Mary Panton

Mary Panton is renowned and revered for her clear, fun-to-dance-to calling. She did her apprenticeship at numerous local barn dances and ceilidhs before graduating to festival work, playing the usual range of venues from Shetland to Sidmouth. Mary also became known as one of the pioneers of calling without the use of gender terms.

For the past 25 years (she started very young!), her work and approach have been enjoyed by audiences and bands alike. She has worked / works regularly with Gas Mark 5, The Ran Tan Band, Chalktown, Saxophony and The Hosepipe Band. In recent years she has had sufficient work to be able to work full-time as a caller and Country Dance teacher.

Last year Mary called in such diverse situations as:

for a group of Japanese students with no English
for Friends of the Earth in a field with a megaphone
at Westminster Hall in the Houses of Parliament

In addition to her work as a caller, recent projects include:

Receiving National Lottery money for Country Dance in schools
Working as Country Dance adviser to Graham Miller's contemporary dance production 'Country Dancing' at The Place.

Mary can be contacted on 020 89868834 or e-mailed at: mary.panton@virgin.net

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