Malkin Morris was established in May 2017, and it rapidly became obvious that few records of local dances were readily available. The team created this publication to provide resources for anyone wanting to dance the local dances, and as a potential starting point for any further collections of local dances.

About this document

Title: The Dance Goes On: North-West processional morris around Pendle
Author: V. Crewe, Malkin Morris
Publication date: Aug 2019
Copyright: The Dance Goes On © 2019 by Malkin Morris (Virgina Crewe) is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. You are allowed to download copies, but if you distribute copies you must credit Virginia Crewe and Malkin Morris as the authors and you may not modify the text.

Summary

Around the end of the 19th century and early part of the 20th many North West towns and villages had their own morris dance teams and each team would dance only their own dance for their town or village. The local form of clog/morris dancing includes North West processional and step clogging. Many of these dances have been lost over time or take a lot of finding. This is what has inspired this research.

Things have changed in the 21st century, and few teams would consist of members solely of one village or town or dance only one dance. When Malkin Morris was formed in 2017 it was with the intention of performing mainly local traditional dances and tracking down and finding some of the “lost” dances and tunes of East Lancashire: Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle, Ribble Valley and a later addition, Blackburn

This publication is intended to provide resources for anyone wanting to dance the local dances, and a potential starting point for any further collections of local dances.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund sponsored the team September 2018-19 to:

• research local traditional dances: North West processional morris, step clog, and local tunes
• perform these dances in public
• teach them to community groups of any description, including schools
• set up a long-lasting, free and freely available resource of the dances and tunes

Additional aims of the team were:

• develop pride and a sense of origin and involvement in the wide range of mixed cultural heritages of the area
• be involved in creative activities
• personal exercise
• have fun!

Though the book was completed by the end of September 2019, it is now envisaged that the research into local morris will continue on a more informal basis as new information surfaces. A separate resource of local step dances and tunes is also planned