WHY NOT JUST GET A DISCO?
As well as having a good time, an evening barn dance helps your two families mix and mingle, get to know each other, and start becoming one. Unlike with a disco, where dancers tend to stick rigidly to their own age group, barn dancers are continuously shaken and stirred. Aunts will be dancing with nephews; the bride's mum with the groom's brother ...

WHAT'S SO GOOD ABOUT A BARN DANCE
Barn dancing always means dancing with people you don't know and by making a mess of it together, you really get to know them. By the time you have spent a couple of hours going Forward and Back or Circling Left And Right or colliding as you Swing Your Partner, you will be laughing, making joyful comments as you go the bar and smiling across tables. The ice is broken, you have met, and you are starting to become friends and family. Some of our dances involve progression and changing partners so you are bound to dance with a few guests that you don't know. Barn dancing is for everybody, young, old & middle-aged.

BUT WE HAVEN'T BEEN BEFORE: WE DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO.
We have a caller who explains every dance, helps you "walk it through" first, shows you how, and reminds you all the way through. We always assume that everyone is a raw beginner. All you have to do is get up, listen and you will do fine. Honestly! You will either fall about laughing at the mistakes we all make - or you will get it right!

BUT ENTERTAINERS ONLY DO TWO "SPOTS"; WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF THE EVENING?
This isn't the case with Tumladen. We normally play from eight to midnight with a short break, normally when you eat.

WHAT'S THE CATCH?
You must get up and have a go. If you want to sit still, drink and be entertained, a cabaret band might suit you better. We love dancers. We take it steady if elderly relatives want a go, or steam ahead at a blistering pace for the fleet of foot. Tumladen are commensurate musicians, known to stick in a few extra bars if you are a bit behind or to ramp up the tempo to levels you might think are impossible. We can cope with dancers who not know right from left, and those with two left feet, as long as you get off your seat.

.SOME PAST WEDDING VENUES

• Miskin Manor, Llantrisant
• The Manor, Crickhowell
• St Peter's Hall, Roath
• New House Hotel, Thornhill, Cardiff
• Falcondale Hotel, Lampeter
• Aberdare Hall, Cardiff
• Minster Church Hall, Cardiff
• Christchurch Centre, Newport
• Garn Farm, Barry

CAN WE HAVE A DISCO TOO?
Of course you can. If you arrange the evening right, avoiding lots of short sets that never really get going, it can work well. The best plan is for two or so hours of country dancing, followed by disco to the early hours - with a break to eat as required.

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