Review of the JMO workshop presented by Jack Worth on 20th May 2024 via Zoom, attended by 31 participants. Jack Worth is a statistician who has run the Morris Census every 3 years – in 2014, 2017, 2020, and 2023. Jack dances with Headington Quarry Morris.
Jerry West of Berkshire Bedlam Morris and Windsor Morris in Berkshire writes:
“Jack Worth gave an informative and thought-provoking talk on 20th May 2024 to present the results of the 2023 “Morris Census”, an online survey held every three years since 2014.
“Jack started by describing what the census was and commented on its validity (does it measure what it purports to measure?) and accuracy (do the results reflect reality?). The survey is intended to be completed by one person on behalf of the responding Morris side, and so depends on that person’s ability to accurately judge personal characteristics, such as the age of team members, or on their willingness to ask the team for that data. Historical data (from earlier survey work in1982 and 1996) is also available though not always directly comparable. The survey respondents are self-selecting, but some three-quarters of teams contacted provided a response. Confidence in the general accuracy of the data is high.
“The 2023 census was particularly awaited as it was the first since the Covid-19 pandemic (March 2020 – October 2021). The 2020 census was held at the beginning of that period and so represents a baseline for possible comparison. Intriguingly, Jack reported those teams that met regularly during the pandemic reported more positively on their post-pandemic prospects than teams who did not meet regularly or at all. Of course, correlation is not causality, but it provides food for thought.
“The census found that there had been a 5.5% drop in the overall number of sides (the number of teams who are members of the Morris Federation, the Morris Ring and the Open Morris), from 812 in 2020 to 767 in 2023; and a 7.8% drop in the estimated total number of dancers and musicians (by 1,000 to 12,600). This is accounted for largely by the drop in the number of teams, but helped, if that’s the right word, by a drop in average membership per team from 18.7 to 18.2 – 0.5 of a person doesn’t sound like much but that’s at least 406 people overall!
“It is not possible to ascribe causality – we do not know definitively if the pandemic caused all these teams to fold, but the sharp increase in the number of teams seen from 2017 to 2020 (the numbers having remained flat for the previous three years) has been effectively reversed.
“Of the people still dancing and playing, the majority are female for the first time (it having been pretty much equal in 2017). It’s a 51%/49% split, but the majority (64%) of new recruits (new to Morris) are also female so the trend is for this figure to go higher. This stimulated some later discussion on the (un-)desirability of Morris going the way of most ‘art’ dance-forms (i.e. being almost exclusively female).
“Many of these new recruits are joining Border Morris teams (who recruited an average of 4.7 people in the years 2022-23), but every style of Morris has seen some recruitment, with an average overall of 3.2 people per team. As always, averages don’t show the variation in success rates, with some teams no doubt recruiting no-one and others perhaps nearing double figures!
“The talk did not reveal whether the higher levels of recruitment for Border teams was across the board or because of an increase in the number of new Border teams (up from 256 (34% of the total) in 2014 to 299 (39%) in 2023). Either way, the data reflects the increasing popularity of Border Morris as is evident at festivals and days of dance.
“The average age of team members continues to rise (it is now 56), and so, also, does the percentage of people over the age of 70 (24%). This is good news for them – more people are able to remain active for longer in their lives and both exercise and social relationships are generally considered good for one’s health. But it may be bad news for the Morris overall as fewer really young people are coming in to replace them when they do finally retire – the average age of the 2,500 or so newcomers to Morris each year is 45. But even that average may be slightly misleading – 43% of new recruits are actually aged 50 or over, while only 23% are aged under 30.
“These younger recruits join an exclusive cohort – only 9% of current dancers and musicians are under 30 years old, with a similar number (10%) in their thirties. That’s around 2500 people in all. It’s an open question whether their patterns of participation will mimic those experienced (anecdotally) by the older generations – i.e. that an individual’s participation in the Morris can last decades or even a lifetime. Are these the core of a new revival, or the rump of a faded glory?
“But these are issues for another generation – literally. Barring some major upset to the Morris lifestyle, there seems no reason why those in their forties, fifties and sixties should not be dancing and playing well into their own seventies and possibly older. Whether the older dancer can provide the “bodily manifestation of vigour and rude health” originally promoted by Cecil Sharp – and whether that is to be desired – is, as always, a matter for debate. Nonetheless, most Morris teams (84%) describe themselves as somewhat or definitely optimistic about their own survival over the next five years at least. It will be interesting to try to correlate these results with actual survival rates in future censuses!
“However, given the drop in both teams and numbers and the rising age profile, recruitment is a hot topic for many teams. The survey data suggests that the three most effective forms of recruitment are “word of mouth” (and its modern equivalent: social media) with “persuade a friend” considered sufficiently different so as to be a separate strategy.
“Given this, and more anecdotal evidence, it is suggested that “like attracts like” – new recruits need to be able to see themselves not only performing but also as being part of a group of people sufficiently “like them”. This may also be reflected in the ethnic mix of participants – only 1.2% of all dancers and musicians are from a non-white ethnic background. This is an increase on previous years but the numbers are growing only very slowly. There are specific efforts underway within the three Morris Organisations to assist teams in broadening their appeal which were not the focus of this talk and which are reported elsewhere.
“Having summarised the data, Jack challenged the audience to consider what makes for a sustainable team and suggested three things were important:
- a critical mass of like-minded people;
- collective agency – the capacity of a group of people to act together toward a common goal, encompassing both intent and capability; and
- succession planning, possibly through complete re-invention.
“This last point may need further elaboration: just as “my grandfather’s broom” has had two new handles and a new brush head but is still my grandfather’s broom, so the Headington Quarry Morris (with whom Jack dances) is simultaneously a long-lived “traditional” (survival) side dating from 1799 and the continuation of an entirely new side formed from a group of schoolboys in the late 1940’s with no physical continuity with the extant (but defunct) adult team other than their founding teacher and musician. Perhaps it helped that some of the boys were descended from men who had danced before WWII… or perhaps WIlliam Kimber, himself the son of a Morris Dancer and a charismatic musician and teacher, would have been able to create a new team even without them. He had after all been part of the re-creation of Headington Quarry once before – playing for them out to dance for Cecil Sharp in 1899… and that seemed to work out alright in the end!
“Ultimately, one’s concern, or lack of concern, about the demographics of the current Morris dance “scene” is a matter of personal philosophy. Dancers and musicians come and go whilst the team lives on. Teams come and teams go whilst the dance lives on. Does it matter if no-one dances the Morris?
“Whether it matters to you or not, Jack Worth’s excellent work in collecting and interpreting the data both provides evidence on which to base policy and will be the source of thoughtful discussions within teams and over pints in the pub after practice. Watch the recording and decide for yourself!
Video Recording
The video recording is now publicly available on the MF YouTube channel (49 mins) and can also be found on this page: https://www.morrisfed.org.uk/resources/videos/morris-census-2023-results/
Other Resources
- Interview with Jack Worth by Tradfolk: Counting Morris Dancers – Results of the Morris Census 2023
- All Morris census data from 2023, 2020, 2017 and 2014 is at: https://www.morriscensus.uk/
- For comparison, here is a report of the key findings from 2020: Morris Census 2020 – Findings [PDF]
