There is a lack of written records of Welsh dance before the eighteenth century with
Gerald of Wales's description of a Welsh dance near
Brecon on St. Almedah’s day, 1188 being a rare exception. This lack of early documentation could exemplify how integral dance was to everyday life in Wales, while the lack of written sources can be viewed as a feature of the cultural changes enforced by the
Penal laws against the Welsh and
Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. These acts saw certain aspects of Welsh culture legally prohibited, as the
Kingdom of England forbid any public assembly by Welsh people, banned them from holding property in English boroughs and prohibited Welsh men (and English men who married Welsh women) from holding public office. The affect of these changes was to replace Welsh culture within the affluent class with an anglicised gentry, who used the English language and English customs almost exclusively.
17th and 18th centuries These prohibitions on Welsh culture had diminished by the seventeenth century, although the early century is notable for traditional Welsh dances being included as part of solely English collections under English translations of original Welsh names (
Hoffedd ap Hywel becoming the
English country dance ''Powell's Fancy
). The English composer John Playford began collecting and publishing Welsh dances in the mid-17th century. These dances included Lord of Caernarfon's Jig
and Abergenny
while John Walsh also published a number of Welsh dances in the early 18th century, such as Evan's Delight
(1718) and Meillionen'' (1726). Written evidence of the popularity of Welsh dance is also more readily found by this time. The discoveries of William Robert’s poem Taplas Gwainfo (The Taplas of Wenvoe) and William Thomas’ diaries, provided historians with the earliest proof of the popularity of social dancing at outdoor festivals in Glamorganshire.
William Jones and the Llangadfan dances The eighteenth century saw a revival of interest in Welsh culture.
Williams Jones was active in arresting the loss of Welsh dances and music. Wishing to revive the dance and music traditions from his own area, he interviewed the elderly members of his community and worked closely with his own father, William Sion Dafydd to revive the dances he had learned in his youth in the sixteenth century. Through his work, Jones rediscovered numerous dances together with the ancient airs, melodies and stanzas that accompanied them. The corpus of work is today known as the
Llangadfan Dances. In the course of this work, Williams Jones became a notable authority on manuscripts and printed collections. Jones actively corresponded with the London-based
Gwyneddigion Society and other contemporary
men of letters such as
Edward Jones (Bardd y Brenin), bard to King
George IV, which in turn provided Edward Jones with valuable material for his own printed volumes.
19th century decline was responsible for cultural revival which saw the
Llanover Dances become a feature of events at
Llanover House As early as 1703
Ellis Wynne was attacking "the evils of dance" and warning about what effects the closeness of the sexes may have on the population. The extrovert and carefree nature of the Welsh psyche was becoming one of zealous piety, with all forms of dance being viewed as enjoyment and closeness with the opposite sex were deemed as sinful by many.
Catherine Margretta Thomas was born in 1880 in the village of Nantgarw. Her parents were Daniel and Hannah Davies. As a child she enjoyed watching the local dances as they were performed in an open space below Twyn
Chapel in
Caerphilly With other twentieth century writers stating that "The fervent zeal of the religious revival of the latter part of the last century and the early years of the present century, persecuted and exiled old traditionally Welsh dances." However, as the influence of Nonconformism waned and by the time Ceinwen Thomas was attending school she was discussing the tradition of dancing in Nantgarw with her mother. Other scholars also searched for the roots and influences on folk culture on dance, such as
Susannah Berrington Gruffydd Richards, and
W.S. Gwynn Williams.
Lois Blake A leading member of the
English Folk Dance Society,
Lois Blake moved to Wales in the 1930s. Blake collected remnants of the Welsh dance tradition, which she published in her work "Welsh Folk Dance" in 1948. The following year, Blake and founded the
Welsh Folk Dance Society and became the society's first president.
Nantgarw dance tradition The
Nantgarw dance tradition is a style of Welsh folk dancing from the
South and Valleys regions of
Wales, specifically associated with the small
village of
Nantgarw. The style encompasses both
handkerchief and stick dances. The
dances call for eight dancers in four pairs. The
style was first put into
dance notation by Dr. Ceinwen Thomas (1911-2008) who wrote down what her mother,
Catherine Margretta Thomas, could remember of the dances that had been danced locally when she was young. The Nantgarw dances take their name from the village of Nantgarw in the
county borough of
Rhondda Cynon Taf where they are said to have first been performed. == Competitions ==