Welcome
to the Folk in Motion website, the home of 'wolk' dancing!
Folk
in Motion is a Community Interest Company (no 8609883) that is working
to involve wheelchair users in adapted forms of traditional dance
and to show the world that dance is for everyone. We run the free
East
London Wheelchair Dance Club, where anyone who is interested can
join us to learn wolk. We hold the London 2012 Inspire mark, the badge
of the London 2012 Inspire programme which recognises exceptional
and innovative projects inspired by the 2012 Games. In February 2014
we presented Access All Areas! at Cecil Sharp
House, the home of English folk dance, to celebrate the installation
of step-free access to all floors.
What
is Wolk?
Wolk
dancing fuses folk dancing with a street dance ethos and is choreographed
especially to include all wheelchair users, including those who need
to be pushed. Wolk draws on the rich heritage of English folk dance
to create complex geometric patterns to original arrangements of traditional
folk tunes, programmed specifically for wheelchair dancers. Dancers
work in pairs, and dance in teams (ideally four or more pairs). Teams
include roles for callers, music controllers and costume coordinators
as well as dancers. Like street dancers and Morris dancers, teams
develop their own unique style and energy and can form their own social
circles too.
As
with all forms of dancing, Wolk boils down to people moving their
bodies through space in time to music — in this case, by moving
their chairs in unison through a series of patterns and shapes to
new electronic arrangements of traditional tunes. Wolk does not require
any physical ability other than the ability to move a wheelchair by
hand or with a joystick, and people who need to be pushed are welcome
to join in.
Like
street dance, teams aim to synchronize their movements and to
move through the different patterns as precisely as possible.
However, Wolk is first and foremost meant to be fun for all
concerned; precision is something that can be worked at over
time as a long-term goal. Wolk celebrates diversity, and teams
are built on cooperation and working together and making allowances
for each other rather than on uniformity.
The Folk
in Motion demonstration team is available
for booking for performances and to lead workshops and participatory
wheelchair dance sessions, working virtually at present.
We provide a wide
range of resources to enable you to start your own Wolk team, including
information for leaders, teachers and callers, choreographic and calling
notes, music tracks and videos.
We
are developing new choreography all the time, and we welcome submissions
of ‘new’ dances from Wolk teams (remember to follow the
Wolk rules). The English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) is
the best source of information about traditional dances: visit their
website www.efdss.org; or in person
at Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regent's Park Road, London NW1 7AY. Tel: 020
7485 2206. Email: info@efdss.org
If
you are interested in developing your team and enjoying different
forms of wheelchair dancing, we encourage you to join ParaDance
UK (formerly the UK Wheelchair Dance Sport Association) where
you will be able to learn dance forms as diverse as ballroom and Bollywood
as well as developing your dance skills and training to be a teacher.
Members of East
London Wheelchair Dance Club at the Dance Around the World Festival
at Cecil Sharp House on 25 October 2015.