Fantasy author inspired by The Horn Dance (From Harrow Times)

Fantasy author inspired by The Horn Dance

11:14am Tuesday 24th August 2010 in

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Dance has held a life-long fascination for Jayn Winslade and now she has poured her creative enthusiasm for the artform into her first novel, Dance for Deeron, which introduces the reader to her two teenage heroines Emily and Jen.

At the heart of the story is an annual ritual known as The Abbots Bromley horn dance, which has taken place in Staffordshire since August 1226. Akin to morris dancing, the horn dance features six deermen wearing antlers.

“I had the idea of a mysterious place the mortal world doesn’t know that is only revealed when the dance is performed,” says Jayn. “Emily and Jen replicate the ritual, only to find themselves transported to this magical land where a herd of deer are in peril.”

Jayn studied at the London School of Contemporary Dance and did her MA at The Laban Centre. She studied teacher training at University College Worcester.

Over the past seven years, Jayn worked as course leader for the foundation degree in Performing Arts at the University of Hertfordshire. While at the college, her students created dance pieces inspired by the book and set to a piece of orchestral music by her husband Simon, entitled The Deeron Suite.

Jayn is now working on the second book in the series Emily & Jen and The Curse of Agara.

Details: www.dancefordeeron.com