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40 Phonebox Magazine | January 2025Georgian Dancers of Amazing Grace Cue Music %u2013 John Temple tries a new dance moveNow, did I lead with my left or right foot and which way did I turn? I%u2019d forgotten and I%u2019d only just been told what to do. It was embarrassing. I felt hot under the collar. What was I doing here? What had I let myself in for? A friend had suggested I came. She said I needed a hobby. She said I needed to get out more; to socialise and make friends. She said it would be fun. She is full of good ideas. This was her idea of fun. Who was she kidding? I didn%u2019t know what I was doing. I felt well and truly out of my depth. She had seen an article in October%u2019s Phonebox Magazine inviting people to a free taster session hosted by the Georgian Dancers of Amazing Grace at the Olney Centre on the High Street. It was on a Friday evening, a few weeks ago. It started at 7pm. I was the last to arrive with minutes to spare. The group, which is affi liated with the Cowper & Newton Museum has been running since 2016 but this is the fi rst time they have advertised for new members. Membership dropped during Covid and had never recovered. It is run by Roy and Jo Walker, who are experienced Playford Dancers, a generic term used to describe the dances in The English Dancing Master, a book published in several editions by John Playford and his successors from 1651 until 1728. The class was being held in Room 2, a large rectangular room with high ceilings. Roy Walker waved me in. He was standing at the far end of the room with a group of people. They turned and smiled. I counted sixteen people. It was a mature class. There was a lot of grey, white and dyed hair. Age wise, I%u2019d fi t in, although I was assured that the group was open to all ages. They were casually dressed. A couple of the men wore trainers. Some of the women had bought their dance shoes in carrier bags and were sitting at the back changing into them. A violinist sat at one side of the room sorting through manuscripts. I was surprised. I wasn%u2019t expecting live music. Roy wrote my Christian name on a small badge and gave it me to wear. Everyone wore name badges. It was a way of helping break the ice. I wasn%u2019t the only newbie. There were three others willing to have a go. One of the men gave me an album to look at. I fl ipped through the pages. It was full of photographs of the group dancing in 18th Century dress. Women in wide dresses with open robes and petticoats. Men in frock coats and breeches. Some wearing hats. All wearing white wigs. Very colourful and energetic. The group regularly make public performances, not only at the museum but in care homes and National Trust properties. They have also performed on The Antiques Roadshow and before royalty. I balked at the thought of it. It was a big enough hurdle to cross to get to the class, never mind contemplating having to dress up and become a public spectacle. It must have shown in my face. %u201cDon%u2019t worry,%u201d the man laughed. %u201cIt%u2019s not compulsory.%u201d Jo Walker called everyone to order. Time to dance. One of the ladies invited me onto the fl oor. There%u2019s no need to go the class with a partner. People dance with each other and change partners regularly. After a warmup of us moving both ways in a circle we moved onto learning a Georgian dance. We formed a set of four with another couple and stood with other couples of four, in a line running the length of the room. Jo talked us through the dance in stages. She is a walking, talking encyclopaedia of 18th Century dance. It was a dance class and history lesson in one. She said Georgian balls were big social events which sometimes lasted until the early hours of the morning. They were the dances of educated society. People thronged to them. They came in their fi nery to make friends, to talk, to gossip, to fl irt, to court but mostly to dance and enjoy themselves. Jo talked us through the dance stage by stage. She read from notes in plastic sleeves kept in a loose leafed folder and either she, or Roy demonstrated the steps. She went through it a couple of times; cued the music and people began to dance. I followed their lead with awkward, tentative steps. Each couple progressed up and down the line, dancing with other couples. There was so much to think about. At times I couldn%u2019t remember my left from my right and struggled knowing which way to turn. Originally, the dances would have included fancy footwork but nowadays it%u2019s mostly walking or skipping steps. We were told to skip lightly and not lift our knees like we were riding a bike. Did they mean me? It was a long time since I skipped anywhere. I toned it down and it came back to me. Funny, how the body remembers what it did as a fi ve-year-old. The dance was stopped for Roy to demonstrate a move and to show us how to bow with a theatrical fl ourish. The man doesn%u2019t hold back. I managed a self-conscious bend from the waist. There were breaks between the dances, but they were very short. There was no time to chat. The Walkers treat dance seriously. The emphasis was on making most of the time and learning the dances. One and a half hours later it was time for the last dance. Will I come again? We%u2019ll see. It was an enjoyable evening. They are a friendly bunch of people, and they couldn%u2019t have been more welcoming. Why don%u2019t you give it a try? Perhaps I%u2019ll see you there. Cue Music. The violinist began to play. Now, did I lead with my left or right foot and which way did I turn? For information about The Georgian Dancers of Amazing Grace contact Roy & Jo Walker on 0771 8371554 or walkerrd@sky.com