Morris dance
Encyclopedia
Folk dance
The term folk dance describes dances that share some or all of the following attributes:*They are dances performed at social functions by people with little or no professional training, often to traditional music or music based on traditional music....
usually accompanied by music. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers. Implements such as sticks, swords, handkerchief
Handkerchief
A handkerchief , also called a handkercher or hanky, is a form of a kerchief, typically a hemmed square of thin fabric that can be carried in the pocket or purse, and which is intended for personal hygiene purposes such as wiping one's hands or face, or blowing one's nose...
s and bells may also be wielded by the dancers. In a small number of dances for one or two men, steps are performed near and across a pair of clay tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
pipes laid across each other on the floor.
Claims that English records, dating back to 1448, mention the morris dance are open to dispute. There is no mention of "morris" dancing earlier than the late 15th century, although early records such as Bishops' "Visitation Articles" mention sword dancing, guising and other dancing activities as well as mumming plays. Furthermore, the earliest records invariably mention "Morys" in a court setting, and both men and women are mentioned as dancing, and a little later in the Lord Mayors' Procession
Lord Mayor's Show
The Lord Mayor's Show is one of the longest established and best known annual events in London which dates back to 1535. The Lord Mayor in question is that of the City of London, the historic centre of London that is now the metropolis's financial district, informally known as the Square Mile...
s in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. It is only later that it begins to be mentioned as something performed in the parishes. There is certainly no evidence
Evidence
Evidence in its broadest sense includes everything that is used to determine or demonstrate the truth of an assertion. Giving or procuring evidence is the process of using those things that are either presumed to be true, or were themselves proven via evidence, to demonstrate an assertion's truth...
that it is a pre-Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
ritual, as is often claimed.
In the modern day, it is commonly thought of as a mainly English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
activity, although there are around 150 morris sides (or teams) in the United States. British expatriates form a larger part of the morris tradition in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. There are isolated groups in other countries, for example those in Utrecht
Utrecht (province)
Utrecht is the smallest province of the Netherlands in terms of area, and is located in the centre of the country. It is bordered by the Eemmeer in the north, Gelderland in the east, the river Rhine in the south, South Holland in the west, and North Holland in the northwest...
, Netherlands; the Arctic Morris Group of Helsinki, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
and Stockholm, Sweden; as well as in Cyprus; and Alsace, France.
Name and origins
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
dance, attested as and in the mid-15th century. The spelling Morris-dance appears in the 17th century. Comparable terms in other languages are German Moriskentanz (also from the 15th century), French morisques, Croatian moreška
Moreška
Moreška is a traditional sword dance from the town of Korčula, on the Croatian island of the same name in the Adriatic. Dating back hundreds of years, the Moreška is an elaborate production involving two groups of dancers, engaging in a mock battle over the fate of a veiled young woman...
, and moresco, moresca
Moresca
Moresca or Mauresque is a 15th/16th century pantomime dance in which the executants wore Moorish costumes. One such is the concluding music of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo...
or morisca in Italy and Spain.
By 1492 Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castille succeeded in driving the Moors out of Spain and unifying the country. In celebration of this a pageant known as a Moresca was devised and performed. This can still be seen performed in places such as Ainsa
Ainsa
Ainsa, Aínsa is the main town in the Aínsa-Sobrarbe municipal term, Aragon, Spain.It is located south of the Pyrenees, in a geologically interesting setting...
, Aragon
Aragon
Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...
. Incorporated into this pageant was the local dance – the paloteao. This too can still be seen performed in the villages of Aragon, Basque country, Castille, Catalonia and northern Portugal. The original "Moresca" is believed a sword dance. The sticks in Morris dance are a residual of the swords in the "Moresca". The similarity to what became known as the English "morris" is surmised. Although the Great London Chronicle records spangled Spanish dancers performing an energetic dance before Henry VII at Christmas of 1494, Heron's accounts also mention "pleying of the mourice dance" four days earlier which could mean that the Morris Dance was an indigenous entertainment already in existence in England, perhaps from the Middle Ages. Early court records state that the "moresque" was performed at court in her honour, including the dance – the "moresque" or "morisce" or "morys" dance.
History in England
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, the working peasant
Peasant
A peasant is an agricultural worker who generally tend to be poor and homeless-Etymology:The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district.- Position in society :Peasants typically...
ry took part in morris dances, especially at Whitsun
Pentecost
Pentecost is a prominent feast in the calendar of Ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai, and also later in the Christian liturgical year commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ after the Resurrection of Jesus...
. In 1600 the Shakespearean
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
actor William Kempe
William Kempe
William Kempe , also spelt Kemp, was an English actor and dancer specializing in comic roles and best known for having been one of the original players in early dramas by William Shakespeare...
morris danced from London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
, an event chronicled in his Nine Daies Wonder (1600). The Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
government of Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
, however, suppressed Whitsun Ales
Parish Ale
The Parish ale was a festival in an English parish at which ale made and donated for the event was the chief drink. The word "ale" was generally used as part of a compound term. Thus there was the leet-ale ; the lamb-ale ; the Whitsun-ale , the clerk-ale, the church-ale etc...
and other such festivities. When the crown was restored by Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
, the springtime festivals were restored. In particular, Whitsun Ales came to be celebrated on Whitsunday
Octave of Easter
The term Octave of Easter may refer either to the eight day period from Easter Sunday until the Sunday following Easter, inclusive; or it may refer only to that Sunday after Easter, the Octave Day of Easter . That Sunday is also known historically as St...
, as the date coincided with the birthday of Charles II.
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
and its accompanying social changes. Four teams claim a continuous lineage of tradition within their village or town: Abingdon (their morris team was kept going by the Hemmings Family), Bampton
Bampton, Oxfordshire
Bampton, also called Bampton-in-the-Bush, is a village and civil parish in the Thames Valley about southwest of Witney in Oxfordshire. The parish includes the hamlet of Weald....
, Headington Quarry
Headington Quarry
Headington Quarry is a residential district of Oxford, England, located east of Headington and west of Risinghurst, just inside the Oxford ring road in the east of the city. To the south is Wood Farm. Today the district is also known colloquially as "Quarry"...
, and Chipping Campden
Chipping Campden
Chipping Campden is a small market town within the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. It is notable for its elegant terraced High Street, dating from the 14th century to the 17th century...
. Other villages have revived their own traditions, and hundreds of other teams across the globe have adopted (and adapted) these traditions, or have created their own styles from the basic building blocks of morris stepping and figures.
Several English folklorists were responsible for recording and reviving the tradition in the early 20th century, often from a bare handful of surviving members of mid-19th-century village sides. Among these, the most notable are Cecil Sharp
Cecil Sharp
Cecil James Sharp was the founding father of the folklore revival in England in the early 20th century, and many of England's traditional dances and music owe their continuing existence to his work in recording and publishing them.-Early life:Sharp was born in Camberwell, London, the eldest son of...
, Maud Karpeles
Maud Karpeles
Maud Karpeles was a collector of folksongs and dance teacher.Maud Karpeles was born in London in 1885. In Berlin at the "Hochschule für Musik" she studied piano for six months. In 1892 a women's settlement had been created in Cumberland Road, Canning Town in 1892...
, and Mary Neal
Mary Neal
Mary Neal CBE , born Clara Sophia Neal, was an English social worker and collector of English folk dances....
.
Boxing Day
Boxing Day
Boxing Day is a bank or public holiday that occurs on 26 December, or the first or second weekday after Christmas Day, depending on national or regional laws. It is observed in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth nations. In Ireland, it is recognized as...
1899 is widely regarded as the starting point for the morris revival. Cecil Sharp
Cecil Sharp
Cecil James Sharp was the founding father of the folklore revival in England in the early 20th century, and many of England's traditional dances and music owe their continuing existence to his work in recording and publishing them.-Early life:Sharp was born in Camberwell, London, the eldest son of...
was visiting at a friend's house in Headington, near Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, when the Headington Quarry
Headington
Headington is a suburb of Oxford, England. It is at the top of Headington Hill overlooking the city in the Thames Valley below. The life of the large residential area is centred upon London Road, the main road between London and Oxford.-History:...
morris side arrived to perform. Sharp was intrigued by the music and collected several tunes from the side's musician, William Kimber
William Kimber
William "Merry" Kimber , was an English concertina player and Morris dancer who played a key role in the twentieth century revival of Morris Dancing, the traditional English folk dancing...
; not until about a decade later, however, did he begin collecting the dances, spurred and at first assisted by Mary Neal
Mary Neal
Mary Neal CBE , born Clara Sophia Neal, was an English social worker and collector of English folk dances....
, a founder of the Espérance Club
Espérance Club
The Espérance Club, and the Maison Espérance dressmaking cooperative, were founded in the mid-1890s by Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence and Mary Neal in response to distressing conditions for girls in the London dress trade...
(a dressmaking co-operative and club for young working women in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
), and Herbert MacIlwaine, musical director of the Espérance Club. Neal was looking for dances for her girls to perform, and so the first revival performance was by young women in London.
In the first few decades of the 20th century, several men's sides were formed, and in 1934 the Morris Ring
Morris Ring
The Morris Ring is one of three umbrella groups for Morris dance sides in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1934 by 6 sides: Greensleeves, Cambridge, East Surrey, Letchworth, Oxford and Thaxted. They meet several times a year, each Ring Meeting being hosted by a different member side...
was founded by six revival sides. In the 1960s and especially the 1960s, there was an explosion of new dance teams, some of them women's or mixed sides. At the time, there was often heated debate over the propriety and even legitimacy of women dancing the morris, even though there is evidence as far back as the 16th century that there were female morris dancers. There are now male, female and mixed sides to be found.
Partly because women's and mixed sides are not eligible for full membership of the Morris Ring, two other national (and international) bodies were formed, the Morris Federation
Morris Federation
The Morris Federation is one of the three existing umbrella organisations for morris dancing sides in the United Kingdom. It was officially founded as the Women's Morris Federation in 1975 as a direct response to the long-existing Morris Ring which did not allow all-female or mixed sides to join...
and Open Morris
Open Morris
Open Morris is one of the three umbrella groups for morris dance sides in England. It was formed primarily by members of Fenstanton Morris in the early 1980s as a response to the male-only policy of the Morris Ring and the female-only riposte of the Morris Federation Open Morris is one of the...
. All three bodies provide communication, advice, insurance, instructionals (teaching sessions) and social and dancing opportunities to their members. The three bodies co-operate on some issues, while maintaining their distinct identities.
Styles
- Cotswold morris: dances from an area mostly in GloucestershireGloucestershireGloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
and OxfordshireOxfordshireOxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
; an established misnomerMisnomerA misnomer is a term which suggests an interpretation that is known to be untrue. Such incorrect terms sometimes derive their names because of the form, action, or origin of the subject becoming named popularly or widely referenced—long before their true natures were known.- Sources of misnomers...
, since the CotswoldsCotswoldsThe Cotswolds are a range of hills in west-central England, sometimes called the Heart of England, an area across and long. The area has been designated as the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
overlap this region only partially. Normally danced with handkerchiefs or sticks to accompany the hand movements. - North West morris: more military in style and often processional.
- Border MorrisBorder MorrisThe term Border Morris refers to a collection of individual local dances from villages along the English side of the Wales-England border in the counties of Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire. They are part of the Morris dance tradition.- History :...
from the English-WelshWalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
border: a simpler, looser, more vigorous style, normally danced with blackened faces (or sometimes otherwise coloured, given the negative connotations for some of blackfaceBlackfaceBlackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...
). - Longsword dancingLong Sword danceright|YorkshireThe Long Sword dance is a hilt-and-point sword dance recorded mainly in Yorkshire, England. It is related to the rapper sword dance of Northumbria, but the character is fundamentally different as it uses rigid metal or wooden swords, rather than the flexible spring steel rappers used...
from Yorkshire and south Durham. - RapperRapper swordRapper sword is a kind of sword dance associated with the North-East of England.-History:The rapper sword tradition was traditionally performed in the mining villages of the Northumberland and Durham coalfield in North East England, especially in Tyneside...
or Short sword dancing from Northumberland and Co. Durham. - Molly DancingMolly danceMolly dancing is a form of English Morris dance, traditionally done by out of work ploughboys in midwinter in the 19th century.-History:Molly dancing has been recorded in many parts of the English Midlands and East Anglia. It died out finally in the 1930s, the last dancers seen dancing in Little...
from the English Midlands and East Anglia.
Cotswold
Lionel Bacon records CotswoldCotswold
The Cotswolds are a range of hills in central England that give their name to:*Cotswold *Cotswold *Cotswold Chase, a horse race*Cotswold Games, annual games in Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire...
morris traditions from these villages:
Abingdon, Adderbury
Adderbury
Adderbury is a large village and civil parish in northern Oxfordshire, England. It is about south of Banbury and from Junction 10 of the M40 motorway. The village is divided in two by the Sor Brook. The village consists of two neighbourhoods: West Adderbury and East Adderbury...
, Ascot-under-Wychwood, Badby, Bampton
Bampton, Oxfordshire
Bampton, also called Bampton-in-the-Bush, is a village and civil parish in the Thames Valley about southwest of Witney in Oxfordshire. The parish includes the hamlet of Weald....
, Bidford, Bledington
Bledington
Bledington is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England, located about four miles south-east of Stow-on-the-Wold and six miles south-west of Chipping Norton...
, Brackley, Bucknell
Bucknell, Oxfordshire
Bucknell is a village and civil parish northwest of Bicester in Oxfordshire, England.-History:After the Norman Conquest of England, William the Conqueror granted the Manor of Bucknell to Robert D'Oyly. In 1300 the Lord of the Manor of Bucknell was Sir Robert d'Amory, father of Roger d'Amory...
, Chipping Campden
Chipping Campden
Chipping Campden is a small market town within the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. It is notable for its elegant terraced High Street, dating from the 14th century to the 17th century...
, Ducklington
Ducklington
Ducklington is a village and civil parish on the River Windrush south of Witney in West Oxfordshire.-History:Ducklington is one of the first Saxon parishes to be recorded in Oxfordshire. In a charter of AD 958 King Edgar the Peaceable granted at Ducklington to his Minister, Eanulf...
, Eynsham
Eynsham
Eynsham is a village and civil parish about east of Witney in Oxfordshire, England.-History:Eynsham grew up near the historically important ford of Swinford on the River Thames flood plain...
, Headington Quarry
Headington
Headington is a suburb of Oxford, England. It is at the top of Headington Hill overlooking the city in the Thames Valley below. The life of the large residential area is centred upon London Road, the main road between London and Oxford.-History:...
, Hinton-in-the-Hedges, Ilmington
Ilmington
Ilmington is a village and civil parish about north-west of Shipston-on-Stour and south of Stratford-on-Avon in the Cotswolds in Warwickshire, England. Ilmington is the highest village in Warwickshire and is at the foot of the Ilmington Downs, which is the highest point in Warwickshire...
, Kirtlington
Kirtlington
Kirtlington is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire about west of Bicester.-Archaeology:The Portway is a pre-Roman road running parallel with the River Cherwell on high ground about east of the river. It bisects Kirtlington parish and passes through the village. A short stretch of it is now...
, Leafield
Leafield
Leafield is a village and civil parish about northwest of Witney in West Oxfordshire. The parish includes the hamlet of Langley, west of Leafield village....
, Longborough
Longborough
Longborough is a village and civil parish north of the market town of Stow on the Wold, Gloucestershire.The village is about east of the A424, around west of the Fosse Way and is on the Heart of England Way....
, Oddington
Oddington, Gloucestershire
Lower Oddington and Upper Oddington are a pair of adjoining villages in the English county of Gloucestershire. Together they form the civil parish of Oddington.They are located to the south of the A436 road east of the town of Stow-on-the-Wold....
, Sherbourne, Stanton Harcourt
Stanton Harcourt
Stanton Harcourt is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire about southeast of Witney and west of Oxford.-Archaeology:Within the parish of Stanton Harcourt is a series of paleochannel deposits buried beneath the second gravel terrace of the river Thames...
, and Wheatley
Wheatley, Oxfordshire
Wheatley is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about east of Oxford.-Archaeology:There was a Roman villa on Castle Hill, about southeast of the parish church. It was excavated in 1845, when Roman coins dating from AD 260 to 378 and fragments of Roman pottery and Roman tiles were...
.
Bacon also lists the tradition from Lichfield
Lichfield
Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...
, which is Cotswold-like despite that city's distance from the Cotswold morris area; the authenticity of this tradition has been questioned.
In 2006 a small number of dances from a previously unknown tradition was discovered by Barry Care of Moulton Morris Men (Ravensthorpe, Northants) — two of them danceable.
Other dances listed by Bacon include Border morris dances from Brimfield, Bromsberrow Heath, Evesham, Leominster
Leominster
Leominster is a market town in Herefordshire, England, located approximately north of the city of Hereford and south of Ludlow, at...
, Much Wenlock
Much Wenlock
Much Wenlock, earlier known as Wenlock, is a small town in central Shropshire, England. It is situated on the A458 road between Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth. Nearby, to the northeast, is the Ironbridge Gorge, and the new town of Telford...
, Pershore
Pershore
Pershore is a market town in Worcestershire, England, on the banks of the River Avon. Pershore is in the Wychavon district and is part of the West Worcestershire parliamentary constituency. At the 2001 census the population was 7,304...
, Upton-upon-Severn
Upton-upon-Severn
Upton-upon-Severn is a small town and civil parish in the Malvern Hills District of Worcestershire, England, on the River Severn. According to the national census 2001 it had a population of 2,859. Located from Malvern, the bridge at Upton is the only one across the river Severn between Worcester...
, Upton Snodsbury
Upton Snodsbury
Upton Snodsbury is a village in Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom, located five miles east of Worcester just off the A422 road.-History:...
, White Ladies Aston
White Ladies Aston
White Ladies Aston is a village in Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom, and also lends its name to the Civil Parish in which the village is located.- History & amenities :The parish is bound to the east by the Bow Brook...
, and miscellaneous non-Cotswold, non-Border dances from Steeple Claydon
Steeple Claydon
Steeple Claydon is a village and also a civil parish within the district of Aylesbury Vale in Buckinghamshire, England. It has an unusually high number of gingers, it is speculated that this is due to most people's mums also being their aunts. Steeple Claydon is located about four miles south of...
and Winster
Winster
Winster is a former lead-mining village in the Derbyshire Dales about from Matlock and from Bakewell at an altitude of approx . The village, which lies within the Peak District National Park, has a large number of listed buildings, including the Market House open daily as a National Trust...
. There are a number of traditions which have been collected since the mid-twentieth century, though few have been widely adopted. Examples are Broadwood, Duns Tew, and Ousington-under-Wash in the Cotswold style, and Upper and Lower Penn in the Border style. In fact, for many of the "collected" traditions in Bacon, only sketchy information is available about the way they were danced in the nineteenth century, and they have been reconstructed to a degree that makes them largely twentieth century inventions as well. Some traditions have been reconstructed in several strikingly disparate ways; an example would be Adderbury, danced very differently by the Adderbury Morris Men and the Adderbury Village Morris.
North West
Historically, most sides danced in various styles of shoes or boots, although dancing in clogs was also very common. Modern revivalist sides have tended more towards the wearing of clogs. The dances were often associated with rushcart
Rushcart
The rushcart ceremony, derives from Rogationtide. Parishioners would process around the parish once a year, bearing rushes. They would end up at the parish church and place the rushes on the floor of the church, to replace worn-out rushes...
s at the local wakes
Wakes week
The wakes week is a holiday period in parts of England and Scotland.- History :Wakes were originally religious festivals that commemorated church dedications...
or holidays. The dances themselves were often called 'maze' or 'garland dances' as they involved a very intricate set of movements in which the dancers wove in and out of each other. Some dances were performed with a wicker hoop (decorated with garlands of flowers) held above the dancer's head. Some dancers were also associated with a tradition of mumming and hold a pace egging play in their area.
The Britannia Coco-nut Dancers, named after a mill not far from Bacup
Bacup
Bacup is a town within the Rossendale borough of Lancashire, England. It is located amongst the South Pennines, along Lancashire's eastern boundary with West Yorkshire. The town sits within a rural setting in the Forest of Rossendale, amongst the steep-sided upper-Irwell Valley, through which the...
, are unique in the tradition, in that they used sawn bobbins to make a noise, and perform to the accompaniment of a brass ensemble. They are one of the few North West morris groups that still black up their faces. It is said that the dance found its way to the area through Cornishmen who migrated to work in the Rossendale
Rossendale
Rossendale is a local government district with borough status. It is made up of a number of small former mill towns in Lancashire, England centered around the valley of the River Irwell in the industrial North West...
quarries.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the Lancashire tradition was taken up by sides associated with mills and nonconformist chapels, usually composed of young girls. These lasted until the First World War, after which many mutated into "jazz dancers". (A Bolton troupe can be seen in a pre-war documentary by Humphrey Jennings
Humphrey Jennings
Frank Humphrey Sinkler Jennings was an English documentary filmmaker and one of the founders of the Mass Observation organization...
.) The dances have evolved stylistically and the dancers’ dress has changed to include pompoms and elements from other groups, such as cheerleaders and Irish dancers. However, they refer to themselves as “morris dancers”, wear bells, and are still mainly based in the Northwest of England. This type of morris has been around since the 1940s and is also referred to as Carnival or “fluffy morris” dancing. They take part in many different competitions during the year and end it with a “Championship” where one dance troupe is crowned the champions. This type of morris is also found in the north of Wales, where there are many different organizations with many different troupes. In 2008 NEMDCO (North of England Morris Dancing Carnival Organization) held a large competition at Blackpool in the Blackpool Tower Ballroom. The winner of this competition was Valencia, a troupe from Liverpool. During the folk revival in the 1960s, many of the old steps to dances such as "Stubbins Lane Garland" were often passed on by old people.
Border
The term "Border MorrisBorder Morris
The term Border Morris refers to a collection of individual local dances from villages along the English side of the Wales-England border in the counties of Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire. They are part of the Morris dance tradition.- History :...
" was first used by E. C. Cawte in a 1963 article on the morris dance traditions of Herefordshire
Herefordshire
Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...
, Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
, and Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
– counties along the border with Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. Characteristics of the tradition as practised in the 19th and early 20th centuries include blackface
Blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...
(in some areas); use of either a small strip of bells (in some areas) or no bells at all (in others); costume often consisting of ordinary clothes decorated with ribbons, strips of cloth, or pieces of coloured paper; or sometimes "fancy dress"; small numbers of dances in the team repertoire, often only one and rarely more than two; highly variable number of dancers in the set and configurations of the set (some sides had different versions of a dance for different numbers of dancers); and an emphasis on stick dances almost to the exclusion of hankie dances. Dances tended to be uncomplicated in form, e.g., alternation of sticking with a hey; stepping was likewise not elaborate. While performances at various times of the year are recorded, the most common dancing occasion was Boxing Day
Boxing Day
Boxing Day is a bank or public holiday that occurs on 26 December, or the first or second weekday after Christmas Day, depending on national or regional laws. It is observed in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth nations. In Ireland, it is recognized as...
. Border morris performance persisted into the early twentieth century before it died out.
Cecil Sharp
Cecil James Sharp was the founding father of the folklore revival in England in the early 20th century, and many of England's traditional dances and music owe their continuing existence to his work in recording and publishing them.-Early life:Sharp was born in Camberwell, London, the eldest son of...
and later collectors, and several were included in Bacon's book, but border morris was largely neglected by revival morris sides until late in the 20th century. The Silurian Morris Men of Ledbury, Herefordshire included Border dances in performances from the early 1970s and changed exclusively to Border morris in 1979, and the Shropshire Bedlams were founded in 1975; both became pioneers of a resurgence of Border morris among revival sides in the following decades.
The Leominster
Leominster
Leominster is a market town in Herefordshire, England, located approximately north of the city of Hereford and south of Ludlow, at...
Morris, were reformed in 1988 from the disbanded Breinton Morris, and made contact with one of the musicians from the previous side from the 1930s, Tom Postons. His recollections of the dancing of the time as having "lots of bowing, hat-raising,and clashing of sticks on the ground" led to the "revival" of Tom Poston's stick dance.
Cecil Sharp visited the town on 27 December 1909 with local folklorist Ella Mary Leather
Ella Mary Leather
Ella Mary Leather was a collector of the local folklore and songs of Herefordshire. Amongst her works is a collaboration with Vaughn Williams, Twelve Traditional Carols from Herefordshire, and notes to the journal of the Folklore Society....
, and collected tunes from the prolific local gypsy fiddler John Locke. The Leominster men use several of Locke's tunes in their repertoire today.
Sword dancing
Sword dance
Sword dances are recorded from throughout world history. There are various traditions of solo and mock battle sword dances from Greece, the Middle East, Pakistan, India, China, Korea, England, Scotland and Japan...
tradition, which includes both rapper sword
Rapper sword
Rapper sword is a kind of sword dance associated with the North-East of England.-History:The rapper sword tradition was traditionally performed in the mining villages of the Northumberland and Durham coalfield in North East England, especially in Tyneside...
and longsword
Long Sword dance
right|YorkshireThe Long Sword dance is a hilt-and-point sword dance recorded mainly in Yorkshire, England. It is related to the rapper sword dance of Northumbria, but the character is fundamentally different as it uses rigid metal or wooden swords, rather than the flexible spring steel rappers used...
traditions. In both styles the "swords" are not actual swords, but implements specifically made for the dance. The dancers are usually linked one to another via the swords, with one end of each held by one dancer and the other end by another. Rapper sides consist of five dancers, who are permanently linked-up during the dance. The rapper sword is a very flexible strip of spring-steel with a wooden handle at each end. The longsword is about 2'6" (0.8 metres) long, with a wooden handle at one end, a blunt tip, and no edge. Longsword sides consist usually of five to eight dancers. In both rapper and longsword there is often a supernumerary "character", who dances around, outside, and inside the set.
Mumming
The English mummers playMummers Play
Mummers Plays are seasonal folk plays performed by troupes of actors known as mummers or guisers , originally from England , but later in other parts of the world...
occasionally involves morris or sword dances either incorporated as part of the play or performed at the same event. Mummers plays are often performed in the streets near Christmas to celebrate the New Year and the coming springtime. In has central themes of death and rebirth.
Other traditions
Other forms include Molly danceMolly dance
Molly dancing is a form of English Morris dance, traditionally done by out of work ploughboys in midwinter in the 19th century.-History:Molly dancing has been recorded in many parts of the English Midlands and East Anglia. It died out finally in the 1930s, the last dancers seen dancing in Little...
from Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
. Molly dance, which is associated with Plough Monday
Plough Monday
Plough Monday is the traditional start of the English agricultural year. While local practices may vary, Plough Monday is generally the first Monday after Twelfth Day , 6 January. References to Plough Monday date back to the late 15th century...
, is a parodic form danced in work boots and with at least one Molly man dressed as a woman. The largest Molly Dance event is the Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival, established in 1980, held at Whittlesey
Whittlesey
Whittlesey, historically known as Whittlesea as the name of the railway station is still spelt, or Witesie, is an ancient Fenland market town around six miles east of Peterborough in the county of Cambridgeshire in England...
in Cambridgeshire in January.
There is also hoodening
Hoodening
Hoodening, also called Hodening, is an East Kent, England tradition vaguely related to Mumming and the Morris dance, and dating back at least to the mid-18th century. Related traditions also exist in Wales and Lancashire...
which comes from East Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, and the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance
Abbots Bromley Horn Dance
The Abbots Bromley Horn Dance is an English folk dance involving reindeer antlers and a hobby horse that takes place each year in Abbots Bromley, a small village in Staffordshire, England.-Origins:...
.
Another expression of the morris tradition is Vessel Cupping. This was practised in the East Riding of Yorkshire
East Riding of Yorkshire
The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Yorkshire, is a local government district with unitary authority status, and a ceremonial county of England. For ceremonial purposes the county also includes the city of Kingston upon Hull, which is a separate unitary authority...
until the 1920s. It was a form danced by itinerant ploughboys in sets of three or four, about the time of Candlemas
Presentation of Jesus at the Temple
The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, which falls on 2 February, celebrates an early episode in the life of Jesus. In the Eastern Orthodox Church and some Eastern Catholic Churches, it is one of the twelve Great Feasts, and is sometimes called Hypapante...
.
Additionally, there is a specifically Welsh version of this terpsichorean art that is distinct from the Borders Morris style. This style is called Nantgarw tradition
Nantgarw tradition
Nantgarw tradition is a style of Morris dancing from the South and Valleys regions of Wales, specifically the small village of Nantgarw. The style encompasses both handkerchief and stick dances. The dances call for eight dancers in four pairs...
after a small village in the Taff Valley. Some of the Nantgarw dances are derived directly from notes made on traditional Welsh Morris dances, especially those written down by Dr. Ceinwen Thomas. Others are more modern inventions made in the style of older dances. Dances in the Nantgarw style include; Caseg Eira (The Snow Mare), Hela'r Sgwarnog (Hunting The Hare) and Ty Coch Caerdydd (The Red House of Cardiff).
Music
Music was traditionally provided by either a pipe and taborPipe and Tabor
Pipe and tabor is a pair of instruments played by a single player, consisting of a three-hole pipe played with one hand, and a small drum played with the other...
or a fiddle. These are still used today, but the most common instrument is the melodeon
Diatonic button accordion
A diatonic button accordion or melodeon is a type of button accordion where the melody-side keyboard is limited to the notes of diatonic scales in a small number of keys...
. Accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
s and concertina
Concertina
A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It has a bellows and buttons typically on both ends of it. When pressed, the buttons travel in the same direction as the bellows, unlike accordion buttons which travel perpendicularly to it...
s are also common, and other instruments are sometimes used. Often drums are employed.
Cotswold and sword dancers are most often accompanied by a single player, but Northwest and Border sides often have a band, usually including a drum.
For Cotswold and (to a degree) Border dances, the tunes are traditional and specific: the name of the dance is often actually the name of the tune, and dances of the same name from different traditions will have slightly different tunes. For Northwest and sword dancing there is less often a specific tune for a dance: the players may use several tunes, and will often change tunes during a dance.
For dances which have set tunes, there is often a short song set to the tune. This is sung by the musician(s) or by the whole side as an introduction to the tune before the dance. The songs are usually rural in focus (i.e. related to agricultural practices or village life) and often bawdy or vulgar. Songs for some dances vary from side to side, and some sides omit songs altogether.
Several notable albums have been released, in particular the Morris On series, which consists of Morris On
Morris On
Morris On is a folk/rock album released in 1972 under the joint names of Ashley Hutchings, Richard Thompson, Dave Mattacks, John Kirkpatrick and Barry Dransfield...
, Son of Morris On
Son of Morris On
Son of Morris On is an electric folk album released in 1976 under the joint names of Ashley Hutchings, Simon Nicol, John Tams, Phil Picket, Michael Gregory, Dave Mattacks, Shirley Collins, Martin Carthy, John Watchem, John Rodd, The Albion Morris Men, Ian Cutler, and the Adderbury Village Morris...
, Grandson of Morris On
Grandson of Morris On
Grandson of Morris On is a thematic album produced by Ashley Hutchings.Twenty-six years after recording "Son Of Morris On", Hutchings put together an ensemble to play another selection of Morris dance tunes. Compared to previous efforts is this less electronic, and more acoustic. As before there...
, Great Grandson of Morris On
Great Grandson of Morris On
Great Grandson of Morris On, produced by Ashley Hutchings, and recorded and released in 2004, is the fourth volume in the series of Morris dance tunes. Spiers and Boden experienced a blaze of publicity shortly after recording their contribution to this album , which later appeared on the...
, Morris On the Road, and Mother of all Morris.
Terminology
Like many activities, morris dancing has a range of words and phrases that it uses in special ways.Many participants will refer to the world of morris dancing as a whole as the morris.
A morris troupe is usually referred to as a side or a team. The two terms are interchangeable. Despite the terminology, morris dancing is hardly ever competitive.
A set (which can also be referred to as a side) is a number of dancers in a particular arrangement for a dance. Most Cotswold morris dances are danced in a rectangular set of six dancers, and most Northwest dances in a rectangular set of eight; but there are many exceptions.
A jig
Jig
The Jig is a form of lively folk dance, as well as the accompanying dance tune, originating in England in the 16th century and today most associated with Irish dance music and Scottish country dance music...
is a dance performed by one (or sometimes two) dancers, rather than by a set. Its music does not usually have the rhythm implied by the word jig in other contexts.
The titles of officers will vary from side to side, but most sides have at least the following:
- The role of the squire varies. In some sides the squire is the leader, who will speak for the side in public, usually lead or call the dances, and often decide the programme for a performance. In other sides the squire is more of an administrator, with the foreman taking the lead, and the dances called by any experienced dancer.
- The foreman teaches and trains the dancers, and is responsible for the style and standard of the side's dancing. The foreman is often "active" with the "passive" dancers.
- The bagman is traditionally the keeper of the bag — that is to say, the side's funds and equipment. In some sides today the bagman acts as secretary (particularly bookings secretary) and there is often a separate treasurer.
- On some sides a ragman manages and co-ordinates the team's kit or costume. This may include making bell-pads, ribbon bads, sashes and other accoutrements.
Many sides have one or more fools. A fool will usually be extravagantly dressed, and communicate directly with the audience in speech or mime. The fool will often dance around and even through a dance without appearing really to be a part of it, but it takes a talented dancer to pull off such fooling while actually adding to and not distracting from the main dance set. Those who are unkind in the audience often refer to the entire group as a "pack of fools".
Many sides also have a beast: a dancer in a costume made to look like a real or mythical animal. Beasts mainly interact with the audience, particularly children. In some groups this dancer is called the hobby.
Most Cotswold dances alternate common figures (or just figures) with a distinctive figure (or chorus). The common figures are common to all (or some) dances in the tradition; the distinctive figure distinguishes that dance from others in the same tradition. Sometimes (particularly in corner dances) the choruses are not identical, but have their own sequence specific to the tradition. Nevertheless, something about the way the chorus is danced will distinguish that dance from others. Several traditions will often have essentially the same dance, where the name, tune, and distinctive figure are the same or similar, but each tradition employs its common figures and style.
In England, an ale is a private party where a number of morris sides get together and perform dances for their own enjoyment rather than for an audience. Food is usually supplied, and sometimes this is a formal meal known as a feast or ale-feast. Occasionally an evening ale will be combined with a day or weekend of dance, where all the invited sides will tour the area and perform in public. In North America the term is widely used to describe a full weekend of dancing involving public performances and sometimes workshops. In the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, the term "ale" referred to a church- or village-sponsored event where ale or beer was sold to raise funds. Morris dancers were often employed at such events.
Modern dance
The "soul" of morris dancing exists within many individual groups, which are for the most part constituted as autonomous clubs or sides, each with its own constitution and procedures. Sides do not exist in isolation, and generally co-exist in a spirit of good-will and meet regularly, not just at large Folk Festivals or meetings organised by the three national umbrella organisations (Ring, Federation and Open), but also at annual Feasts or Ales that many sides organise. Apart from copious amounts of drinking and eating, these events (which can run over a whole weekend) are an opportunity for large numbers of morris dancers and musicians from across the country to come together in massed ensembles, performing throughout the area covered by the host side.In theory, sides may acknowledge geographic rights of others, although, except in very unusual cases, there is actually nothing to stop one side performing in the heartland of another. In the past this may have rarely been done without permission and agreement, but in modern practice such courtesies are mainly taken for granted. In most cases, sides partner each other via a system of mutual invitations at Morris Dancing venues.
Morris dancing is now an art and recreation enjoyed by men and women across the world. In England, there are many Mixed Morris sides that enable people to dance and have roles irrespective of gender.
Evolution
The continuance of the morris is as much in the hands of independent groups of enthusiasts as it is in the nationwide groupings such as The Morris Ring or The Morris Federation. So while for some sides there is a feeling that the music and dance recorded in the 19th century should be maintained, there are others who freely reinterpret the music and dance to suit their abilities and including modern influences. In 2008 a front page article in the Independent Magazine noted the rising influence of neopaganismNeopaganism
Neopaganism is an umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements, particularly those influenced by or claiming to be derived from the various pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe...
within the modern morris tradition. The article featured the views of neopagan sides Wolf's Head and Vixen Morris and Hunter's Moon Morris and contrasted them with those of the more traditional Long Man Morris Men.
Conversely, the Telegraph carried a report on 5 January 2009, predicting the demise of morris dancing within 20 years, due to the lack of young people willing to take part. This widespread story originated from a senior member of the more traditionally-minded Morris Ring
Morris Ring
The Morris Ring is one of three umbrella groups for Morris dance sides in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1934 by 6 sides: Greensleeves, Cambridge, East Surrey, Letchworth, Oxford and Thaxted. They meet several times a year, each Ring Meeting being hosted by a different member side...
, and may only reflect the situation in relation to member groups of that one organisation.
The success of Author Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...
's Discworld
Discworld
Discworld is a comic fantasy book series by English author Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which, in turn, stand on the back of a giant turtle, Great A'Tuin. The books frequently parody, or at least take inspiration from, J. R. R....
novels has seen the entirely invented Dark Morris tradition being brought to life in some form by genuine morris sides such as the Witchmen Morris.
The advent of the internet in the 1990s has also given morris sides a new platform upon which to perform. Many morris sides now have entertaining websites which seek to reflect the public persona of the individual sides as much as record their exploits and list forthcoming performances.
There are also a multitude of thriving Morris related blogs, forums and individual sides are to be found maintaining an interactive presence on major social networking sites.
Namesakes
- The dance may have given name to the board games three men's morris, six men's morris and nine men's morrisNine Men's MorrisNine Men's Morris is an abstract strategy board game for two players that emerged from the Roman Empire. The game is also known as Nine Man Morris, Mill, Mills, Merels, Merelles, and Merrills in English....
. - Erasmus GrasserErasmus GrasserErasmus Grasser was a leading sculptor in Munich in the early 16th century.He developed in an animated and realistic style, furthering on the works of Nikolaus Gerhaert...
, a German sculptor, created 16 realistic animated wooden figures in the late 15th century called the morris dancers. - Two ships named Morris Dance have served in the Royal Navy. The first HMS Morris Dance was a Dance class minesweeperDance class minesweeperThe Dance class minesweepers were originally designed as a shallow-draft twin-screw tunnel tugs, and were taken over by the Admiralty as coastal minesweeping sloops. They were completed between November 1917 and September 1918 under the Emergency War Programme.-Ships: - October 1917; Used to sweep...
, launched in 1919. The second HMS Morris Dance was a Dance class armed trawlerDance class armed trawlerThe Dance class vessels of World War II were armed trawlers of the Royal Navy. They were used for anti-submarine and minesweeping work and were nearly identical to the Isles class trawlers, of which they are usually considered a subclass....
, launched in 1940.
See also
- Ball de bastonsBall de bastonsBall de bastons is the name of a ritual weapon dance spread throughout Europe and the rest of the Iberian area . English and Welsh Morris dances are well-known relatives to these traditions. Most melodies are based on easy 2/4 rhythms...
- CăluşariCalusariThe Căluşari were the members of a Romanian fraternal secret society who practiced a ritual acrobatic dance known as the căluş. According to the Romanian historian Mircea Eliade, the Calusari were known for "their ability to create the impression of flying in the air" which he believed represented...
- English Country DanceEnglish Country DanceEnglish Country Dance is a form of folk dance. It is a social dance form, which has earliest documented instances in the late 16th century. Queen Elizabeth I of England is noted to have been entertained by "Country Dancing," although the relationship of the dances she saw to the surviving dances of...
- Maculelê (dance)Maculelê (dance)thumb|Maculele in New York.Maculelê is an Afro Brazilian dance where a number of people gather in a circle called a roda....
- Pipe and TaborPipe and TaborPipe and tabor is a pair of instruments played by a single player, consisting of a three-hole pipe played with one hand, and a small drum played with the other...
- Weapon Dance
- Morris: A Life with Bells OnMorris: A Life with Bells OnMorris: A Life with Bells On is a 2009 British independent film, a comic spoof documentary about morris dancing.-Development:Morris: A Life with Bells On was written by Charles Thomas Oldham , who also co-produced it with his wife, the film's director Lucy Akhurst...
- St George's Day in EnglandSt George's Day in EnglandSaint George is the patron saint of England and as such is celebrated on his death each 23 April. This is also celebrated as the day of birth and death of William Shakespeare...
External links
- Morrisbook Networking site for morris dancers
- Bordering on the Insane: Confessions of a Shropshire Bedlam by John Kirkpatrick
- The Complete Morris On and Other Plain Capers
- The Morris Book A history of morris dancing by Cecil J. Sharp, from Project GutenbergProject GutenbergProject Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...
- The Moreska Dance in Island Korcula, Croatia
- The Morrisdancing Page Links to morris sides and organizations
- Morris Dancing FAQs Database of morris-related questions
- The Origins of Morris By Chris Farr of Dartington Morris Men
- The English Folk Dance and Song Society at Cecil Sharp House, London]
- From Ritual to Romance By Jesse L. Weston, at Project Gutenberg
- Goths and Pagans reinventing Morris Dancing (The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
(UK), retrieved 11 May 2008) - Morris dancing facing extinction (The Daily TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
(UK), - Morris: A Life with Bells On IMDB article
- Welsh Morris
- “Everybody Dance Now!” an interview with London Morris Men
- Way Of The Morris | A Film By Tim Plester Documentary featuring The AdderburyAdderburyAdderbury is a large village and civil parish in northern Oxfordshire, England. It is about south of Banbury and from Junction 10 of the M40 motorway. The village is divided in two by the Sor Brook. The village consists of two neighbourhoods: West Adderbury and East Adderbury...
Village Morris Men - The Morris Tradition From Uttoxeter Morris