Morris Dancing

What exactly is Morris Dancing?

Morris Dancing is a tradition in England that is the butt of many jokes in modern society, that conjures images of men flouncing around with handkerchiefs and wearing bells on their legs, it is a custom that confuses foreign visitors and residents of England alike so, what exactly is Morris Dancing?

The most common image of a Morris Dancer is that of a bearded, middle-aged man who likes the odd pint of ale or three before skipping around in white clothes and banging sticks together with other similar men; while this image may appear to be true in many cases, there is an awful lot of skill that goes into Morris Dancing routines, often accompanied by musical instruments that are difficult to play, such as the accordion, pipe and tabor.

The Spanish have Flamenco, the Americans have Square Dancing, the Russians have their ballet and the English have Morris Dancing – the closest thing in England to a national dance that most prefer not to think about.

Morris Dancing may not have the sexy sophistication of Spanish Flamenco or the Argentinean Tango, but it has been performed for hundreds of years; it was considered an ancient dance form during Shakespeare’s time.

It is thought by many to have pagan roots and be linked to fertility rites – May Day is a major Morris Dancing time, but the performances take place throughout the summer on village greens across the country, usually within striking distance of a good old-fashioned pub.

There has pretty much always been a link between Morris Dancing and drinking ale; for one it helps get over the fact that you are all dressed in white, waving hankies around and jiggling bells all over the place, but the drinking connection dates back to medieval times when the church used to brew ale to raise funds.

The Puritans banned drinking in the 1600s but the ale was sold later in the same century at village fetes where Morris Dancing took place.

It is thought that all the hanky waving and bell jingling was originally used to welcome friendly spirits and the banging of sticks is to scare away the evil ones, also symbolizing the battle between winter and summer.

Hats have been worn by Morris Dancers in more recent times when bowler hats were fashionable, readily available and easy to decorate with wild colours and flowers.

The dancers who wear mostly white and skip a lot are dancing the original Cotswold (the hills where the River Thames in London springs from) Morris Dance, but there are other styles where the followers where black, different colour sashes and stomp around more rather than skip.

In a lot of the troupes there is a ‘fool’ who larks about, running around the dancers as if trying to distract them and generally entertaining the audience with pranks and jokes; the fool stands out with a different costume to the rest of the troupe and often carries a stick with an inflated pig’s bladder (usually substituted with a balloon now) on the end with which they hit people jokingly about the head.

The fool can also be used to dispel any trouble caused by irritating people in the audience who try to make fun of the dancers, usually by jostling them into joining in the Morris Dance.

The origin of the name ‘Morris’ Dance is a mystery, but it may be that it comes from the Latin, ‘moris’, which means tradition – though it is also thought that the dance has North African origins and could therefore be ‘Moorish’, yet it could also be that it received the ‘Moorish’ label because some of the earlier dancers used to paint their faces black – though this is more likely linked to the Beltane (May Day) act of smearing ashes on one’s face from the fire.

Though Morris Dancing is commonly thought of as a men’s tradition, women danced with the men all the time from before the medieval era; it was only when the prudish Victorian values came along that their attitudes put a stop to female Morris Dancing. During the 1970s there was a feminist rise that saw a dramatic increase in ‘none-traditional’ female dances, then in 1980 the Morris Federation allowed mixed sides; but there are still far fewer Female Morris Dancers than Male.