Norwich Historical Dance

Norwich Historical Dance continues a great tradition of social dance in Norfolk. We dance for our own pleasure to discover this less well known aspect of our cultural heritage, both by watching and by taking part. We aim to place the dances in their social and historical context.

NHD dance at Norwich High School for Girls on Thursdays in term time. Please check via ‘contacts’ for up to date times and the location in the school.

We also run a ‘weekend away’ dance workshop, usually in the spring. This year we enjoyed the tuition of Kath Waters, the course being held in the University of East Anglia, where she delighted us all with a splendid series of dance tutorials ranging from Italian Renaissance to English Playford dances.  Kath worked us hard starting with excellent warm up exercises before each session, taking us through the various steps and the movements in the choreography.

The course ran from Friday 5th to Sunday 7th April 2024 in the  peaceful and expansive campus of the UEA with its unique Sainsbury Centre art museum.

The 2025 course will be returning to the UEA  and we are fortunate to have Kath Waters as tutor once again for the weekend of Friday 11th – Sunday 13th April 2025. For more information and to book on this popular course see Events

We run the Norwich Assembly Ball every November in Norwich Assembly House. As in 2023, tickets for the 2024 Ball soon sold out and over 90 dancers in all their finery enjoyed the dancing. Many thanks again to Andrew Swaine as MC and to The Warleggan Village Band for the music. The 2025 Ball will be held in the Assembly House again, this time with Rhodri Davies as MC and Purcell’s Polyphonic Party providing the music.

NHD are members of the Early Dance Circle Festival which held its 41st Festival this year in Hereford. Next year’s Festival will be held in Bury St. Edmunds.

We are always happy to meet new members and we’d love you to join us.