Worlingworth Swan, Cyril Barber, Worlingworth (yes, it really is in the middle of nowhere!)

Middle row, left to right: workshop, the Marquee, workshop

Bottom row: Lenny Whiting, Marilyn Monk presents Pam Buckley with the overall winner's award, Gloria Buckley presents Leo Baker with the Best Newcomer award, Leo in action

More photos of the event are on the Facebook website, courtesy of John Halliday: More photos of Stepdance Day 2007

Stepdance Day 2006

Blazing hot weather on a Sunday in July 2006 didn’t put off the large number of people who took part in a stepdancing workshop and competition and got even hotter! Fortunately, the main hall at the Riverside Centre in Stratford St. Andrew near the Suffolk coast was nice and cool for the workshop led by Simon Ritchie from Thaxted, Pam Buckley from Wisbech and Tom Orchard, special guest from Devon.
 

Workshop goers were taught a variety of steps and had the treat of demonstrations by the tutors and several other local stepdancers including Cyril Barber, Percy West and Lenny Whiting.

Everyone then moved outside for the stepdance competition, which saw a record number of twenty-one participants enter, with ages from ten to eighty-three, and many new-comers. After much debate and recounting of scores, the winner was announced as Percy West from Palgrave near Diss.
 

Many thanks are due to Steve and Jayne Delarre who set up the original event, Dick and Angela Plant at the Riverside Centre and Suffolk Coastal District Council, and to all the people who took part in the workshop and competition - keep it up!

Photos (left to right):

Morning workshop, with Tom Orchard teaching.

Lenny Whiting in the competition.

Percy West receiving his prize from one of the judges, Simon Ritchie.

Cyril Barber, winner of the lifetime achievement award!

Previous to 2006, the Steve Monk Memorial Championship was run by the Delarre family  - in 2005 it was at the Eel's Foot in Suffolk, and before that, at the Moreton Festival near Chelmsford in Essex. In 2005 we ran it together and in 2006 EATMT stepped in to run it when it would otherwise have been cancelled. Many thanks to Steve, Jayne, Dave and Jamie for setting it up, keeping it going and passing it on!