28 March 2020

Learn a morris jig

Owain Boorman Fieldtown Nutting Girl photo — Owain Boorman teaching

While morris dancers are self-isolating during the Covid-19 outbreak, The Morris Federation has asked several jig dancers up and down the country to video themselves teaching a morris jig so that other dancers can learn a solo jig dance at their own pace.

The first one is Fieldtown – Nutting Girl – danced and taught by Owain Boorman of Clausentum Morris from Southampton, with musician Rimini Dick-Carr.

Now is your chance to learn a new morris jig.

See The Morris Federation’s Youtube channel for this video and more as they become available.

22 March 2020

#LoneMorrisFestival – Sat 21st March 2020

Morris dancers up and down the country are feeling isolated.

Kath Brickell, Anonymous Morris, Poole, England — Kath Brickell, Anonymous Morris

Pat Arrowsmith, Ansley Morris, England — Ansley Morris, England

Kath Brickell of Anonymous Morris came up with a great idea to get us outside with our morris kit on – the first Lone Morris Festival #LoneMorrisFestival happened at 14:30 on Saturday 21st March 2020. The plan was that as many dancers and musicians as wished would join in and either go outside in their gardens, their close locality, or stay indoors dressed in full kit and do some morris dancing. They would be either alone or have their husband, wife or whoever lives with them, thus the Lone Morris Festival.

Nina Kalinkos, Thornden Morris, Syracuse NY, USA — Thornden Morris, Syracuse NY, USA

When clips of lone morris dancing started to be posted on facebook, instagram, youtube etc., it was clear that the Lone Morris Festival had gone worldwide with people joining in from UK, America, Canada, New Zealand and the Ukraine.

The morris community were smiling, having fun and doing something normal. There were dancers, musicians, children and even pets joining in.

S River Nuri, Queen's Capers Morris, North Carolina, USA — Queen’s Capers Morris, North Carolina, USA

Bill Brown, Foggy Bottom Morris Men, Kyiv, Ukraine — Foggy Bottom Morris Men, Kyiv, Ukraine

Dances were done with sticks, handkerchiefs, feather dusters and even a horseradish! It was amazing to see so many happy smiling people.

Following this success, the next Lone Morris Festival events will be on Saturday 25th April (the nearest Saturday to St George’s Day) and dawn (yes, dawn) on Friday 1st May.

Saturday 25th April at 14:30 will be the St George’s Day Lone Morris Festival. Morris dancers up and down the country will put on their full morris kit and dance & play their instruments in their gardens or close locality. If they cannot leave their homes, they will do it inside.

Dawn on Friday 1st May will be the following event, although this should be a silent Lone Morris Festival so as not to annoy the neighbours.

Crit Larson, Surly Griffin Morris, Canberra, Australia — Surly Griffin Morris, Canberra, Australia

Anni Julitha Watkins, Jack Frost Morris, Dunedin, New Zealand — Jack Frost Morris, Dunedin, New Zealand

Look out for video clips and selfies on the ‘How many Morris Dancers are on Facebook’ group, or search for the hash tag #lonemorrisfestival. Participants are encouraged to post the name of their morris/dance team and the name of the dance they are lone dancing.

See #LoneMorrisFestival on ‘How many Morris Dancers are on Facebook’

Or to see it in action, look at the compilation video on Youtube and a speeded up version called the Safety Dance made by Save Heritage and Morris (SHAM).

See more about Anonymous Morris from Poole, Dorset.

11 March 2020

Giddy Up at Whitby children’s book

Giddy Up at Whitby illustration — Giddy Up at Whitby

Morris dancing parents and grandparents! Lovers of Whitby! Horse fans! If this is you, then watch out for this new book Giddy Up at Whitby – a morris dancing adventure for children.

Giddy Up at Whitby tells the story of Giddy, a lovable but somewhat foolish morris horse who gets lost at Whitby Folk Week. As Giddy roams around the town trying to rejoin his lost side in time for a big performance, he meets dancers and musicians from all kinds of morris traditions, as well as a few other interesting characters.

The book is written by Katie Palmer Heathman, and illustrated by Geoff Roberts, who are both morris/sword dancers based in the North East, where Katie is squire of Black Gate Morris and Geoff is squire of Hexham Morris Men. As well as a love of morris, they share a fondness for bad puns and Dad jokes, so Giddy’s story became an obvious way to teach tomorrow’s future dancers about both.

If you wish to order a copy and have it posted to you, the book is currently seeking funding via Kickstarter to finance the first print run, with the campaign running until 9^th April 2020, see: Kickstarter campaign for Giddy Up at Whitby

A bit about the morris and sword dancing backgrounds of the author and illustrator: Katie grew up watching Mendip Morris Men and always wanted to dance. She started dancing in 2007 with Pigsty Morris in Bristol, before moving on to Cardiff Morris – Y Morys Caerdydd – during her university years, followed by Lady Bay Revellers. Geoff started dancing in 1993 with Woodside Morris Men, quickly joined by Chiltern Hundreds North West Morris, and then Rockhopper Morris. Since moving to the North East he has joined the newly-formed Amble Sword Dancers, Hexham Morris and Black Gate Morris, where Katie and Geoff met as founder members.

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