The forgotten morris

[watervole]

 Anonymous Morris just signed up to dance at Winchester Mayfest.

I noticed that the list of sides attending in included Guith Carnival Morris.  Wow!, I thought, a genuine carnival morris side. I though they never, ever, mixed with the folk scene.

Sadly, no.

Guith Carnival Morris are a mixed Border/ Cotswold side, who probably don't even know that Carnival Morris exists.  Most morris dancers don't. It's the morris of which nobody speaks.

This clip is Carnival Morris.  You find it in the North West of England, especially Lancashire and also North Wales..  It's danced by girls, often starting quite young. It's done to modern pop music, and it's always recorded, never live music. It's very precise (to a degree most North West morris teams would  sell their eye teeth to achieve.)  It's highly competitive, and for all these reasons, you can see why it rarely overlaps with the normal morris world.

"Lancashire rosettes Morris dancing troupe" (Watch on YouTube)

Comments

[msilverstar]

That is amazing! I think they're like cheer squads and other athletic-type dance groups. I would never have expected morris to turn into this, but can imagine this evolution over generations.

[watervole]

I'll put up a clip of North West morris in my next post so you can see the evolution. It would be hard indeed to find any resemblance to Cotswold morris, but with NW morris you can still see some similarity.

I know what you mean about cheer squads.

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry but that was quite tedious, I couldn't watch it all the way through. But then, I'm not keen on competitive Irish dancing either.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I don't find it particularly interesting myself. I'd far rather watch ordinary morris. I just find it interesting as an ignored tradition and for the historical connection.

There's definitely some overlap with modern Irish dancing (which is't much like traditional Irish dancing either).

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

Irish daancing is all about the footwork, which these didn't seem to have, but you can see a family resemblance between all the teams of set dancers across the traditions.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I was thinking partly about the style of costume. I think that owes a fair bit to the modern Irish teams.

[vjezkova.livejournal.com]

Well...this is called "disco dancing " here - a team and a very competitive performance. :-)

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Do your 'disco dancers' have similar stepping?

It's not the music or the teamwork, it's the moves that define the style.

[vjezkova.livejournal.com]

Now this is a key problem, is it? I really don´t know. And I doubt people here know about morris dancing. This definitely solves it!:-)

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

It's like a cross between drum majorettes and American high school cheerleading but they don't cover much ground, do they? Much arm-waving, pom-pom flashing and high-stepping but not much of what I'd call dance. And I hope that kid screaming close to the microphone isn't ever going to try for a singing career.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I must admit I was surprised by how static it was. I don't know if that particular performance is typical of the genre.

Fluffy Morris like Drum Majorettes and American High School Cheerleadin

[fluffymacca]

Sorry, but no link at all between Fluffy and either of the above pastimes.
Fluffy is a direct descendant of N.W. and unlike N.W. and many of the other morris traditions has never been in 'revival.' Clogs have been replaced by plimsolls. Slings/mollies/tittleras - call them what you will - have been supplanted by 'shakers' (not pom-poms - the province of the U.S.) and dresses have developed since the late 19th century into a style that girls of today are comfortable dancing in and which permit the modified steps they now perform. I thought the snide attitude towards Fluffy that used to be common in - among other organisations - the Morris Ring - had largely dissipated but it appears it is still alive and well. Given the number of girls performing the Fluffy in contrast to the total membership of all the other disciplines, it is a sad reflection of the stuffy attitude still prevailing in 'traditional' circles.

Re: Fluffy Morris like Drum Majorettes and American High School Cheerleadin

[watervole]

I'm pretty certain I've seen an historical photo with shakers, pre-dating Carnival morris. You may thus be able to claim that as tradition even though modern NW sides have abandoned them.

[frostfox.livejournal.com]

One of my co-workers was a carnival morris dancer in her youth, and yes, in the North West. Her Mum made the costumes and she tell tales of hem measuring sessions before the girls went on and Mum having to do quick alterations (all the hems were supposed to be at the same level but those pesky young teenagers kept on growing).
There were also morris teams in our Methodist church (the one I got kicked out of for wanting to be The Morrigan when I grew up).
It was, indeed, very big here in the 70's.
Nowadays, the troupes still dance at events like Altrincham or Northwich Carnival, but they are more likely to be doing disco steps or hip hop.

FF

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I can well believe the costumes being very precise in length.

Was it all done to disco music in the 70s? I suspect so, but I'm just curious if there was a particular point of shift from trad to modern music. (Though, of course, morris was originally done to popular tunes of the day)

Do the troupes doing disco and hip hop still call themselves Carnival Morris? In some ways, they've every bit as much right to the term 'morris' as modern Border Morris dancers. (and in others, not, but it's an interesting debate)