Olympic Morris

Subject: RE: Olympic Morris
From: Wheatman
Date: 03 Sep 10 - 02:49 PM

5000 Morris dancers at the Olympics seems OK providing that not too many of them dance in the 4 foot trench they normally perform in and make the impact we all desire. If the Morris (and I include sword in the broad brush description) is to make a statement then half a dozen dynamic teams in a showcase would be more worth while. I saw the London Ballett dance rapper a number of years ago and it was outstanding. This is the athletic image we need to put over. I get really P***ed off with the media who choose to mock the Morris rather than support an iconic item of British culture. I have loved the Morris (including sword in the description) for the past 40 years and now suffer for an ill spent youth (knackered knees). Give the youth an opportunity to deliver and they will. I don't want the opening ceremony marred by a shed load of portly dancers (men and women) giving the media an opportunity to say " I told you so – what a load of **** heads". Having seen Damien Barber's Road Show promo, could this be the way forward?

Subject: RE: Olympic Morris
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 03 Sep 10 - 02:42 PM

Is this a WAV fantasy come true? A classic thread though - just the thing for a rainy way:

'5000 Morris Dancers'

Subject: RE: Olympic Morris
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 03 Sep 10 - 01:55 PM

Morris is a fine and wonderful thing. I think of it on a small scale - urban or rural but in a small space with crowds but small crowds of people watching or parades of North west passing through narrow, crowded streets.

5000? In a big stadium? No thanks

L in C#

Subject: RE: Olympic Morris
From: Chris Partington
Date: 03 Sep 10 - 01:50 PM

There would have to be some tidying up done to make it presentable as a mass show. Can I suggest that Michael Flatley does the choreography?

Subject: RE: Olympic Morris
From: Chris Partington
Date: 03 Sep 10 - 01:47 PM

Isn't our local team the Great Britain team rather than the England team?
Better not put the caber-tossing too near the Morris Dancers, might get mixed up in the Bean-setting.

Subject: RE: Olympic Morris
From: Hamish
Date: 03 Sep 10 - 11:14 AM

Well, I dunno. I feel there's a dichotomy here. It's the London Olympics - London bid for it and is the host, despite many of the venues being outside Greater London - and the competing nation is Great Britain. So why would Morris, more associated with the rest of England, be appropriate? Surely we'd need dances from all over Great Britain or from London? Knees Up Mother Brown and The Lambeth Walk, perhaps? Drawing on Morris seems to be a blurring of boundaries, serving neither the host city nor the host country. How do our Welsh and Scottish chums feel?

Subject: RE: Olympic Morris
From: EBarnacle
Date: 03 Sep 10 - 11:02 AM

Shucks, you beat me to it.

Subject: RE: Olympic Morris
From: GUEST,Cuilionn
Date: 03 Sep 10 - 08:50 AM

Aye that. I know several ex-Morrismen & ex-Morriswomen with bad knees. Still, the thought of 5,000 Morris dancers is a wonderful thing indeed!

Subject: RE: Olympic Morris
From: pavane
Date: 03 Sep 10 - 08:38 AM

And Morris Dance would probably help athletes to keep fit, being equivalent to high-impact aerobics.

Subject: Olympic Morris
From: Hamish
Date: 03 Sep 10 - 08:31 AM

BBC News has story of Lord Coe wanting 5,000 Morris dancers at Olympic opening ceremony...

Also London SE1 Community website has the story:

100 Morris dancers from 'sides' across the country – including The Hammersmith Morris, Eynsham Morris and The Stone Monkey Sword Dancers – will assemble and dance on Queen's Walk.

When Lord Coe was interviewed in Beijing about a possible opening ceremony for the 2012 London Olympics, he quipped that he would invite 5,000 Morris Dancers to take part.

He was making reference to the Morris Dancer as an iconic English image, but he was also taking the micky.

Responding to this remark, pop artist David Owen's 5000 Morris Dancers weekend at Southbank Centre (3-5 September) is a three-day event that both subverts and makes a claim for the vibrancy of England's ritual dance tradition with a weekend of music, film and art. Events include a large-scale art installation by Owen himself; performances by acclaimed The Imagined Village and The Demon Barbers (4 September); screenings of the 1972 classic film Morris On and new documentary Way of The Morris (4 September) and a club night curated by Magpie's Nest (4 September).

...and why not?