The New Zealand Society for English Folk Dancing was the first official overseas branch of the EFDSS. However it is known that traditional Irish step dancing and English maypole dancing was performed at least as early as 1905. The New Zealand Graphic has some photos from that time. See: NZ Morris & Dance. Certainly English folk dancing was taught widely from the 1920s when disciples of Cecil Sharp such as Miss. Hilda Taylor emigrated to NZ. In the 1930s and 1940s John Oliver, a New Zealander at Cambridge University, also trained under Sharp as a member of Cambridge Morris men and the Travelling Morrice. He then returned to NZ and was instrumental in promoting English folk dancing including country dancing Sharp-style and also morris and sword dancing. Indeed during the 1930s/40s there were more English country dance groups than Scottish. There were few men involved. Two of the ECD clubs existed even as late as the 1980s/90s - these were in Timaru and Christchurch. The ladies of Christchurch were filmed in the 1980s and can be seen on Google Video.

Scans of text
(click on theimage to see the scanned pages)