Help for Groups

The EDC is always happy to offer any help it can to emerging historical dance groups, whatever period they love to dance. We hope that this page will be helpful for both organisers and teachers.

Some Basic Advice

Much of this may seem obvious but groups are always changing and evolving and new groups start, so some of it may prove useful.

• Choosing Dances: Your own experience can be supplemented by consulting the EDC’s website. Sources of dance instruction and music are listed at on our Learning the Dances page. Summer and weekend schools, publicised by EDC, are great places to learn more and meet other dancers. Browse the Early Dance Calendar on the EDC website. The Historical Dance Society publishes guides (developed for its annual Summer Schools) to all periods of historical dance that are immensely helpful.
• Finding more members: Collaborate with other local dance clubs. Many folk dancing clubs have members who are historically informed in their dancing, or aspire to be. Working with them can be a good way to find like-minded people in your area. Embrace social media. Promoting a new club can be difficult, pictures and videos help significantly. If you want to enthuse younger people then consider themed sessions or events beyond the strictly historical: Tolkien, Sci-Fi, Halloween, Bridgerton, Jane Austen, Titanic… anything that provides an opportunity for dressing up and having fun!
  Email is wonderful for communicating with members, but be careful about protecting your members’ email addresses by using the blind carbon copy (Bcc) field in your email. This keeps addresses of recipients hidden.
• Health and Safety: When advertising dance events or inviting the public to YOUR group’s meetings, be sure to offer basic guidance on fitness levels, clothing and shoes that will be needed. It’s wise to do a basic risk assessment and keep an accident book recording any mishaps. (The EDC can offer examples.) Don’t overlook special needs provision, particularly for hearing. Using a radio mic can overcome this, but the EDC can offer more advice if needed.
• Using Recorded Music: Many recordings for early dances, are issued with accompanying instruction booklets for learning dances. A number are listed on our site. However, if you want to use those recordings to perform in public, individual permission must be sought or else you need to purchase a performing rights licence from PPL PRS, who issue licences for the public use of sound recordings in the UK. These are not dauntingly expensive. Performances are considered “public” if they take place in a public place and the audience is outside of a normal circle of friends and family, including concerts, nightclubs, restaurants etc.
• Costume: Early dance is not always performed in period costume, but a greater sense of authenticity is conveyed by correct dress. Posture and movement are improved when period costume is worn. The internet offers much advice and many images. Try to keep clear of modern fancy dress, however striking, in favour of period images and well researched dressmaking advice. Get started by looking at our costume information.
• Finances: Most groups have to charge a fee to attend in order to cover the cost of their meeting venue. As membership rises, it is sensible to collect an annual or termly fee from regular attenders, who then become members. Whoever collects this money should have access to a group bank account, not perhaps as easy as it could be. The EDC may have advice to share about finding a suitable bank that does not charge a monthly fee to handle an account.
• Insurance: Insurance cover is available for events done for, or in partnership with, the Early Dance Circle. Our Treasurer will provide information about this. However, each individual dance group needs its own policy. EDC is too limited an organisation to provide insurance to its own member groups, but our Treasurer can provide some idea of where to find it. There are two types:
  1. Public Liability Insurance: It’s worth reviewing whether your policy is sufficient to cover your requirements. Some policies include inconvenient conditions, such as an attendance limits for public events; others may have insufficient cover for expensive equipment and costumes. Public liability insurance, as the name implies, only covers interactions with the public.
  2. Member-to-Member Insurance: You may need a policy that includes cover for Member-to-Member injuries. A group has been sued over an injury experienced by a new member of their own group; the lack of Member-to-Member cover meant that their insurance company was unwilling to help, and they had an expensive claim to meet. A small increase in insurance premiums may be a good investment.
• Structuring your Group: Once you have a number of interested people dancing together regularly, paying a fee to belong and perhaps taking on dancing out for others, it may very well be time to establish a formal structure. This can make it easier to allocate the work equitably, define roles and membership, collect fees and pay bills, settle on rules of behaviour, settle any disputes amicably and generally increase the efficiency of running a large group. The EDC can offer a model constitution that covers many of these topics, but members of the group itself would discuss and vote in any final decision.
  For the protection against complaints, groups should formulate and publish some basic policies on Health and Safety (including risk assessment), Child Protection, Equal Opportunities, and Data Protection, for example. Example policies and forms can be found online, but EDC can also help.

Beginning To Build A Public Face

• Your Website: A website can be a great tool for communicating within a group, whether you are performing or not. For some ideas, you can browse many group websites on the Groups and Societies page of the EDC website. Just click on the names.
• Safeguarding your Website: Protecting your website is important. The EDC has a Copyright and Privacy Policy to cover the content of our web site. If you’re interested in reading it, a link can be found at the bottom of every page in the site; just scroll down to the bottom. If someone were to object to your use of an image, etc., a public policy committing you to removing the controversial material can limit your liability. Don’t forget that photographers and videographers own an implicit copyright for their work. Take care to record your permission to use videos and pictures, and the specific purpose for which you have been allowed to use them.
• Beginning to Perform: Performing for the public gives an undoubted excitement and focus for the group. It also spreads knowledge and appreciation for what we all do. Performing can be paid or free for schools, church groups etc as a charitable activity. Coming along to the EDC Festival can introduce you to some of the many ways early dance can be performed for modern audiences. Attending events by other groups is also a good way to start.
• Taking a Booking for a Performance: Always get clear contact details and ask plenty of questions. Are you being paid or is this a charity performance and what is your budget? Is your event indoors or out? How much space is available? What type of floor is there? What length of time is required? Will there be audience participation? Can the site provide changing spaces, time to change and simple refreshments? Is live or recorded music expected? Do you need sound equipment? Are you allowed to take a video? Is your equipment adequate? Is the power supply convenient to the dance area? There’s plenty to consider, but it’s still worth it.
• Organising your own Event: this might be an introductory dance day for the public, an extra class taught by an expert teacher or a weekend course. Much of the advice above applies and a good deal of Christine Rogers’ advice below can also be very useful when setting up an event. Remember that the EDC can help you find appropriate expert teachers and we offer groups some financial assistance for this kind of activity. See our Grants and Bursaries page.
• How to Organise a Period Ball: For some groups, for example Regency or Victorian dancers, a period ball is a tempting special event. Some good advice on how to organise a Regency ball can be found here. Christine Rogers has had years of experience organising this sort of occasion, her advice is available here.
• Copyright: Acknowledging the work of others is always important. Gratitude to teachers and sources is best explicitly expressed. But it is also important to establish your own right to your own material.
  1. Using others’ Materials: Copyright needs to be considered when using material provided by others, such as music (see above), choreography or images. Often, this can be written or verbal, but care must be taken because financial copyright restrictions may apply. Wikimedia Commons is a good source of non-copyright images.
  2. Establishing your own Copyright: You must consider the copyright of materials produced by your own members/volunteers. As a Charity, the EDC is grateful to the many people who donate their efforts towards our shared goals, we’ve been fortunate to receive assistance from many individuals over many years. But copyright is not automatically transferred when something is produced on behalf of a group or charity. For example, in UK law the volunteer who takes pictures or videos retains the copyright on their creations, unless explicitly transferred. A creator may object to a new use of their creations. It is important to request and retain clear records of all intellectual property donations.

You are always welcome to contact us.
If you’d like to discuss any of these issues further, do get in touch. We’ll be happy to share our experience and may be able to help you avoid any pitfalls. If you’d like to speak to someone on the committee directly, contact the secretary at secretary@earlydancecircle.co.uk .