Home

Welcome to AnnieMation’s webpage.  We are an inclusive mixed North West Clog Morris Dancing side that is actually based in the South East:  Colchester, Essex. This style of dancing originated in the cotton mill industry in Lancashire and surrounding counties in the 19th Century.

We have been in existence since 1979 and were known as Annies Fantasies until 2018 when we changed our name.

 

 

What to Expect

Key elements of the dancing tradition and our specific side are:

  • Actions mimicking mill work.
  • The rhythms of the factory looms to dance to.
  • Synchronised stamping & stepping.
  • General group co-ordination (hopefully).
  • Fun (even when doing long corners).
  • Red, bell-festooned, clogs.
  • Our hobby horses Dobina, Anniesaurus (the trainee) and AnnieLamma (understudy). We usually look for a young assistants to help control them during Cotton Reels.
  • Lots of red and black clothing, preferably stripey.
  • Music, mostly traditional tunes, led by melodeon and drum but could also have violin, penny whistle, guitar, ukulele, banjolele, tamborine, and more.

AnnieMation at Greyfriars 2018

Dance Outs & Practice

We dance out throughout the year but mostly over the spring and summer. We attend a range of events local to East Anglia and the South East. As might be expected we dance at traditional folk and dance festivals like Halesworth Day of Dance , Leigh-on-Sea Folk Festival, Broadstairs Folk Week and Sheringham Potty Festival.

We also support community and charity events, plus the occasional corporate event . We have a dance or two for audience participation. Firstsite’s Nice ‘n’  Spicy festival, Colchester High Street Panto Horse Race, Bures Flower Festival, Colchester Art Centre’s Warm And Toasty Club concert and Acorn Villages Christmas Fair were some of our favourites.

We practice 11:00am Sunday morning at Colchester Roman Circus  or outside First site when  wther is better. We tend not to practice if we’ve dances out that same weekend.

 

Interested? Join, Book or Watch Us

Join

If interested in joining us as a dancer or musician? You could normally just turn up to Sunday practice but might be worth contacting us to make sure will be there. Well be happy to chat.

http://anniemationclog.co.uk/join-us/

Book

If you’d like us to come to your event, please contact

Ian on 01206 577222

email anniemationclog@gmail.com

Watch

Want to see us Dance? Follow the Dance out page and Facebook…

http://anniemationclog.co.uk/dance-out-calender/

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/AnnieMationClogColchester

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcUPGRmxI2RTlVmqjtiHs7g/videos

 

Enjoy your visit to our site and through our pages get to know a bit more about us and our dancing – it’s great fun.