TRADITIONAL DANCE

IN BRITAIN

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MORRIS DANCES Origins of the term “ Morris” The kinds of Morris dances

Northwest Morris (Maypole dancing or Garland dancing) Sword dancing:

Long sword Rapper sword (short sword)

Border Morris Cotswold Morris

Music

Morris Dancing is a traditional English form of folkdancing, performed by groups of men or women.

It usually accompanied by music(a colorful mix of music, dancing and entertainment) . It has been danced for hundreds of years, and passed down through the generations in the villages of rural England. The dances are usually performed at festivals such as May Day, Whitsun and Christmas

There are many disputes about the origin of the term “Morris”, the most widely accepted theory is that the term was Moorish dance, morrisques in France , Morriskentanz in Germany, Moreska in Croatia, and Morresco or Morisca in Italy and Spain, which eventually become Morris dance.

.

There are usually six or eight dancers arranged in two lines or in a circle facing each other. The dancers may carry white handkerchiefs that they shake, or short sticks that they bang against each other as they dance.

North Morris Sword Dancing

Long sword Rapper sword ( Short sword)

Border Morris Cotswold Morris

North West Morris

The North West tradition is very different, and has always featured mixed and female sides - at least as far back as the eighteenth century. There is a picture of Eccles Wakes (painted in the 1820s, judging by the style of dress of some of the participants and spectators) that shows both male and female dancers.

North West morris ( more military in style and often processional): Clogs are a characteristic feature of this style of dance.

North West Morris: The dances themselves were often called 'maze' or 'garland dances' (Maypole dancing or Garland dancing)

Garland dancing

Garland

If the pole was plaited well and without breaking any of the ribbons, it would bring great good luck to the village

Children dance around a central pole, holding strings or ribbons of many colours which are plaited round the maypole in different patterns

SWORD DANCIND

Usually regarded as a type of morris, although many of the performers themselves consider it as a traditional dance form in its own right, is the sword dance tradition, which includes both rapper sword and longsword traditions. In both styles the "swords" are not actual swords, but implements specifically made for the dance.

Longsword dancing from Yorkshire and south Durham. The longsword is about 0.8 metres long, with a wooden handle at one end, a rounded tip, and no edge. Longsword sides consist usually of either six or eight dancers.

Rapper or Short sword dancing from Northumberland and Co. Durham.

The rapper sword is a very flexible strip of spring-steel, with a fixed handle at one end, and a rotating handle at the other.

Sword dancer

BORDER MORRIS

Border Morris from the English-Welsh border: a simpler, looser, more vigorous style, normally danced with blackened faces (or sometimes otherwise coloured, given the negative connotations for some of blackface).

The term "border morris" was first used by E. C. Cawte in a 1963 article on the morris dance traditions of Herefordshire, Shropshire, and Worcestershire — counties along the border with Wales

BORDER MORRIS: Border Morris dances are usually performed with heavy wooden sticks which are clashed together, often accompanied by shouts from the dancers

Wooden sticks

Morris dancers with black painted faces, traditional along the border with Wales

Black painted faces

The dancers wear tatter jackets composed of multi-colored strips of tattered cloth.

Colorful clothes

COTWOLD MORRIS

Cotswold Morris: dances from an area mostly in Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire; an established misnomer, since the Cotswolds overlap this region only partially. Normally danced with handkerchiefs or sticks to accompany the hand movements.

COTSWOLD with handkerchiefs

The dancers wear dozens of bells on each leg, wield handkerchiefs and/or sticks and dance to lively folk tunes.

Handkerchiefs

Bell

Cotswold with sticks

Melodeon

Music was traditionally provided by either a pipe and tabor or a fiddle.These are still used today, but the most common instrument is the melodeon.

Drum

Accordion

Concertinas

Accordions and concertinas are also common, and other instruments are sometimes used. Often drums are employed.

The notable album: Morris On series:

Son of Morris On, Grandson of Morris On, Great Grandson of Morris On, and Morris On The Road.

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.

Musician

SOME PICTURES OF MORRIS DANCES

FESTIVAL 2005