Like many communities across Cornwall, the villages of the Roseland peninsula celebrated feast days and regattas with their own Furry Dance, similar to that made famous by Helston. The Roseland Furry was recalled by people attending a recording and memory session during the launch of the Music of the Roseland Project on 10th February at Gerrans Memorial Hall. People who remembered the dance formed a set and taught the dance to all. The Roseland Furry was danced to the tune of the Helston Furry. It was felt to be a pity that the Roseland did not have its own tune for the dance like other parts of Cornwall and agreed that the Music of the Roseland Project would commission a suitable melody. A young musician called Finley Bray (1) was commissioned to write a tune for the Roseland Furry which was received with great enthusiasm when it was launched at a troyl in St Mawes on April 24th 2024. (2) The original dancers demonstrated the dance again to the new tune at the help to teach the audience.
Finley Bray was commissioned to write a new tune for the Roseland Furry Dance by the Music of the Roseland Project
The new Furry Dance for the Roseland was launched at a Cornish Troyl held at St Mawes in April 2024 to celebrate the traditional music and dance of the Roseland Peninsula.
The Roseland Furry demonstrated at the St Mawes troyl.
Finley Bray’s Roseland Furry Dance tune
Instructions for the dance
Dance for four people side by side in a line normally as part of a long procession.
Step: “one, two, three, hop”
All dance forward in a line for 8 steps / 8 bars
Form a star 4 steps / 4 bars to right and 4 steps / Bars to the left
Repeat
Notes
1. The Bray Family: Matt, Finley and Eva, hail from Padstow, play, dance and sing to Cornish and Celtic music. They love May Day and celebrating Cornish culture and naturally have been regulars to ‘Lowender Peran’ festival, drawing influence from a variety of visiting groups as well as homegrown musicians, singers, and dancers. In May 2023 Finley recorded an EP featuring self-penned tunes as well as music influenced from Padstow. https://finleybray.bandcamp.com/album/finley-bray-the-ep.
2. Cornish Troyl: Troyl is the Cornish name for an informal evening with spots for singers and step dance displays interspersed with songs and dances for all to join in. In the nineteenth century they were held in the fish cellars around the Cornish coast to celebrate the end of the pilchard season. Portscathos’s fish cellars are still there to be seen.
See Also :
Music of the Roseland Home Page
The Music of the Roseland Project is a collaboration between the Roseland Music Society, the Gerrans and Porthscatho Old Cornwall Society, and the Cornish National Music Archive.
We are grateful for funding and support from FEAST which has made this project possible.