When you think about Morris dancing you conjure up images of men wearing bells, waving hankies and dancing on the village green. Whilst this is fairly true there's more to it than just that as the Explorers found out last Friday. As part of our 'doing something new' each term we were delighted to welcome the East Surrey Morris Men to our weekly meeting where they taught us some of the basics involved with this old English tradition. After some instructions we were soon performing dances from the Cotswold tradition in sets of eight.
Traditionally morris dancing is done by all-male teams but looking at some of the questionable coordination it was probably a good thing that we had ad some females interspersed in the ranks to bring some order to proceedings. As well as all the Leaders joining in we even had a visiting Explorer from France who was able to experience something truly English.
The origins of Morris dancing are uncertain. It is clear from contemporary accounts in 15th Century England that, at that time, it was considered an ancient and primitive activity. By the 19th Century the dances had developed into the form we recognise today. Most Cotswold villages had a side dancing their own variations and it was a gentlemen called Cecil Sharp that then collected many of these dances together at the turn of the century before the drastic social changes of the early 1900's could sweep away the traditions. It was this work that then led to the revival of the Morris.
We are most grateful to Clayton (Bagman), Ian (Fool) and their fellow Morris Men for an enjoyable and insightful evening. Further information about Morris Dancing and East Surrey Morris Men can be found at www.esmm.org.uk and more pictures of our dancing are available on the Group website.
