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Boggart's Breakfast
Some of my flist live in Sheffield.
Read this. Or else.
This weekend was Wimborne Folk Festival. As always, Richard, Henry and I were collecting. (If anyone wants to know how to collect effectively, I'm willing to go into detail. Many a time, one of us has been round a crowd immediately after someone else has already been there, and collected lots of money that the first person simply missed. People are generous and willing to donate, but you have to take your time and catch the signs. If you just wander vaguely past with a collecting tin, you'll miss 90% of what's there.)
There were many good sides dancing at the festival, as always, but the real stand out was Boggart's Breakfast.
They're a Border Morris side from Sheffield. They're all young dancers, they've a lot of students and former students among them. They fielded around 16 dancers at Wimborne - that's a 7 hour journey from Sheffield. They've even more dancers back home.
If anyone ever tells you that morris is dated, boring, irrelevant or dull, take them to see Boggart's Breakfast dance.
Their style is fast, fluid, exciting and superbly well choreographed. These guys PRACTICE and it shows. They can start in two parallel lines, whirl on the spot to become diagonal lines, toss stick to a partner six feet away, spin, toss stick to the guy on the right, spin, toss to the guy on the left, hit the stick to the ground, and be off into the next figure (they call this the 'nearly impossible dance' for a good reason).
(You really need sunshine to give the full effect, but this was the best photo I could find on their web site. Just add mental light for the spangles and then add movement and a sense of fluid speed and motion.)
Not only do they dance superbly, but they've thought about the totality of their act. The costumes are the traditional Border morris tatter jacket, but they've gone for black tatters with silver and light blue spangles. When they spin, the tatters whirl out like the wings of a mad crow and the spangles flash in the light. They've gone for longer tatters than normal so the whirl effect is greater, and the longest ones are at the bottom, giving an effect reminiscent of a frock coat with tails.
They wear top hats, and all decorations on the hat are in keeping with the black/silver/pale blue theme (even to the point of some dancers with blue fairy lights when they were dancing indoors in the evening. The bells on the pads on the legs are silver and blue. They paint their faces blue, but not just plain blue, the colours are shaded and they add decorative detail. (blacked up faces are a Border Morris tradition)
The band, of course, are totally part of the performance. They're in full kit (as most morris bands are), some of them double up as dancers, but they also have a highly distinctive drumming style which gives visual emphasis and punctuates the dance moves.
If there was ever such a thing as 'total morris' then this is it.
If you live in or near Sheffield, then find out when/where they're dancing and go to watch. Or I'll shoot you...
(although there are videos on their web site, I've deliberately not linked to them as they don't even begin to give you a sense of what it's like to watch the group live and close up)
Read this. Or else.
This weekend was Wimborne Folk Festival. As always, Richard, Henry and I were collecting. (If anyone wants to know how to collect effectively, I'm willing to go into detail. Many a time, one of us has been round a crowd immediately after someone else has already been there, and collected lots of money that the first person simply missed. People are generous and willing to donate, but you have to take your time and catch the signs. If you just wander vaguely past with a collecting tin, you'll miss 90% of what's there.)
There were many good sides dancing at the festival, as always, but the real stand out was Boggart's Breakfast.
They're a Border Morris side from Sheffield. They're all young dancers, they've a lot of students and former students among them. They fielded around 16 dancers at Wimborne - that's a 7 hour journey from Sheffield. They've even more dancers back home.
If anyone ever tells you that morris is dated, boring, irrelevant or dull, take them to see Boggart's Breakfast dance.
Their style is fast, fluid, exciting and superbly well choreographed. These guys PRACTICE and it shows. They can start in two parallel lines, whirl on the spot to become diagonal lines, toss stick to a partner six feet away, spin, toss stick to the guy on the right, spin, toss to the guy on the left, hit the stick to the ground, and be off into the next figure (they call this the 'nearly impossible dance' for a good reason).
(You really need sunshine to give the full effect, but this was the best photo I could find on their web site. Just add mental light for the spangles and then add movement and a sense of fluid speed and motion.)
Not only do they dance superbly, but they've thought about the totality of their act. The costumes are the traditional Border morris tatter jacket, but they've gone for black tatters with silver and light blue spangles. When they spin, the tatters whirl out like the wings of a mad crow and the spangles flash in the light. They've gone for longer tatters than normal so the whirl effect is greater, and the longest ones are at the bottom, giving an effect reminiscent of a frock coat with tails.
They wear top hats, and all decorations on the hat are in keeping with the black/silver/pale blue theme (even to the point of some dancers with blue fairy lights when they were dancing indoors in the evening. The bells on the pads on the legs are silver and blue. They paint their faces blue, but not just plain blue, the colours are shaded and they add decorative detail. (blacked up faces are a Border Morris tradition)
The band, of course, are totally part of the performance. They're in full kit (as most morris bands are), some of them double up as dancers, but they also have a highly distinctive drumming style which gives visual emphasis and punctuates the dance moves.
If there was ever such a thing as 'total morris' then this is it.
If you live in or near Sheffield, then find out when/where they're dancing and go to watch. Or I'll shoot you...
(although there are videos on their web site, I've deliberately not linked to them as they don't even begin to give you a sense of what it's like to watch the group live and close up)
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