Furness Tradition Festival happens only once a year so we feel it is a rare chance to bring something to really look forward to for our local musicians and dancers. There has been a growing interest in song and vocal skill throughout our area via community choirs, singing groups and especially young people coming to song performance skills for perhaps a first time. Likewise the area is especially rich in step and clog dancing tradition so these are the two groups of people who hopefully will particularly enjoy these twinned workshops - and actually find themselves performing together!
Our Workshop presenters are JigJaw - four women who sing together in tight, rich vocal harmony and especially rhythm - because they sing music to dance to!! They are also superb step dance practitioners in a wide array of styles - and even more importantly great teachers of these skills. All have been performers in their own right for many years but all have been noted trainers and teachers of their skills also.
So we are offering two workshops one presented by Janet Russell and Kerry Fletcher developing voices and vocal skills. Janet is a professional singer and performer of traditional and contemporary songs (and a fine songwriter) who has also worked and developed a number of extraordinary community choirs in the North West, whilst Kerry is among other things National Co-ordinator for the Singup programme.
The second workshop will be presented by Rosie Davis and Frances Watt and will concentrate on dance.
These two workshops
will come together and end with all singing and dancing together before we
share a lunchtime together and continue on to our Farewell Concert.