What is Morris?

Bells, sticks, hankies, beer.
Joyful living tradition
or drunken prancing?

The origin of Morris was long-ago lost to the mists of time, inebriation and repeated blows to the skull. Since those dark days many have tried to piece together (along with our unfortunate bones) the puzzle of our forgotten past, to little avail.

Such being the case, we will begin by defining the various styles of Morris for you.

Border Morris

This would be what we dance. It’s based on a mixture of dances from Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire and the creations of modern sides, as there were not many recorded. If you’re hunting a border side, they can be tracked by the swish of their tatters and the sound of maddened stick-clashing.

Cotswold Morris

Cotswold, on the other hand, have old dances leaking out of their ears. Cecil Sharp was fascinated by the Cotswold village dances and collected a veritable treasure trove of them (they don’t know how lucky they are). They dance in dazzling whites and handle their hankies with flair; say ‘Morris dancing’ to your average non-folkie and chances are they’ll think of Cotswold.

North West Morris

Proceeding onto the processional dances of the North West, particularly Lancashire and Cheshire. The fanciful footwork of these colourful clog-wearing characters is a joy to watch. English clogs, naturally.

Rapper

Rapper is performed briskly using short flexible swords and height-variant flexible dancers. It originated in the north of England, traditionally in pubs and tightly together so as to fit near the bar. Other styles admire Rapper for both the skill and the limberness of its dancers. And that about wraps it up.