About the Film
City Folk tells the story of a revival of English Country Dance in the twentieth century through the history of Pinewoods, a remarkable dance camp near Plymouth, Massachusetts. Since 1933, the camp, with its colorful cast of characters, has inspired generations of dancers, musicians, and choreographers. The story begins earlier with the foundational work of English folklorist Cecil Sharp who scoured the southern Appalachian Mountains, collecting folk songs and notating the dance traditions he found there. Sharp directly influenced the burgeoning of an American dance scene rooted in the English past. Some decades later, the mid-century American folk revival spoke to a younger, generation, breathing new passion into folk music and dance. Soon after, the square dance and contra "booms” revitalized the English Country Dance tradition and choreographers began to write their own dances. The popularity of film dramatizations of Jane Austen’s novels brought in new dance enthusiasts in the 1990s. Through rare archival footage from both the U.K. and U.S., live scenes from Pinewoods Camp and other venues, elegant music, and in-depth interviews, City Folk depicts a past ever present and changing.
