Mel Biggs: Trusting Instinct & Opportunity

Mel Biggs: Trusting Instinct & Opportunity

From Chatterbox with Mel Biggs by Mel Biggs Music

January 5, 2026 · 1h 7m · Episode 25

About this episode

Mel Biggs discusses her journey as a Morris dancer and musician, her projects, and her contributions to the arts community.

Mel Biggs is a Morris dancer, musician, and highly-renowned melodeon tutor based in Derbyshire, England. In her professional career, Mel has risen from the EFDSS Aspire program with Andy Cutting to form Moirai with Jo Freya and Sarah Matthews. Together they created 3 albums and toured the UK and Europe, culminating in their self-penned show Framed: The Alice Wheeldon Story telling a true story of a Derbyshire woman. Mel was recently seen on stage as an actor-musician in the 2022-2023 UK & Canada tour of Fisherman's Friend's: The Musical. Mel has been involved in several recurrent Arts Council England funded projects. These include Jo Freya’s Komposit Young Composers (with Annie Whitehead, Judith Weir CBE and Chris Woods), and cross-cultural theatre shows such as Priya Sundar’s Morris:Natyam, and Kate Flatt and Adriano Adewale’s The Oss & The Ox. Mel is currently working on the second iteration of her folk music camp for women and marginalised genders FolkUnbound: The Gathering with co-founder Lucy Huzzard, a new course at Halsway Manor Practice Smarter, Play Happier with Judy Minot, coordinating several community arts projects in her hometown of Swadlincote, and squiring…

People in this episode

Host: Mel Biggs

Topics covered

  • Morris dancing
  • folk music
  • community arts
  • women in music
  • theatre
  • music education

Keywords

  • Morris dancer
  • melodeon tutor
  • folk music camp
  • community projects
  • theatre
  • arts funding

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Arts Council England, Fisherman's Friend's: The Musical, FolkUnbound

Books & works: Framed: The Alice Wheeldon Story

Places: Derbyshire, Swadlincote

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