Join Us
It's great fun learning and performing alongside a consistent group of people over a period of time - and results in a rich source of accumulated wisdom and anecdotes for the company! We rehearse once a week and perform at events all across London, the UK and have even performed abroad in the Czech Republic, USA, Austria and more...
Taster classes
We try to maintain a balance of genders within the company, and have recently had some ladies join, so are particularly pleased to hear from any gentlemen at the moment. if you are interested in attending a taster class, please Contact Us.
Becoming a member
We ask people to apply to become members. As a performing company we need to ensure everyone knows the repertoire, loves performing and interacting with guests, and dances to a decent standard – so it involves more commitment than drop-in classes.
We are currently interested in welcoming new gentlemen to apply for membership. About once a term we'll hold a special class for potential members, but if the next one isn't for a while, we'll ask you to come along to one of our normal classes. Our Secretary will get in touch to invite you to a free taster class.
Probationary membership
After attending a few months of rehearsals, if you like what you see and we feel you'd do well, we'll invite you to join for a term as a probationary member.
You won't be able to take part in events or vote on company matters, but we'll start teaching you the dances in class each week, for a reduced fee.
Full membership
After a term of baroque dancing we hope you'll have fallen in love with it, and that you're feeling more comfortable with the steps and technique. The Dancing Mistress and company together decide whether to invite you to join as a full member.
Then we can give you access to all our resources and help you sort out a costume so you can take part in your first performance as soon as possible!
Performing with the Company
Rehearsals
We rehearse on Wednesday evenings in a lovely wooden-floored hall in central London. Most of us wear jazz shoes, but anything with a slight heel will do. After warming-up the lower legs, and a practice of some of the trickier steps or sequences, the main part of the session is spent learning new dances and polishing the more familiar ones. We roughly follow school terms, with short gaps at Christmas and Easter, and a longer break over the summer.
Events
When an event is first suggested, we'll ask members to indicate if they're able to attend. One of the dancers volunteers to be 'producer', the main point of contact before and during the event. He or she liaises with the organiser to understand their requirements and make arrangements, and with our Dancing Mistress to select the dances.
On the day, we'll arrive at the venue a few hours before the performance for a run-through of the program in situ, and then it takes about an hour to get into costume (at least for the ladies).
Quite often we're not just performing dances, we're also teaching them to the audience. One person will call out instructions, and the rest of us will help make sure everyone's following them!