Vale Islanders

The Vale Islanders are a group of dancers who perform the English country dances of the Seventeenth Century in the costume of the period. The group started in the village of Charney Basset in the Autumn of 1995 and gave their first public performance on May Day 1996 on Charney Basset village green.

Their name reflects their roots in the island villages of the Vale of the White Horse. In their dancing they aim to reflect the dances of the ordinary people of the Vale 350 years ago.

All the dances are taken from "The English Dancing Master" first published by John Playford in 1651. It contains instructions for 105 dances along with the tune for each dance. This was the first of 18 editions, all the others being simply entitled "The Dancing Master". The final edition was published around 1728.