Joint Morris Organisations’ Virtual Day of Dance 2021

The JMO Day of Dance is a collaborative event organised in turn by one of the three morris organisations in the UK – The Morris Federation, The Morris Ring, and Open Morris. The day of dance is a celebration of morris and traditional dancing held annually at a different location around the UK.

In 2021 it will be a little different.  It will be held online over Zoom with all 3 organisations hosting.

Programme

In the ‘Virtual Pub’ – Morris Music Session 11:00-15:00

Come and play all your favourite Morris and dance tunes with our experienced session leaders:

– 11:00-12:00 Sarah & Tom Sennett
– 12:00-13:00 Emma & Jon Meville
– 13:00-14:00 Sel Adamu & Ben Potton
– 14:00-15:00 Sarah Matthews & Doug Eunson

In the ‘Virtual Dance Tent’ – Dance Workshops 10:00-16:00

Have a go at a new dance, or even a new dance style, in these workshops run by experienced tutors.  Please wear comfy supportive shoes e.g. trainers and make sure you have enough space to dance in, with no trip hazards and no breakable objects or lampshades nearby!

– 10:00-11:15 ‘Bacca Pipes’ solo dance – Rachel Cole-Wilkin, Belles of London City

For anyone with dance experience, especially Molly, Border and Cotswold – variations for all experience levels will be taught, using figures from the Ascot-Under-Wychwood style.  The music will be Bacca Pipes (Headington) played and recorded by David Pope (also of Belles) on Melodeon. “Bacca” is short for tobacco and the pipes are the long, fragile, clay, churchwarden pipe.  You will need 2 ‘Pipes’ to dance over, e.g. wooden spoons, ties, Harry Potter wands, rolled up morris hankies, or even tape marks (Health & Safety note: please make sure that the items are not breakable and will not cause you injury should you step on them!).  Rachel is a member of The Belles of London City, assistant morris dance tutor at EFDSS, and has previously danced with Sharp Morris in London and Berkeley Morris in California.

– 11:30-13:00 ‘The Celebration’ North West solo dance – John Earnshaw, Wakefield Morris

For experienced North West Dancers who know how to polka/rant.  This dance includes a quickly-changing sequence of walks, polkas/rants and kicks.  Bring 2 short sticks (or wooden spoons).  John wrote The Celebration in 2008 to give Wakefield Morris an option for when low numbers turned out, and it can be performed for one or more dancers.  It contains many different North West steps and moves borrowed from other dances or created for variety. The music used will be The Gallopede, played and recorded by Liam Parker of White Rose and Wakefield Morris.

– 13:30-14:30 ‘Mrs Marhoff’s Single Hornpipe’ Clog Stepping routine (aka ‘The Sunderland Hornpipe’) – Toby Bennett,  English Step & Clog Dance

For beginners who know how to shuffle, and also more experienced dancers.  You will need a wooden or hard surface, and preferably wear clogs (otherwise, hard soled shoes).  Toby Bennett learned this dance from Mrs Marhoff herself; it’s a short dance and not particularly complicated but there are some lovely details which are easily lost, so we’ll learn it how Mrs Marhoff wanted it danced – and she was very particular!  Toby started clog dancing at University, and was lucky enough to do classes with some of the greats including Sam Sherry, Pat Tracey and Mrs Marhoff. He won the Westmorland Clog Dance Championship and Stepping Contest at the original Dancing England. Toby later trained professionally and worked as a dancer and dance educator for many years in various forms of dance, and now focuses on clog step dancing.  He performs solo, with folk band Stepling, and runs clog dance classes in Derbyshire.

– 14:45-15:45 ‘Over the Hills’ Jig, Oddington style (Cotswold) – Ollie Simons, musician Matt Simons, Peterborough Morris

For anyone with previous Cotswold experience of any tradition, and beginners are also welcome – the instructor will aim to support all levels of ability.  Bring hankies or something to wave about, and wear shoes with good support, which are suitable to hop about in. Ollie invites people to take the jig back to their clubs and make it their own. We will also touch upon how to include the musician into the performance and use the area for your advantage. Ollie has been dancing the Morris for 10 years and has around 6 years of experience teaching various styles and traditions to people of different ages and abilities. Ollie and Matt are both members of Peterborough Morris and several other sides. 

In the ‘Virtual Dance Tent’ – Massed Dancing 16:00-17:00

Massed Dancing featuring the dances we have done in the workshops (*), plus a few more including old favourites:

– ‘Bacca Pipes’ – solo dance (*)
– ‘The Celebration’ – North West solo dance (*)
– ‘Mrs Marhoff’s Single Hornpipe’ – Clog Stepping Routine (*)
– ‘East Acton’ – Border (taught on the day)
– ‘Waiting for the Vaccine’ – Border solo dance (from a recent MF workshop)
– ‘Over the Hills’ Oddington style – Cotswold jig (*)
– ‘Princess Royal’ – Cotswold jig (in a tradition of your choice)
– ‘Shepherds Hey’ – Cotswold
– ‘Bonny Green’ – Cotswold

To Register

Please complete this online form: Register for the JMO Day of Dance 2021; you will receive a confirmation email immediately (check your spam/junk/promotions folder!).  We will send you the Zoom links a couple of days before the event.  Open to anyone, especially members of teams in the JMO – The Morris Federation, The Morris Ring, and Open Morris.

Optional Donations

If you enjoy this event, then it would be wonderful if you could send a donation, small or large, to … a charity of your choice.