2013

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.