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Exhaustion...
It's a very busy time of year for morris dancers. This is when everyone suddenly contacts you and says "Can you perform at our May Day (or event close to May Day) fete?"
To which the inevitable answer is that you need to book a year in advance to get Anonymous Morris for May Day and the bank holiday weekend will also be taken about a year beforehand.
However, we do squeeze in some extras... (especially if it's for children)
It's also approaching Wimborne Minster Folk Festival time of year, which means I'm working with several local schools teaching children traditional dances to perform at the festival. I enjoy it, the kids are wonderful, but it's still tiring.
30 June - North West Morris at Allenbourn school.
1 May - Cub pack in Hamworthy - Border Morris
2 May - Maypole and longsword dancing at Pamphill school
3 May - morris practice
4 May - no dancing!
5 May - paid booking - 2 hours of morris and maypole dancing (great venue, we go there every year)
6 May - no dancing!
7 May - Morris and maypole paid booking at Blandford Georgian Fayre (another great venue - but it was very hot this year...)
- longsword practice in the evening
8 May - day off! (collapsed and did a lot of resting)
9 May - Maypole and longsword dancing at Pamphill school
10 May - Beaver pack - Border morris
- morris practice
Just had another local school ask if I can teach some kids before the Folk Festival in June. That would be on Thursdays. I think I can do it (did this school last year), but it's hard work as it's two hours in the afternoon with no break. One class followed by another. Just got to find a volunteer musician and ideally another dancer to help (the catch is that only retired and unemployed members of the team are free during the school day, and I'm already roping them in for all the other school sessions....)
The catch is that I'm constitutionally incapable of turning down a request to teach any form of traditional dance to the next generation.....
That's how I originally started teaching maypole dancing.
The school where did did our morris practice mentioned one day that they'd found an old maypole in a store room and could we teach maypole dancing? I said 'yes' by reflex and then went away to learn how. I'm now an expert on maypole dancing. Old dances new dance, overseas dances, take your pick.
I can take a group who have never maypole danced before and get a decent pattern on the pole in less than ten mins.
To which the inevitable answer is that you need to book a year in advance to get Anonymous Morris for May Day and the bank holiday weekend will also be taken about a year beforehand.
However, we do squeeze in some extras... (especially if it's for children)
It's also approaching Wimborne Minster Folk Festival time of year, which means I'm working with several local schools teaching children traditional dances to perform at the festival. I enjoy it, the kids are wonderful, but it's still tiring.
30 June - North West Morris at Allenbourn school.
1 May - Cub pack in Hamworthy - Border Morris
2 May - Maypole and longsword dancing at Pamphill school
3 May - morris practice
4 May - no dancing!
5 May - paid booking - 2 hours of morris and maypole dancing (great venue, we go there every year)
6 May - no dancing!
7 May - Morris and maypole paid booking at Blandford Georgian Fayre (another great venue - but it was very hot this year...)
- longsword practice in the evening
8 May - day off! (collapsed and did a lot of resting)
9 May - Maypole and longsword dancing at Pamphill school
10 May - Beaver pack - Border morris
- morris practice
Just had another local school ask if I can teach some kids before the Folk Festival in June. That would be on Thursdays. I think I can do it (did this school last year), but it's hard work as it's two hours in the afternoon with no break. One class followed by another. Just got to find a volunteer musician and ideally another dancer to help (the catch is that only retired and unemployed members of the team are free during the school day, and I'm already roping them in for all the other school sessions....)
The catch is that I'm constitutionally incapable of turning down a request to teach any form of traditional dance to the next generation.....
That's how I originally started teaching maypole dancing.
The school where did did our morris practice mentioned one day that they'd found an old maypole in a store room and could we teach maypole dancing? I said 'yes' by reflex and then went away to learn how. I'm now an expert on maypole dancing. Old dances new dance, overseas dances, take your pick.
I can take a group who have never maypole danced before and get a decent pattern on the pole in less than ten mins.
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I'm so glad you are teaching, even when it is challenging. I think traditions are important.
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I look back at my old notes on occasion and think "I needed to write down something that obvious?" but it clearly wasn't obvious at the time.
I totally agree about traditions. I think they give us a sense of identity and continuity with the pasts. (and are also a lot of fun, help us keep fit, make new friends, and see interesting places)
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This is a suburban area and Wimborne is a small town. I'm doing three classes in Wimborne alone and one at a school only two miles away.
The youth groups are all in the Poole area.
If I started actively seeking interested groups in a 20-mile radius, I'm sure I'd loads.
I've just had a possible volunteer (experienced in European traditional dances) contact me, and I bet I can find places wanting her to teach with no effort at all. I just need to find out how to get her a DAB clearance first.