Todmorden Treat 2017

For the last 13 years Todmorden Town Council has kindly supported the Todmorden Treat, a project to give each primary school an experience of working with the same artist or performer during the spring term.  We are grateful for their support again this year as we bring clog dancer Alex Fisher to the town to introduce the pupils to the traditions of folk dance, and specifically to clog dancing, which has a strong relevance to the local area.

Each  of Todmorden’s primary schools had four workshops, for different year groups, as well as a performance from Alex for the whole school.  The performance included a presentation of dance plus historical background information on clogs and music.

The pupils, and some of their teachers, were enthusiastic dance students.  Each group created a unique dance from the basic steps taught.  Most groups were worn out by the end of their hour, and no-one could understand how Alex could keep dancing for all four sessions in the day.  Much noise was made and fun was had, with learning about local heritage and traditions along the way.  From the children’s reaction to the experience we think many a parent will have had requests to buy clogs!