Once again Halesworth’s springtime Day of (folk) Dance brought a friendly invasion – including the colourful boys (and girls) in blue – ‘Die Narrische Stadtsoldaten‘ all the way from Halesworth’s twin-town Eitorf in Nord Rhein-Westphalia, Germany.
The entertaining carnival dance troupe recognised by their smart blue uniforms made the 12 hour journey especially to attend an eccentrically English event which has now become part of their group’s own ‘tradition’.
It wasn’t the first time these carnival dancers from just east of Bonn had joined the joyful Halesworth Day of Dance – the town’s much-loved and amazingly colourful annual dance and folkd music spectacle. The event takes place throughout the Suffolk heritage market town, always in early spring, although its actual date finds itself buffeted around by when Easter chooses to fall.
Over recent years, traditional (and less traditional) Morris and Molly dance sides have taken the snow, rain and sunshine on the chin (legs, backs, baldricks etc). Day of Dance takes place with good humour whatever the weather and 2024 was no exception. Eitorf’s brave battalion, Die Närrische Stadtsoldaten, again joined the throng and went down a storm… in a Halesworth hailstorm!
So what does their name – Die Närrische Stadtsoldaten – mean? And dance-wise, what do they actually do?
‘Karnevale’ is big in many towns across Germany and takes the form of parades, events and performances over a large part of spring and early summer. Eitorf’s ‘Foolish Town Soldiers’ have an amazing way of holding rank and file whilst parading and dancing with high kicks and all sorts of tomfoolery. Creating different march formations depending on the space available, the routines climax to include circus-style balancing acts, acrobatics and high swings.
It’s an out of this Halesworth-world spectacle, where the legs of brave lady dancers, supported by equally brave and beautiful colleagues, whizz above the heads of the unsuspecting ‘Soldaten’!
The Halesworth Day of Dance is led by local traditional dance group, Oxblood Molly, and attracts a large number of dance sides from all across Suffolk, East Anglia and beyond. The event always begins with a few dances together en masse on market place and this year, the Eitorf friends joined in the fun to full , adding the Molly stomp -‘Mississippi Mud Dance’ – to their repertoire, dancing alongside with four English groups.
At the opening ceremony before the massed dance, Närrische Stadtsoldaten Heiko and Claus stepped boldy forward to ‘decorate’ both festival organiser Zoe Ann Wadey and Chair of Halesworth Town Council, Joyce Mosely, with the Eitorf dance troupe’s latest session medal and club scarf.
“After the massed dance and procession through the entire town of Halesworth, we danced at four different performance locations,” shares one member of the group. “There was great participation from the local crowds and the overwhelmingly positive response was heart-warming for us all… Over our three-day trip, we had a huge amount of fun and a really great time together.”
Halesworth very much hopes to be welcoming their colourful friends from across the water back again for future dance outs!
