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24 April 2021

Joint Morris Organisations’ Virtual Day of Dance 2021 (LIVE on Zoom)

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.

There will be 2 streams with separate Zoom links: In the ‘Virtual Pub’ 10:00-15:00 Morris Music Sessions. In the ‘Virtual Dance Tent’ 10:00-16:00 Dance Workshops then 16:00-17:00 Massed Dancing.  Scroll to the bottom of the page to Register.

Programme

There will be 2 streams with 2 separate Zoom links:

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

John Earnshaw, Wakefield Morris, croppedFor 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:

Circassian Circle at the JMO day of dance in York, 2016

– ‘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

JMO DoD 2021 3 logos widePlease 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.

Tagged With: 2021, day of dance, morris federation, morris ring, national, open morris

4 August 2020

Dancing on a swing bridge

Our attention has just be drawn to The Morris Federation’s day of dance and AGM in 2017 in Hull.

Eric Brady says: “A unique feature of the 2017 Morris Federation’s AGM was the opportunity for some teams to dance on Hull’s Scale Lane bridge as it opened to allow River traffic to pass. The only bridge in the UK where this could happen and a first in the long history of Morris.”

Unless you know otherwise!!

Here’s the Buttercross Belles from Otley taking advantage of the opportunity!

Filed Under: News Tagged With: 2017, agm, Buttercross Belles, day of dance, hull

17 April 2020

Joint Morris Organisations’ Day of Dance 2020 – #nogoJMO

Joint Morris Organisations’ Day of Dance 2020 – #nogoJMO

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, this year it will be in Liverpool. For more info click on the link below.

As a result of Coronavirus Covid 19, running the JMO DoD in Liverpool in 2020 became impractical, so the decision was made to postpone the event until Saturday 17th April 2021.

See the video of the teams who would have attended

See team photos and videos of the virtual event by searching for #nogoJMO

Tagged With: 2020, day of dance, liverpool, morris federation, morris ring, national, open morris

27 September 2019

Morris Federation Day of Dance and AGM 2019

The Morris Federation and Kinfauns Step Dancers extend a warm welcome to all members of The Morris Federation to join us in a day of dance in Perth, Scotland on Saturday 28th September 2019, followed by The Morris Federation AGM at 4.30pm at the Salutation Hotel.

Perth is a beautiful and historic city on the banks of the River Tay. Come and view the stunning scenery of the Perthshire hills and explore the intriguing royal history of this ancient capital of Scotland as you are guided around the city by our stewards. Why not visit https://www.perthcity.co.uk to find out more?

All dance spots are within easy walking distance of the centrally positioned Salutation Hotel which is our base for the day. There will be a Scottish ceilidh in the hotel in the evening with the popular Cragganmore Ceilidh Band. And on Sunday there will be dance and music workshops led by guests from across the Federation.

We look forward to welcoming you for the weekend. If you have any queries or require any further information, and to book, please contact Morag

The fair city of Perth is also the home of the Perth Glovers’ Sword Dance. Their 17th century dance costume is on display at the Perth Museum & Art Gallery. This is an ink and wash drawing of the Ancient Morrice dancers’ dress in possession of the Incorporation of Glovers of Perth by J G Howie c.1840.

Reproduced courtesy of Perth Museum & Art Gallery, Perth & Kinross Council.

Tagged With: agm, day of dance, morris federation, Perth, scotland

30 March 2019

Joint Morris Organisations’ Day of Dance 2019

The Joint Morris Organisations’ Day of Dance will take place on Saturday 30th March 2019 in Manchester, hosted by Medlock Rapper on behalf of The Morris Federation.

 
The day will run alongside the launch weekend for Manchester Folk Festival, and will incorporate both a Morris tour and Rapper crawl in and around the centre of Manchester. The festival are organising a concert on the Saturday night for which participating teams will be able to purchase discounted tickets; further details will be published nearer the time.
 
If your team would like to attend then please complete the JMO DoD 2019 Application Form by 31st December 2018.
 
We look forward to seeing you there.

Tagged With: 2019, day of dance, manchester, medlock rapper, morris federation, morris ring, national, open morris

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News

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10 March 2021

“Good Morning, Lords & Ladies” – Calendar Customs in word and song

13 April 2021

‘Waiting for the Vaccine’ solo Border style dance Workshop

12 April 2021

‘Merrie England Once More’? The Morris Revival c.1886-1951 – Matt Simons

11 April 2021

Upcoming Events

  1. Joint Morris Organisations’ Virtual Day of Dance 2021 (LIVE on Zoom)

    Saturday 24 April @ 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
  2. Talk – Adderbury Morris Men (LIVE on Zoom)

    Sunday 25 April @ 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
  3. Last session of 6 Week Programme – Return to Dancing Fitness – Rhys Boorman (LIVE on Zoom)

    Sunday 2 May @ 10:00 am - 11:00 am
  4. Talk – “Who were the sword dancers, and why did they do it?” – Andrew Kennedy (LIVE on Zoom)

    Sunday 2 May @ 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
  5. Workshop Showcase Day – Show off your new skills (LIVE on Zoom)

    Sunday 9 May @ 10:00 am - 4:30 pm

View All Events

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