FedExtra Issues

The 40th anniversary of The Morris Federation features prominently in this issue, together with signficant anniversaries from other sides. Our Notation Officer describes how to access some of tremendous amount of material now available, and some of the tasks still to be undertaken.

This year we celebrate the 40th year of The Morris Federation, so the main focus in this issue is on reflections back to earlier times. However, we also look to present day concerns such as health and safety, and to the future in using modern technology to improve availability of information about morris dancing in all its manifestations.

The winter issue features many of the ways in which our members have got pleasure out of dancing and hopefully have given pleasure to the public in the audience. Preliminary results from Jack Worth’s Morris Census suggests that despite an ageing membership in some sides, there is also youth and vigour a-plenty.

Although an ageing membership may be an on-going concern for some long-established sides, it is very pleasing to feature in this issue several articles which focus on youth, in one way or another. The preservation of information on traditional dances and the exploration of new ways of presenting morris are just two facets of the interview with John, Sue and Laurel Swift.

Congratulations to Crook Morris who join the elite of the rapper sword teams by winning more than one category at the DERT weekend this year, plus Jack Worth writes about the morris census, which he is undertaking across all three morris organisations.

Traditions old and new are given an airing, there is a report of a morris jig performed in a most unlikely setting, and anniversaries in this issue span several continents. The Lake District is the setting for our front cover photograph and for the 2014 AGM and Day of Dance, full details of which are given.

A brief appearance on the X-Factor and ladies photographed dancing inside a prehistoric stone circle are two unusual settings for the morris featured in this issue, Ray & Bev Langton describe the work they did in Shropshire schools in the lead-up to The Morris Federation Day of Dance & AGM in Shrewsbury, plus a well-researched article on the background to the custom of blacking up.

An extended interview with Dom & Ben Moss, two prominent new generation dancers, and a two-page colour spread of The Morris Federation sides dancing at Warwick and Sidmouth Festivals, four anniversaries and a wedding, foreign exchanges and performances in unusual settings, the background to a ‘modern’ tradition and a thought-provoking change to a club’s constitution.

Three pages with colour pictures and a short article are given to the JMO Day of Dance in Exeter, also one of the venues for Damien Barber’s Lock In, with many local teams dancing in the city before the show. Franken’s Nights in Devon, and the Winkleigh Morris weekend of dance, Roy Dommett’s ‘last’ Farnham workshop, Hadrian Wall Dancing, Whitby Shindigs, strange goings-on in Conwy Castle, plus much more, including foreign trips, anniversaries and May Day celebrations.

If you are having problems sourcing durable sticks (we all know broomsticks are useless!) then there’s some valuable advice. The Antipodes are well represented in this issue, with an account of a visit down under by a couple of Beetlecrushers, and an initiation into Molly Dancing by a City of Auckland Dancer. Everybody involved in Longsword will be aware of the priceless contribution to the preservation and promotion of the tradition by the late Ivor Allsop.