What Is Tribe Of Doris?

Tribe of Doris is a many cultured arts collective that has been running for fourteen years. We use the arts of music, dance, song and ceremony to bring people together, to raise awareness and to encourage respect and understanding of different cultures and musical origins. Our integrated events are totally participatory and educational, inspirational places to learn, have fun and forge lasting friendships. The events are generally outdoors with colourful marquees, yurts, tipis and lovely spaces. This summer it lasts over six days, from 23rd to 28th August 2005.

We started out primarily promoting African drumming and dance but quickly broadened our activities to include Asian, Latin American and European forms. In 2001 we stretched up to the Arctic Circle and east to Java and haven't stopped roaming around since. Over the years we have developed a reputation for putting on one of the best organised events in the calendar and inspired others in different parts of Britain to follow our example in format and content. Our communal efforts have raised the profiles of the arts and artists involved and developed lasting networks of friendship, culture and shared knowledge. And we hope this is only the beginning!

All sorts of people come to the Doris events. Teachers, artists and enthusiasts come to 'do their thing' whilst the generally interested try out a variety of styles and activities. We aim to inspire complete beginners to engage in a lifelong relationship with the arts, music, dance and song. Completely open to people of all cultures, our activities are also family and teenager-friendly, and we endeavour to be as accessible as possible.

If you haven't been to Doris before you can find the full programme from last year here (2.1Mb download, pdf file) – that should give you an idea of what to expect and how hard it will be to choose from what's on offer! We have not yet booked most of our teachers for this year but you can find out who they were last year on the Teachers & Workshops page.