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Morris DancingProducts Relating to 'Morris Dancing'

Morris dancing, in fact, has been claimed to be a remnant of a pre-Christian Celtic, or Druidic, fertility dance. Morris dancing continued in popularity until the industrial revolution and its accompanying social changes. Morris dancing: More popular than beach volleyball in the UKEvery Olympic city stamps its own identity on the opening ceremony, displaying its culture to an audience of billions. Morris dancing was an integral part of their opening ceremonies. Morris dancing (and bell-ringing) were highlights of the St John-at-Hackney fete this summer. Morris dancing is one of the things from England that I was glad to leave behind.

Dance

Dances done while waving handkerchiefs oftencontain spectacular leaps high into the air. Dances done with clashing ofsticks could have nasty consequences to dancers or audience. Dances are usually performed in sets of eight with the Captain often dancing atthe head of the set while calling out the figures. Dancers have been �creative� in their interpretation of the dance, sometimes wearing clogs rather than shoes, waving �slings� or �mollies� rather than handkerchiefs, and introducing the cross-polka step. Dances were passed on by the elders with the most prolific areas known for their dances being around Cornwall, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire.

Teams

Teams regularly used to dance at Banbury Fair and the well known Banbury eccentric, William 'Old Mettle' Castle was fool for the Adderbury team in the last century. Teams can be found associated with many prominent institutions of higher education, among them Marlboro College, University of Indiana at Bloomington, UCal Berkeley, and even such conservative institutions such as Oxford, Cambridge, and M. In the modern day, it is commonly thought of as a uniquely English activity, although there are around 150 morris sides (or teams) in the United States. Various and sundry infoIn the US most morris teams interact with theCountry Dance and Song Society. A better option is to watch a performance or to visit a practice(email me for information on teams in Syracuse and elsewhere in the world).

Tradition

Traditional Morris dancing is today associated with the Cotswolds, a region of England located between Oxford and the Welsh border. Traditionally these men formed 'Guilds' of professional performers, similar in type to the Medieval Guilds known for their involvement with the Mystery and Morality Plays. British expatriates form a larger part of the morris tradition in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Hong Kong, and there are isolated groups in other countries, for example that in Utrecht, Netherlands. Four teams claim a continuous lineage of tradition within their village or town: Abingdon (their Morris team was kept going by the Hemmings Family [2]), Bampton, Headington Quarry and Chipping Campden [2].

For more information, consult the books listed in the bibliographysection of the Morris Dancing FAQs. With the erosion of agrarian ways brought on by the IndustrialRevolution and the impact of the First World War, morris dancing came closeto dying out. As a whole, morris dancing is characterized by a set of approximatelysix dancers (sometimes more, sometimes less) wearing bright clothing or"kit" and bells attached to their shins. The dances were immensely popular during the time of Shakespeare, who reportedly was *obliged* to stick some morris dancing into his plays, for marketability reasons. There is documentary evidence of morris dancing in England from the writings of the Puritan, Philip Stubbes (criticizing it in 1583).

Article Published: Tuesday 29th May 2007