James McCafferty is the Caller for Barn Dances for Everyone, which means he explains and walks through each dance with you before we dance it.  The music for all the dances is digitally recorded and played through a Carlsbro PA system, so sound quality is at least as good as a live band.

James has taught country dancing in primary schools for many years.  He first learned the art of English Folk Dance with Eastleigh Folk Dance Club (still going strong!) and danced with Winchester’s international dance display team Woodfidley.  He danced and played melodeon for King John’s Morris of Southampton and founded the boys’ morris dance team the Fryern Morris Minors.

He also founded the unaccompanied folk song group Solstice and the early music group Milady Clare’s Musicke, with whom he recorded the albums Minstrels Gallerie and Pastymes.  He is the author of Live Recorder 1 – 3, a series of three workbooks and CDs designed to teach basic musical literacy to complete beginners.  Under the banner of Early Music in Schools, he continues to take his demonstrations of early musical instruments to schools and community groups (www.earlymusic.co.uk).

James and Kirsty Morris Selley are Cantlos (www.cantlos.com), accompanying much-loved traditional songs with a Celtic flavour on guitar, cittern, Celtic harp, dulcimer, melodeon and keyboards.  So if you’d like to turn your Barn Dance into a proper Ceilidh (“kay-lee”), with live traditional songs and music during the food break, this can be arranged at a modest extra charge – just ask!