Morris

[poliphilo]

Ailz used to run with the Saddleworth Morris. They tried to teach her to dance but there's a little skipping half step she could never master. Some of the dancers we saw in Hastings yesterday hadn't mastered it either (some had) but the great thing is that they exist at all. The way the wits and comics belabour it you'd have thought Morris would have been shamed into the grave decades ago but here it still is- bells, sticks, beards and toppers (Southern sides don't wear clogs, alas)- done well, done badly but always with love. We saw men and women's sides from Kent, Sussex and London. "Makes you proud to be English," I said to Ailz. "Yes, it does", she said. And we both meant it.

Comments

[splodgenoodles.livejournal.com]

I love the idea of running with the Morris gang.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

She had fun, I think. Those chaps get awfully thirsty.

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

My sister dances with a Morris side & has a lot of fun.

Her proudest moment was when they were dancing outside Winchester cathedral last year & got moved on by the police as a threat to national security (some member of the cabinet was attending a wedding in the cathedral). Those white hankies, if snapped briskly, can inflict a nasty injury...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

And our political leaders wonder why we dislike them so....

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

There are several chapters of Morris dancers here in town. They especially dance on Beltaine, in Thordon Park at sunrise.

[artkouros.livejournal.com]

Alan Turing was a Morris Dancer, IIRC.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's splendid!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That makes me happy.

[sorenr.livejournal.com]

Folk dancing is a living part of history. And while we might think it looks silly (which it does) it's also part of the English history and I rather like that it survives.

In my childhood during the big family gatherings on my maternal grandparents' farm, sometimes in the evening my grandfather would take his fiddle down from the wall and my aunt would get out her accordeon and then we'd dance the "six-step to Vejle" and "the shoemaker's boy" while singing along.

[clindau.livejournal.com]

The Morris sides here gather before dawn on May 1 to dance in the sunrise. Then there's a bonfire of old Christmas trees. I've never been able to go, but I think it would be fun.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I've never danced myself- but I like to watch...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Excellent!

[wyrmwwd.livejournal.com]

I have a good friend who has "run with the Morris" for years in Long Beach, CA. In fact, they are giving classes this summer. They have been around for years. Morris is still very alive and well in SoCal.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It seems- from what I'm reading here- to be well established on the East Coast too. I had no idea...

[wyrmwwd.livejournal.com]

At some future time, I'll see if I can find a YouTube of them performing. When I talk about WomanSpirit, they are always there. It's been a part of that tradition almost since the beginning. They also appear at many Renn. Faires.