Category: Workshop

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Canberra Spring Baroque Dance Workshop October 2026

Friday 2 October 6:30pm – Sunday 4 October, 4:30pm, 2026
All Saints Anglican Church, Ainslie ACT

Engraving circa 1700 of young lady learning to dance. Image for Spring Weekend of Baroque Dance, 2nd to 4th October 2026, Ainslie ACT, presented by Fiona Garlick & John Barnard of The Early Dance Consort, for Historic Dance Delights (Canberra)

Fiona & John will lead a weekend of early 18th Century dance from the court of Louis XIV. The weekend will include introductory sessions on technique, steps, sequences and style, through to more advanced sessions on original choreographies from the era of the “Sun King”. The sessions are designed to suit both newcomers to baroque dance and those with some experience. This is a great opportunity to learn about the character, rhythms and steps of such dances as the Bourree, Gavotte, Minuet, Sarabande and Gigue so familiar from the classical music repertoire. And to sample the dances which formed the basis of classical ballet technique. No experience or partner required.

For more details and bookings go to:
https://events.humanitix.com/a-spring-baroque-dance-weekend

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Summer course – thank you

Thanks to the wonderful people who joined us from near and far for the Summer Course in early January. Despite something of a heatwave, we worked hard and completed a number of lively, elegant and sociable dances from the Baroque repertoire, and enjoyed the great company of our fellow baroque aficionados (it is a special niche). Well done to all!

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Happy New Year!

Hope you’ve had a lovely Christmas, and are enjoying the Summer holiday.

Suddenly it’s 2025, and our Summer Course is just 1 week away, on January 8. Please let us know if you’d like to come along, as it’s not too late to enrol. https://earlydanceconsort.com.au/EDC_Archives/EDC-2025/Summer-2025.htm

Meanwhile, if you can’t make the course, our evening class schedule is up for the New year, at https://earlydanceconsort.com.au/classes/schedule.htm

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2025 Summer Course in Early Dance

beautiful & … bizarre baroque

Wednesday 8 to Friday 10 January, 2025
in North Sydney

An invitation to our 15th Summer Course in Early Dance.
The Baroque era of the late 17th & early 18th century is our focus again, as we explore both the beautiful and bizarre.
Noble dance technique was common to both ballroom and stage. It could be elegant and charming, flattering the noble dancer with grace and apparent ease. On stage it could also be majestic, dramatic or comic, as the occasion demanded, and as records show.
Why learn baroque dance?
18th-Century dance notation provides a rare window into some favourite choreographies of the era, for the ballroom, and for the theatre. They allow the possibility of embodying the experience of the courtier: the posture, gesture & dance forms forgotten over the centuries. This is invaluable physical insight for musicians, actors, dancers & historians: into musical rhythms and forms, into manners, deportment, gesture, performance & aesthetics.
The Summer Course provides an opportunity to develop an appreciation of this distinctive dance heritage.
Over three days, students will learn movements, steps & sequences in preparation for excerpts & whole dances in different rhythms. Fundamental technique will be introduced for newcomers, while experienced students will refine technique & style, and build repertoire.

No previous dance experience required. No need to bring a partner.
Go to https://earlydanceconsort.com.au/EDC_Archives/EDC-2025/Summer-2025.htm

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Winter Weekend of Baroque Dance

Historic Dance Delights invite you to a…
Winter Weekend of Baroque Dance, 2 -4 August, 2024, Canberra
Workshops presented: by Fiona Garlick & John Barnard of
The Early Dance Consort (Sydney)
Dates: 2 August (Friday evening)  – 4 August (Sunday afternoon)  
Venue: Church Hall, All Saints Anglican Church, 9-15 Cowper Street, Ainslie ACT 2602  
For Details & Schedule: https://www.earlydanceconsort.com.au/news/news.htm
Bookings: https://events.humanitix.com/host/63129d888b09f6126d4d9470

Questions: contact historicdancedelights@gmail.com
Historic Dance Delights –https://historicdancedelights.org.au/

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Summer Course 2019

In 2019 we celebrate our 10th Summer
Course, first held in 2010. New and returning
students are invited to explore and enjoy a
selection of dances from the Renaissance,
Baroque, and 18th Century eras, in all their
elegance and vigour. They can tell us much
about society, fashion, and music of the past, and provide a context for more recent dance forms, all part of the universal human desire to express joy through music and movement.

The course runs from Wednesday 9th to Friday 11th January, between 9.15am and 3.45pm each day. The venue is 181 Blues Point Road, North Sydney (close to trains and buses at North Sydney Station).

For more information see Summer 2019 or download a PDF brochure and enrolment form.

  • Please note that there is an early-bird enrolment period ending on Friday 21st December, so don’t miss out.