We are really proud to dance to a live band of skilled musicians, and are happy to welcome new members to the band. Get in touch if you are keen to find out more.
Way of the Wyrd dances (WoW dances)
We like to choreograph our own dances with links to Loughborough; events, famous people or just because we had a good idea. We do like to tell a story through a Morris version of ‘interpretive dance’!
Loughborough Sock Dance
Tune: Brighton Camp
This was our first ‘own’ dance. Loughborough has a history linked to the hosiery industry and many people were employed within factories and their own homes.
Richard and Zia researched the Griswold circular knitting machine to inform the moves of this dance. The sticking is to imitate the up and down motion of the pegs on the machine as the yarn goes round. The figures in the dance are an interpretation of how a sock is made. We dance it in the round and Loughborough folk will recognise the significance of the ending!
Did you know… a sock is knitted from the top down to the toe?
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Thomas Cook Temperance Dance
Tune: British Grenadiers
This dance commemorates Thomas Cook’s first day trip by train in 1841. He chartered a Midland Railway train from Leicester to Loughborough to take members of his Baptist Church to a Temperance Rally in Loughborough. For the price of a shilling they travelled in open top carriages the grand distance of eleven miles, accompanied by a brass band. Tickets were sold to the general public as well, many of whom spent the day in Loughborough’s pubs and returned to the train in high spirits, rather undermining the message of the Temperance Society!
“A thought flashed through my brain – what a glorious thing it would be if the newly developed powers of railways and locomotion could be made subservient to the promotion of temperance”
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The Equinox Dance
Tune: Dorset Four Hand Reel
Originally called The Autumn Equinox Dance, this dance was choreographed to be symmetrical about it’s mid point, as a nod to the equal day and night at equinoxes. The patterns made by the dances represent the swirling of planetary bodies in the solar system. In this dance we do the tricky ‘double hurl’, not only once but twice!!
Loughborough Sport Student Dance
Tune: Pint Pots
Loughborough University produces excellent sportsmen and woman in many disciplines and is always well represented at the Olympics. We wrote this dance to perform in 2012, the year of the London Olympics.
Many sports are hard to show in dance!! We chose those that used equipment we could represent with our sticks. Cricket, tennis, relay and hockey. The chorus is a nod to a late night pastime of students to collect traffic cones!
The Bell Foundry Dance
Tune: Ring O’ Bells
Loughborough is home to Taylor’s Bell Foundry, the last one casting bells in the UK.
In 1881 they cast the famous ‘Great Paul’ bell, the largest bell ever made in England. In 2013 the outer casing of the mould for this bell was installed in Queen’s Park. We wrote a dance to show the stages of casting and tuning a bell.
In 2023 we danced it in Queen’s Park for the first annual Bell Festival. A replica wicker bell was made by artist Nita Rao and taken to the park pulled by a steam lorry. The journey of the bell in 1811 to London took eleven days.
Did you know… The Great Paul bell hangs in St Paul’s Cathedral and is rung every day at 1pm. It rings an E flat. Click here to find out more about John Taylor & Co Ltd, full of fascinating information.
Other dances
Morris Traveller
Danced to Arkansas Traveller.
Dilwyn
Danced to a lovely tune.
Thomas Cook Temperance dance
Created by our members, this dance commemorates Thomas Cook’s Temperance Movement outings from Leicester to Loughborough in 1841.
Danced to the tune of British Grenadiers
The Bear
Danced to another lovely tune.
Tinner’s Rabbit
Danced to yet another lovely tune.
Welly Boot
Danced to Waltzing Mathilda (an adaptation of The Rochester Recruiting Sergeant).
Autumn Equinox
Another dance created by Way of the Wyrd, the autumn equinox occurs on or around the 22nd September each year and marks the second point in the year when day and night are the same length.
Danced to the tune of Dorset Four Hand Reel
Not for Joe
Danced to a LOVELY TUNE.
Hat Dance
Danced to All Around My Hat
Loughborough Sock dance
One of our own dances, inspired by the hosiery heritage of Loughborugh, including the Sock Man sculpture which sits in the Market Place.
Danced to the tune of Brighton Camp
Loughborough Sports Students dance
Another of our own dances, celebrating the reputation of the town’s university for its excellent sports facilities and education.
Danced to the tune of Pint Pots
Ned Ludd
Inspired by the legend of Ned Ludd, a folkloric weaver from Anstey near Leicester, who is believed to have smashed a knitting frame in 1779, giving rise to the Luddite Movement.
Danced to the tune of Banks of the Dee
Figure It Out
Another of our dances, created by Way of the Wyrd members.
Danced to the tune of Speed the Plough
Evesham Stick Dance
We have created a variation on the Evesham Wheel dance.
Danced to the tune of Fanny Frail
Tinner’s Triangle
Danced to Bonnets O’ Blue
Brimfield
Danced to Jenny Lind Polka.
Much Wenlock
Danced to The Old Bazaar In Cairo (Thanks to Black Pig)
& the traditional Much Wenlock.
Upton on Severn Stick Dance
Danced to Upton on Severn.
Greenham
Danced to Kafoozalum.
Peopleton
Danced to Bluebell Polka.
Twiglet
Danced to Theme Vannitaise.
Lollipop Man
Danced to Lollipop Man.
The Old Broom
Danced to George Green’s College Hornpipe.
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