Here is a review of our third Cotswold Morris workshop held on 28th February 2021, for over 80 participants from the UK, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and the USA to learn the ‘Lumps of Plum Pudding’ jig in the style of Bledington.  The workshop was kindly run by dancers Andrew Knight and Lin Steel with musician Tony Warren, all from the Knights of King Ina jig team in Somerset.  You can see the video of the Bledington ‘Lumps of Plum Pudding’ jig workshop on the MF YouTube channel.

Nic Yannacopoulos writes:

“I am very pleased to have attended this opportunity to get expert instruction from Drew Knight and his team of helpers.

“The session included short breaks for hydration and relaxation.  It allowed the use of multiple cameras for participants to watch both instructors and themselves from various angles. This reduced the need for frequent clarifications and allowed more time for mass practice.

“It helped me correct mistakes acquired from watching dancers who focused more on physical prowess than elegance and attention to tradition. Some of the salient features fo Bledington, such as the high arm movements on the vertical plane and the disciplined shuffle-back were meticulously explained and practised.

“Attending many workshops helps attendees assimilate the personal style of the instruction team which adds value to an otherwise sterile adherence to tradition as described in a book.

“One challenge that I have yet to overcome is the slow speed of the music. It may fit taller, younger and fitter dancers but some of the participants couldn’t cope.

“Full marks to the team.

by Nic Yannacopoulos, a member of Hurst Morris People (HuMP), Kennet Morris Men, and Redding Moreys

Donations from workshop participants raised money for Yeovil Freewheelers Blood Bikes: https://www.yfwbloodbikes.org/

You can see the video of the Bledington ‘Lumps of Plum Pudding’ jig workshop on the MF YouTube channel.

So just how did Shrewsbury Morris take twitter by storm and grow their audience to over 102,000 followers?  We wanted to find out more, so we invited them to talk to our membership on 21st February. Graydon Radford, their twitter guru, and Ray Langton outlined the journey the Shrewsbury Morris Twitter account had taken; they outlined the rationale, top tips, issues, awards and other things they encountered along with how the use of social media has embedded the presence of Shrewsbury Morris into the town of Shrewsbury and the benefits it has brought to the team.  You can see the video of the Shrewsbury Morris talk about twitter on the MF YouTube channel.

Brian Kelly, a Morris Federation volunteer, reports:

“The story Graydon Radford told to an audience of about 40 probably resonated with most of us. He described how over 10 years ago a conversation with his dentist revealed that, although the dentist had lived in Shrewsbury for over 25 years, he’d never heard of Shrewsbury Morris.

“We’ve probably all asked a similar question: “How do we become better known within our community?” often followed up with “And how do we recruit more dancers?”  But we won’t have been successful as Shrewsbury Morris in engaging with their local community, with their successes in raising sponsorship from local businesses and promoting local charities leading to two local awards. And this was followed by national and international recognition. 

“How did they do this? Initially they experimented with Facebook – and their Facebook page is still maintained. But their success was due to the passion and commitment to – and a fair amount of experimentation with – one particular service: Twitter. 

“And the evidence of the success: the @shrewsmorris Twitter account has over 101K followers – or that is what the publicity said when the Zoom meeting was first announced, but it’s now 102,750 followers! 

“It all began about 10 years ago, when the team was at a bit of a low point. The team had displayed posters around town and submitted articles to the local press but had no joy. And the need for people to recognise the team was highlighted when they received a comment: “We saw you dancing on Saturday“ but it was a different team – Shrewsbury Morris don’t dance in all white: Shrewsbury Morris didn’t appear to have a brand recognition in their home town. 

“How to be recognised? How to recruit new team members? These were topics discussed at an AGM 2011. Use of social media was, of course, suggested and the Shrewsbury Morris Facebook page was created. Concerns expressed initially that a social media account was likely to attract trolls turned out to be massively over-stated (4 incidents over the years), and the account continues to this day, with 1,240 people currently following updates to the page. 

“Shortly afterwards it was decided to explore the potential for Twitter – and what a success that proved to be! The simple secret to the success seems to be “be patient; be different; be engaged and be nice!” 

“Graydon originally managed both the Facebook and Twitter accounts, but he subsequently focussed on Twitter, with another team member managing Facebook. There were two main goals for the service: 

• Raise the profile of Shrewsbury Morris 
• Raise the profile of Morris dancing generally 

“which led to a decision to seek engagement with local community including local businesses and charities. And in an example of the trust which was developed between Shrewsbury Morris and the local community they allow local trusted organisations to manage the Twitter account for a short period. And this has further benefits, as it ensures that the account posts on a diversity of topics and not just “Shrewsbury Morris are dancing out this weekend” 

“The Morris Federation’s Day of Dance was held in Shrewsbury in 2012 – and this proved to be another stage in Twitter account’s success – raising sponsorship.  As hosting a Day of Dance can be a costly exercise the side recognised they needed to raise money. And the Twitter account became the focus of the sponsorship drive. 

“After that success the team decided to set themselves a new challenge: “Let’s see if we can attract sponsors for a year!“ In brief, they did, with a sponsorship income of £1,600 ensuring that travel and meals at festivals are nicely covered! 

“Success breeds success – the team won a Mayor’s award on two occasions; have raised funds to host Zulu Traditions in a number of schools; raised £3,000 for Midland air ambulance and organised a ‘marath-own’: a marathon which can be completed in different ways – which, in Shrewsbury Morris’s case, involved 40 dances in which dancers covered an estimated 26 miles! 

“Graydon concluded by admitting that running the Twitter account is a lot of work – but its enjoyable work. And he admitted that the Twitter account failed to deliver on one if its objectives: it wasn’t successful in recruiting significant numbers of new team members. It seems there will still be a need for conventional approaches to recruitment. 

“It struck me that the success was due to a willingness to experiment, having a passion for the work and using an authentic ‘voice’, with the support from team’s squire and rest of the team being essential.  

“It also made me think that I should revive my tweeting; I was an early adopter of Twitter in 2006 but stopped using it after finishing work. But it does seem to me that Twitter might be particularly relevant for my local team (Wyld Morris) as it’s our 10th anniversary and will be looking to strengthen links with the local community.  

by Brian Kelly of Wyld Morris, fron near Monkton Wyld, near Bridport, Dorset and Haymarket Rapper of no fixed abode, and former member of Newcastle Kingsmen

Donations from participants raised money for Graydon’s chosen charity – Cuan Wildlife Rescue: https://www.cuanwildliferescue.org.uk

A video recording of the “Shrewsbury Morris on Twitter” talk (58 mins) is available on The Morris Federation’s YouTube channel.

Here’s a review of a talk by Ray and Bev Langton from Shrewsbury Morris about how they ran a project to build a giant puppet – Septimus the Giant Shrewsbury Cobbler.  The project was undertaken with professional puppeteers from Thingumajig Theatre and successful funding applications.  It was held on 7th February and attended by over 40 guests.

“You are at a Morris practice (remember those?), and it has been announced that you have been invited to perform at an important festival.  You have practised all your dances to perfection and re-invented your processional, but you still feel you need something spectacular to add to the performance.  Among the various ideas put out at random, someone is heard to say, ‘Why don’t we make our own giant?!’  And there is huge enthusiasm.  ‘We can take it to other festivals!’  ‘We can enter in the local carnival!’  ‘We can dance with it around the town!’

“Hang on there!  Before you start, have you considered:

• How are you going to make it?  You are going to need help.
• How will you pay for it?  You will have to apply for funding.
• Where will you make it?  You will need sole use of a venue for at least two weeks.
• Who is going to make it?  Involve the local community as well as the Morris side.
• Who is the giant going to be?  It is best if it is connected to the locality and have its own story.
• How will you perform with it?  You may need new music, dances and performing techniques.
• And then there is height, weight, animation, portability, transport, ease and speed of assembly, storage …
• And maybe associated projects: banners, an exhibition, new publicity, new T-shirts …

“All these considerations and more were covered by Bev and Ray Langton of Shrewsbury Morris, when they introduced us to Septimus, the Giant Cobbler of Shrewsbury and took us through the project which led to his construction and eventual first performance.  As Bev said, this was a one-off project that cannot be replicated as it came about through a series of unique features and ‘happy co-incidences’, which included working with Thingumajig Theatre and also tapping into the various skills of members of Shrewsbury Morris whose many talents include story-writing, graphic design and having a contact for hiring sole use of a village hall for two weeks.

“First, we were given the background.  Ray and Bev were approached at Sidmouth in 2018 by Andrew and Kathy Kim, professional puppet-makers and performers with Thingumajig Theatre, with the idea of collaboration between them, Shrewbury Morris and volunteers from the local community to make an animated giant to be used in performance around the town of Shrewsbury.  This led to successful funding applications from the Arts Council England and Shrewsbury Town Council and vast amounts of planning in terms of logistics, construction and performance.  A character and name were chosen by Shrewsbury Morris and one of their members, a professional writer, wrote his back-story.  New dances and new tunes to be performed with the giant were written and practised upfront.

“With two weeks to go until the first performance, Andrew and Kathy moved in and construction began, all recorded by a professional film company.  This film provided the second half of the talk and it was riveting.  With the action speeded-up it enhanced the incredible skills of puppet maker Andrew as he modelled the huge head and beautiful face from wet clay, painted the so-lifelike green eyes and supervised the construction of the frame.

“Thingumajig Theatre specialise in animation, so Septimus was designed to move.  His head was made to turn and his arms to move individually, each moved by separate puppeteers.  Meanwhile, teams of pattern makers and sewing machine operators were working on the clothes and flags. Everything was finished late in the evening, the day before the first performance in The Square, Shrewsbury, when Septimus was introduced to the town.

“So what did we all take away from this talk?  We certainly learned the complications and considerations involved in making a giant and in devising a wider project.  But we also learned that, although giants may not be within reach of every Morris side, we all have our own talents, interests and creative abilities that can be used to make or create something that that will compliment and enhance our performance and that will become unique to us.  We were encouraged to involve other artists in performances and days of dance, and to get to know and work with our local community.  So look forward to some exciting shows when we all get back onto the streets again.

“Thank you, Ray and Bev, for your practicality and your inspiration.

by Gail Duff, Rabble Folk Theatre in Maidstone, Kent

Thingumajig Theatre are professional puppeteers who worked with Shrewsbury Morris to build Septimus.  Like so many professional artists, puppeteers and performers, they have lost so much of their work since March 2020.  Participants helped buy them a few coffees: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ThingumaTheatre/we-love-puppets-puppeteers-need-coffee

Resources:  On the Shrewsbury Morris website www.shrewsburymorris.co.uk, if you hover over the tab for ‘Septimus the Giant Shrewsbury Cobbler’ you will find 3 sub-sections:

• The Making of Septimus – see the 12 min video: https://youtu.be/KPL5xKIv02E
• The Inaugural Performance of Septimus – see the 3 min video: https://youtu.be/RrL0w0cXp5U
• Septimus – The Exhibition

Thingumajig Theatre is a visual theatre company based in West Yorkshire, specialising in creating and performing innovative puppet plays and interactive giant puppets.  Photos and info about Thingumajig Theatre’s other exciting past projects may be found at: http://thingumajig.info/past-projects/

Here’s a review of a workshop to learn a socially distanced dance for 4 dancers, run by Chinewrde Morris from Kenilworth, Warwickshire.  It was attended by people from the UK, Jersey, USA and even Australia (it was 3 am their time!).

“Another great opportunity provided by the Morris Fed to jump around on a Sunday morning and pretend you were actually dancing with the 178 other people on the Zoom call.

“Hazel Old introduced her Lockdown dance and explained that it had come into being when she was complaining about not being able to dance due to social distancing rules – and was told “then you’d better write a socially distanced dance”!  My side was particularly interested in this, as we also tried to design our own lockdown dance last summer when we were able to dance outside in a local Park.

“It was great to be able to see the video of Chinewrde actually dancing this dance at Kenilworth Castle on Boxing Day – one of the few teams I expect, who have actually managed a dance out in the last 6 months.  It was really helpful to see the positioning and stepping on the video as its sometimes difficult to visualise different positions from the demonstration of one dancer.

“Hazel was well supported by Will Pound on melodeon (great to actually have live music) and Clare Watters doing the warm up and gamely taking over when Hazel lost connection for a short time half way through the session.

“Hazel gave very clear instructions and did very well to get through the whole dance in 1.5 hours – she said it was a simple dance, but some in our side with limited dancing experience did find it challenging to keep up and learn new steps as well as think about the positions and shapes.  It was a bit easier when Will played more ‘steadily’ and seeing Hazel from behind also helped the brain sort out left and right hands and feet.

“It’s a lovely dance and great to see that it is so flexible for numbers of dancers – I could see three or five dancers also being able to make interesting shapes and still stay at a distance, as well as a new massed dance for future big events (whenever that might be!)

“Many thanks to Hazel Old, Will Pound and Clare Watters of Chinewrde Morris for teaching us their ‘Lockdown’ dance.

by Rowena Herbert and Rainbow Morris North West team in Saltaire, West Yorkshire

Donations from workshop participants raised over £300 for Chinewrde’s chosen local charity for this year – Zoe’s Place, a Children’s Charity providing palliative, respite and end of life care to babies and infants, with a local hospice in Coventry.

See the video of the ‘Lockdown’ dance by Chinewrde:

Here is a folder containing the ‘Lockdown’ Dance Notation (PDF)