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The UK's largest association of morris and traditional dance teams

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28 May 2020

Clog dancers unite online for mass performance

With their traditional May Bank Holiday event cancelled, Hadrian Clog decided they would still take the opportunity to dance together, if only virtually.

On Monday 25th May they  gathered online with friends from the clog dancing community to celebrate the summertime and the beginning of their season of dancing, bringing together as many clog dancers and musicians as possible to perform the well-known Sam Sherry Waltz.

What started as a few Hadrian Clog team members ended up as over 80 performers from all over the country, including musicians who play for dance teams joining in.

One keen clog dancer, stranded in New Zealand, even stayed up late into the night to join in the celebration.  In all there were dancers from over 20 clog teams, as well as several individual clog dancers, who performed first the Sam Sherry Waltz and then a selection of hornpipes.

The event gained coverage on both BBC Radio Newcastle and BBC Look North.

For anyone who wants to try and find themselves on the Zoom screens, or watch the interview on the BBC the dances are posted on the Hadrian Clog Facebook page @HadrianClog and also on their YouTube channel.

Find our more about Hadrian Clog from Hexham in Northumberland.

Filed Under: Current Members, News Tagged With: clog, dance, isolation, zoom

2 May 2020

Zooming up the Sun

May Day is a popular day for Morris dancing, as a start to the morris ‘season’ of performing, rather than practising.  Some teams get up and ‘dance up the sun’ at dawn (about 05:31).  Then go off to a pub for a hearty breakfast.

But this year it is different.  With social distancing, morris teams are turning to Zoom, or other conferencing software, so they can meet up virtually and enjoy the first morris event of the year.

Here are 2 sets of Hammersmith Morris dancing ‘Bampton Sidestep’ on May Day, very distanced from each other, and dancing nowhere near their local pub.  They also had to make their own breakfasts.

And further north, Pecsaetan Morris from Sheffield dancing ‘Haste to the Wedding’ at dawn on May Day.

Nationally – and internationally – there has also been a series of Lone Morris Festivals started by Kath Brickell of Anonymous Morris from Poole, Dorset.  See the results of the May Day Lone Morris Festival by searching for the hash tag #MayDayLMF.  See posts tagged #MayDayLMF on ‘How many Morris Dancers are on Facebook?’.  See previous ones at: #LoneMorrisFestival on Sat 21st March 2020 and #LoneMorrisFestival on Sat 25th March 2020.

More info on Hammersmith Morris Men and Pecsaetan Morris

Filed Under: Current Members, News Tagged With: #lonemorrisfestival, #MayDayLMF, Cotswold, dancing, hammersmith, jig, morris, morris dancing, zoom

News

Clog Stepping for Beginners Workshop

18 January 2021

Practices go online

6 January 2021

Leeds Morris Men go digital

26 December 2020

Upcoming Events

  1. Talk – Morris from the Archives – Jameson Wooders (LIVE on Zoom)

    Saturday 30 January @ 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
  2. Workshop – North West – Lockdown Dance for 4 – Chinewrde Morris (LIVE on Zoom)

    Sunday 31 January @ 11:00 am - 12:30 pm
  3. Workshop – Virtual Ceilidh Calling Masterclass (LIVE on Zoom)

    Saturday 6 February @ 3:00 pm - 5:30 pm
  4. Talk – Septimus The Giant Shrewsbury Cobbler (LIVE on Zoom)

    Sunday 7 February @ 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
  5. Workshops – Appalachian Clogging Basics (LIVE on Zoom)

    Saturday 13 February @ 2:00 pm - 4:30 pm

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