Workshop – Teaching Morris and Maypole in Primary Schools – Barry Goodman and Virginia Crewe (LIVE on Zoom)
Our hosts will take you through some of their experiences of teaching morris and maypole to primary school age children, including warmups, and answer your questions on how you too can go about it.
Barry will speak first for about 20 minutes or so, then we’ll take Q&A. Followed by Virginia for about 20 minutes and Q&A.
If there are any resources/help you need to do similar teaching, let us know what would be helpful to you.
Your hosts
Barry was a Primary School Headteacher, has taught Morris Dancing in a number of schools, headed up the Hertfordshire Folk Dance Festival (Schools Folk Dance) throughout the 1990s and currently leads workshops on Morris, Maypole and Folk Dance with Primary School-age children. He is also a folk singer, songwriter and musician, ex-member of Redbornstoke Morris and The Outside Capering Crew, as well as a past-President of the Morris Federation! Find out more at Barry’s web site: www.barrygoodmanfolk.co.uk
Virginia (Gin) Crewe has been involved with folk music from an early age, and with morris dance since 1976, specifically north west processional, step clog and maypole. Currently Squire of Malkin Morris and musician for Royal Preston Morris Dancers. Prior to retirement she was an assistant secondary head, and founded and taught secondary school morris and step teams throughout the 80s and 90s, travelling abroad and around England with them. With Malkin Morris she researched and published “The Dance Goes On: NW processional Morris around Pendle” giving history, notation and music of local dances around NE Lancashire, also available online, and she is currently researching maypole dances for the same area. Malkin Morris delivers 30-40 workshops a year to school children.
Sue Allonby is a storyteller and ex morris dancer and is accompanying Virginia to share her ideas about warmups for children.
To register
Please complete this online form: Workshop – Teaching Morris and Maypole in Primary Schools – Barry Goodman and Virginia Crewe; you will receive a confirmation email immediately (check your spam/junk/promotions folder!). We will send you a Zoom link a couple of days before the event. Open to all – you don’t have to be a member of a team in The Morris Federation.
Resources
From our hosts:
- Barry’s resource Creative Folk Dance for Primary Schools in the EFDSS Resource Bank – some simple dances for Primary schools, suitable for introducing figures and formations with dance descriptions and musical notation.
- Virginia’s case study for the MF of a year working in a primary school: Morris dancing in a Primary School in Burnley: a year’s Project [PDF].
MF publication Warming Up and Cooling Down for Morris Dancers, by Andrew Knight DO, and its associated Warming Up And Cooling Down video.
EFDSS have various resources, including: Dancing Days: using folk arts in inclusive settings and A Song and a Dance: using folk arts in inclusive settings – developed for working with young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
Folk3D in Derbyshire has Educational Resources – including how to build a dragon, how to write a mummers play, broom dancing, maypole dancing, rapper sword dancing, and info about well dressing, traditional songs and carnivals
For more Education resources, see our Education area.
