The dancers
Swanage Folk Festival – the UK’s biggest dance festival.
Swanage fills up with Morris sides and traditional folk from the UK, Ireland, Bulgaria, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.
Scroll down for details of the dance sides who will be here this year.
Swanage Folk Festival – the UK’s biggest dance festival.
Swanage fills up with Morris sides and traditional folk from the UK, Ireland, Bulgaria, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.
Click here to go straight to the details of the dance sides who will be here this year.
Our traditional sea dance
Procession
Scroll down for details of all the dance sides who will be here this year.
“This is where Rappers meet Mollies and Fools flirt with belly dancers, dancers in clogs performing step dances, and Cotswold dancers from Dorset rub shoulders with traditional Slovak dancers, swords are drawn and sticks primed for a procession through town.” (Dorset Life, 2017).
The dance displays are free to enjoy throughout the weekend.
Swanage Folk Festival is a volunteer-run, non-profit festival, so if you enjoy the dancing please drop some change into the collection buckets to help us keep filling the town with music and dance each September.
Dance Programme 2026
The detailed dance programme will be here to download, when it’s ready.
For now, scroll down for details of the dancers.
Who’s dancing at the next Swanage Folk Festival?
It’s early yet and sides are still booking in for 10th - 12th September 2027…
| Dance side (click for more info) | Dance style | About | Photo (click to enlarge) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greenwich Morris | Cotswold | Greenwich Morris perform dances from, mostly, the Cotswolds in whites, brown waistcoats and brown and yellow baldricks. Dancers ages go from 24 to 87. |  |
| Iron Spring Border Morris | Border | We are Tunbridge Wells only Morris side. Our rusty orange is chosen from our famous local Chalybeate Springs, rich in iron salts. We dance the Border style of Morris and we taste nicer than the water. |  |
| Magog | Primarily Garland, along with Stave, Northwest, and our own tradition as well | Magog, a ladies side from Horsham, West Sussex, dance mainly garland, stave, and northwest styles, and wear a rainbow of colours over a white dress. |  |