The Bay Area Country Dance Society Website

Colin Hume started his folk career as a singer/guitarist, and has performed his own songs on national radio and at the Royal Albert Hall. He then discovered Folk Dancing. Over the last twenty-five years he has built up a reputation as a caller of American Squares, Playford-type dances (English Country Dances in 17th century style), and his own “Dances with a Difference”, many of which contain unusual combinations of figures to baffle and/or delight the dancers. His tunes are also different enough to make most bands stop and think. He has published five volumes of “Dances with a Difference”, three with corresponding recordings, two volumes of the American-style “Squares with a Difference” and one “New Dances for Old” of Playford-style dances to existing recorded tunes. His book “Playford with a Difference” contains his own interpretations of a number of country dances published in the 17th and 18th century by John Playford and others, and is unique in giving the original wording plus discussion of the various possible meanings of the descriptions and a justification of how he comes up with his own reconstruction. His versions are now danced on both sides of the Atlantic, and he leads workshops on the subject. He believes that dancing is to be enjoyed and that dancers will enjoy it more if they are taught some dance technique, and he was one of the founders of GUSTO (Grand Union Structured Training Organisation) which was set up to run training courses for EFDSS (English Folk Dance and Song Society).

Colin calls at many Folk Festivals and Folk Dance Clubs, and for nine years helped run the “Beginners” sessions at Cecil Sharp House in London every Thursday. He has called at Folk Dance courses in Holland, Germany and Denmark, and for Dance Weeks in the U.S.A. at Pinewoods in Massachussetts, Mendocino in California, Brasstown in North Carolina and Buffalo Gap in West Virginia, plus a week of Dancing down the Nile in Egypt. For many years he contributed a regular column to the EFDSS magazine “English Dance & Song”, containing his thoughts on many aspects of the Folk Dance world plus dances by himself or others. 

Colin is too outspoken to be everyone's favourite caller, but will appeal to dancers who appreciate an entertaining and varied session including some fairly complicated dances without the reverential attitude to Playford, Tradition or EFDSS that some people adopt.