When the morris is done abroad, both local folkies and the general populace love it - it has the tradition and obvious history in the movements and the music, but it also has the vigour, violence and often the precision that European folk dances lack, even though they are taken vety seriously by their public and their media.
On a world-class stage like a major festival, reported in the international press and televised, English traditions need to be presented at the highest possible standard - quality music, precise, vigorous dancing by well-practised sides, where only those teams with a track record of quality performance are invited. Anything less is inviting the press to ridicule the whole folk community.
We need to be taken seriously by audiences, particularly on a major stage, even though I know of no morris man who actually takes himself/herself seriously. It is more than possible to have a laugh while putting on a high-standard show. This is what ALL the other teams at ALL the other festivals were doing!
I dance with three Ring clubs who all put on good shows while having a good time. Unfamiliar dances get practised at pubs with no audience and we turn up the wick for a good crowd. I have also danced or played with half a dozen Open/Federation sides with the same philosophy.
There is a place for the motley morris - it's good fun, but, since it's not done for the benefit of the audience, why not do it away from crowds? I have danced with scratch teams in the past most enjoyably, although they were generally made up of dancers with enough ability and experience to put on a credible showing even when performing dances for the first time (!) - and we all made the effort to turn up in kit!
The Hinckley Bullockers go out on the Saturday nearest to Plough Monday. The dances are simple, most men have only practised them once beforehand, the kit is basic but distinctive (most men could knock it up from what's already in the average morris wardrobe) and the performances are entertaining and anarchic, increasingly so as the beer wears on. Dancing is done to small audeinces who enjoy the anarchy, but recognise from the "team" element that this is intentional. Any old scratch team with random kit or no kit doesn't have this - and the Bullockers are performing in small villages.
The One Day Wonders are another side - they get together on a Friday night once a year, seven dancers and a musician, and an appointed foreman teaches half a dozen dances nobody has ever done before. On the Saturday, the team goes out and performs those dances at pre-booked venues. The "buzz" of the unfamiliar is there, but the standard of dancing is extremely high.
Dancing unfamiliar dances with new friends is good fun and most enjoyable, but it's place is in massed morris or away from critical audiences. On an international stage, the only way to give credibility to the tradition (something we need if we are going to attract new recruits) is for performances to be of the highest possible standard.