This weekend (8-9 September) will see the streets of York city centre come alive with dance tunes as the Annual Festival of Traditional Dance makes a welcome return.

Now in its 25th year and forming part of the York 800 celebrations, the festival will fill open spaces such as Parliament Street – including the new performance area – St Sampson’s Square and Kings Square. Over 200 dancers from Yorkshire to Sussex will be bringing their colourful costumes, music and dance styles to celebrate dancing in their regional traditions.

Watch performances from over a dozen dance troupes from the face-painted Flash Company from Otley, the Britannia Coconut Dancers from Bacup on their first visit to York and the host company, York’s very own Ebor Morris dancers. They’ll be bringing dances from the British border country and the America’s Appalachian mountains, as well as Longsword dances and the 200-year-old step clog tradition.

The festival steps out on Saturday, starting at 10.30am when the dancers will process from the Guildhall to Parliament Street before performing for everyone to enjoy across the city centre. The event will culminate in a spectacular showcase on St Sampson’s Square between 2.30pm and 3.30pm when all the dance troupes will perform for the Lord Mayor.

The dance will continue on Sunday at King’s Square between 10.30am and 13.30pm.