Morris Dancing - Telling a Story or just prancing around?

[oggbashan]

Yesterday I went to an event that had ladies Morris Dancing as an "attraction".

Before each dance their leader explained, in a speech longer than the dance that followed, the story of the dance they were about to perform.

For example:

A sea captain had wooed and won a mermaid, married her and settled down in an inland village. (previous dance) Unfortunately the mermaid had been engaged to a merman who was one of Neptune's lieutenants and she didn't break off the engagement before marrying the sea captain. The merman was so annoyed that he sent a great whale to cause a flood and drown the sea captain. However the inland village is high above sea level and the whale's best efforts only stirred up the mud at the bottom of the local estuary, which is why that estuary, previously pellucidly clear, is now clouded with suspended mud and reveals extensive mudflats at low tide. The dance is called "The Seventh Wave" because each seventh thrash of the great whale's tail was the one that stirred up the mud.

The six women then danced around, clashing two-foot staves together and on the ground. Unfortunately not all of them knew the steps so some were clashing staves against nothing, and some were going the wrong way in the turns despite surreptitous glances at their printed crib-sheets.

I can understand some of the meaning in ballet postures and some basic hand gestures in Balinese dancing. I couldn't get any feel for the meaning that the women were attempting to convey in the Morris Dance.

Is that my fault or theirs?

Or should I have retired to the beer tent and got drunk?

Og

 

[Boxlicker101]

Probably theirs. Getting drunk might have made subsequent dances more bearable. At least it might have helped you concentrate on the sexiness, if any, of the dancers.

 

[oggbashan]

Probably theirs. Getting drunk might have made subsequent dances more bearable. At least it might have helped you concentrate on the sexiness, if any, of the dancers.

Sexiness and Morris Dancers are mutually exclusive concepts.

Og

 

[starrkers]

The only Morris Dancing I've ever seen was Monty Python taking the piss.

It looked infinitely piss-takable.

 

[damppanties]

This thread reminds me of the AH that was. And Perdita.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I love to watch all kinds of dance-- and a poor dancer can ruin any form, from Ballet to Krumpin...

Terry Pratchett wrote about the antiMorris dance in one of his kind of early books. The dancers dance backward, in black clothing, with bells muffled and padded sticks that make no sound, to absolute silence. A group in Chicago actually worked it out, and performed it for him. He mentioned it in a forward I think in "Wintersmith" and said it made the hairs on his arms stand right up....

 

[Huckleman2000]

Forget the dancing - that's just a crummy story to begin with.

 

[fifty5]

Sexiness and Morris Dancers are mutually exclusive concepts.

Og

In general I'd agree, but I've only seen males doing it (so to speak). If there was some hot totty performing, things could be different.

But it was you that was there. Did the dancers or the beer tent have most appeal, Og?

 

[amicus]

Dear Oggbashan, I most likely don't belong on this thread...for several reasons, one of which is I never, ever heard of "Morris Dancers" before and still don't quite know the history or function, perhaps you might share that? I may even do a search but mainly because it was you and you chose to present this.

But your story of the sea captain, mermaid and merman, to my mind in a totally opposite direction; that of the function of storytelling and the moral purpose and content of that early and ancient way of entertaining and passing on knowledge or legend, tradition and fantasies.

I mention that for the pleasure I obtain from thinking about it and also my inability to really comprehend the storytelling skills required to create or pass on such things in live story form, say around a village campfire long ago, with a visiting band of troubadors or, gypsies, as the case may be, tinkers, I think they were also called.

Thanks for the post...enjoyed...


amicus

 

[neonlyte]

Hmm. Drink, I think. Ogg.

Morris Dancing always struck me as a little 'dry' in terms of folkloric expression, a limited repertoire of 'hopping and stave clashing', quintessentially English, though actually Iberian in origin, and found in other countries across Europe. The dance is thought to originate as a celebratory dance for the expulsion of the Moors from Europe. Yes... it all comes back to Religion and Politics though Monty Python summed it up best: 'Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. Our chief weapon is surprise... and fear'. That's Morris Dancing.

 

[lloyd_5]

I thought the whole point of Morris Dancing was an excuse to go from pub to pub on Mayday consuming as much ale as possible until you didn't know your stave from your... bell, and fell in a heap round the Maypole.

Now they let women do it AND there's a hidden meaning?

Sounds like political correctness to me.

 

[oggbashan]

I think the women's Morris team I saw might have been imbibing the free cider on offer. It was a cold windy day but that didn't excuse their incompetence at their chosen activity.

Here is an example of Morris Dancing:
Wimborne Morris

When searching youtube I found mixed-sex Morris teams. That is a definite no-no for the traditionalists. All male teams are usual even if including a transvestite "Betty". A few towns had women's Morris but they were not considered to be proper Morris. A mixed team? A 21st century perversion of the true faith.

I still don't like Morris. I agree with the Licensing Authorities. You have to apply for a licence to produce entertainment including dancing. Morris Dancing is exempt from the need for a licence because it is not considered to be "entertainment". (or dancing!)

Og

PS. I found Clog Dancing as well. Clog Dancing and this

Clog Dancing is not Morris but is equally traditional

 

[keeblercrumb]

Now granted my knowledge base on this subject is pretty much limited to the 3 years I spent in Blighty during the 90's...... but I was also under the impression that primary purpose for Morris Dancing was to solicit as many free drinks from as many pubs as could be staggered to by 11:00 pm.

My local house, the Lytton Arms in Knebworth, Hertfordshire, seemed to attract a goodly number of these acts... the most problematic being the local Sword dancers who accompanied the pints of bitters with slashing swords..... My suspicion that this was on the cusp of Darwin award winning behavior was confirmed when I was drawn, stumbling drunk into the fray.... Having a go at the Yank... I believe being the purpose....

But... as observed above... there was no perceptible purpose to the mayhem other than the drinking... so your experience is certainly a disturbing trend... or the desire by some neglected women to get their share of the grog...

Incidentally, I would note with pride, if not irony, that the Lytton family's most famous member was one Bulwar Lytton for whom the annual literary contest for the worst opening paragraph in a novel is named.... (Having penned the immortal words... "It was a dark and stormy night.....")

-KC

 

[cantdog]

The morrismen I danced with thought it likely that the custom was lifted from the Moors, and speculated that it may have modern relatives from the same parent in the sword dances. I saw a vid of the king of Saudi Arabia doing a sword dance, and it had elements in common, if one were willing to squint.

We danced Field Town, which is a rich tradition of many dances, out of Oxford. Most did seem a bit meaningless, but there were exceptions, notably one which went by the name Signposts. That one, like many of the Field Town dances, didn't use the staves, and there is a point in the dance when all the men stand, feet together and arms straight out for a couple of moments, in silence. The music stops and recommences after that moment. The entire figure is repeated once again. It has an eerie effect, actually.

Other traditions of morris from other towns have more elements which are, I think, more Celtic and less Moorish. The Green Man, for example, and some other character parts, seem to have descended from older traditions on the island. But although the morrismen pass down the traditions, they are most of them uninformed about a deeper meaning, or else simply close-mouthed about it.

Several of us had been to England, of course, but such questions were shrugged off. I suppose the English dancers hear the same questions very frequently. Our men may simply have seemed impertinent, or the meaning of the traditions may be a secret, too.

Pace-egging is conflated with morris, and the combination of the two goes back at least to the 1700s. I regret your experience with the poor dancers. Many of our men were quite accomplished at the jig. I retain the memory of a good many old songs, a set of very well-developed calf muscles from springing up, and a taste for good ale, but little else, from my experience.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Ogg, the problem is two-fold.

First, the story should have been printed and handed out, with only a short synopsis preceeding the dance. That was a procedural error that slowed down the program and made is disinteresting.

Second, the dance routine was not well rehearsed and performed. It should have been done better by the performers or not at all.

 

[lloyd_5]

Just the mention of 'clog dancing' engages other senses - the pleasant burr of northern UK accents, the sound of colliery brass bands, the Hovis TV commercials and the smell of fresh bread.

Comes from being a tourist.

 

[Grushenka]

Forget the dancing - that's just a crummy story to begin with.

Grinningly agree. Were these people serious? Seriously. Personally, I just can't see Morris dancers having a point, let alone a text.

 

[oggbashan]

Grinningly agree. Were these people serious? Seriously. Personally, I just can't see Morris dancers having a point, let alone a text.

That is the problem.

They ARE serious about their ?art.

(Or are they serious about the free alcohol?)

Og

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Og

We are always serious when it's a question of free alcohol.

 

[Grushenka]

After further (20 seconds or so) consideration, I wonder if Morris dancers were the first "outsider" artists. If so, I'd say they need to come in and surrender to the system (hang those clogs up for the good of humankind!).

 

[oggbashan]

After further (20 seconds or so) consideration, I wonder if Morris dancers were the first "outsider" artists. If so, I'd say they need to come in and surrender to the system (hang those clogs up for the good of humankind!).

For many years Morris Dancing was either ignored or condemned by the authorities. It was maintained almost in secret as a "local yokel" custom until the late 19th century when folk traditions began to be collected seriously by Cecil Sharpe and others.

I still think most of it should be practised behind closed doors between consenting adults.

Og

 

[Grushenka]

I still think most of it should be practised behind closed doors between consenting adults.

Do you mean to say there's such a thing as non-consensual Morris dancing?

 

[oggbashan]

Do you mean to say there's such a thing as non-consensual Morris dancing?

Of course. Some people will do anything after a few pints of free alcohol.

Consent is presumed - a dangerous precedent.

Og

 

[cantdog]

Weird effect.

Like a one way mirror or something.

 

[cantdog]

Ahem.

I think the reason they didn't talk to us Yanks about it was that they didn't, you know. A lot of pagan things have been wisely kept esoteric. I saw and skimmed a book on the morris, but any time I read closely, it seemed to devolve into speculation. They didn't tell the folklorists, either.

Abbot's Bromley has a glib story, if you can call it a story, about the antler dance, too. We didn't tell a story, when we danced. The Stillwater morris men had a spiel about the morris itself, a handout we gave out, with a short bibliography for the benefit of those curious enough to get a book. But mostly we clashed the staves (ours were walking-cane or sword length, not og's "two feet") and performed the figures, and the capers and jigs, without a lot of narration and folderol.

The staves were nice, they make a sweet clonk when they strike one another, but better than half our dances eschewed them. The Ducklington tradition, which we saw being danced by a group of morrismen from New York, used staves a lot, and also rapper swords. Field Town has squares of cloth in both hands more often than not.

The stories we heard in England frequently spoke of the days when the whole tradition of the morris was conducted as a sort of secret society. In small villages, of course, everyone would recognize the Green Man no matter what he wore; one knows the gait and the set of the back of people. The face one sees of morris is not the half of the thing. In my view.