Morris Dancing in America

Subject: Morris Dancing in America
From: GUEST,Morris Dancer
Date: 29 Jul 01 - 03:56 AM

Is there any? Or Australia, or anywhere else apart from England for that matter?

Interested to hear

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: SeanM
Date: 29 Jul 01 - 04:07 AM

Out in California, I've only ever heard of Morris at renaissance faires and the like. I've seen ceilidh and other European forms at various other 'cultural' faires, but haven't heard of Morris at them.

That being said, the group that worked the particular faire I did used to hold yearly 'Morris Ales', and I think they at least rehearsed over the year...

M

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: pavane
Date: 29 Jul 01 - 04:38 AM

The Morris Dance Discussion List has a lot of correspondence from American sides. It is obviously thriving there.

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: Brían
Date: 29 Jul 01 - 04:53 AM

There is definitely Morris Dancing in the state of Maine. The have even composed their own dances.

Brían.

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 29 Jul 01 - 05:07 AM

How can you Morris dance in America ? their beer's too cold!!

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: GUEST,Morris morris
Date: 29 Jul 01 - 07:22 AM

There's Morris Dancing throughout North America - over 100 sides in the US and Canada. Also Australia and New Zealand.
Try this link for a list of Morris sides everywhere.

Morris Morris

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 29 Jul 01 - 09:04 AM

Thanks for posting the link, MorrisX2
I can report direct from the front that morris is alive and well. In New England it's everywhere. I'm a member of the Harrisville Morris Women.

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: Snuffy
Date: 29 Jul 01 - 07:05 PM

Contradiction in terms - it's like male strippers.

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 29 Jul 01 - 07:23 PM

I imagine that sword dancers in the States would be protected from any of those hassles mentioned on this thread by "the right to bear arms".

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 29 Jul 01 - 08:39 PM

nd here I sit in my Morris chair, all that jumping 'round is too much to bear

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: pavane
Date: 30 Jul 01 - 05:01 AM

I also once bumped into a member of the Jubilee Morris Men fom South Africa (on Newport Station, in Wales)

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: CarolC
Date: 30 Jul 01 - 05:10 AM

Here's the web page for the Shepherdstown Northwest Clog Morris located in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, USA.

It appears that they will be in England from August 17-19, and are looking for teams to visit and dance with.

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: bill\sables
Date: 30 Jul 01 - 12:44 PM

I seem to remember a small but good presence of Morris Dancing at Old Songs Festival in New York State

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: Jeanie
Date: 30 Jul 01 - 01:51 PM

A friend who escaped from Essex to Virginia dances with the Albemarle Morris Men, based in Charlottesville, Virginia. There are loads of other Morris sides in the region, with festivals etc. Their website, with links to other Morris websites is: http://monticello.avenue.org/amm

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 30 Jul 01 - 03:59 PM

Quite a few sides go to NEFFA in Natick, MA each April. I've got great pictures from about 15 years ago of some very short (probably 3 years of age) Morris dancers. And New Hampshire's Canterbury Fair used to have Morris dancing all day, sometimes with and English side in attendance. I haven't been for a number of years. Was going to go this year when I discovered the only Morris dancing was a half hour youth demonstration. There used to be a side at the University of New Hampshire, too, but I haven't seen anything from them lately.

Bat Goddess

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 30 Jul 01 - 04:02 PM

Oh, forgot to mention that I also have a wonderful photograph of a very, very pregnant morris dancer dancing at Canterbury about 17 years ago. I think I sent a copy to the journal of English Dance and Song Society since it was right in the middle of one of the perennial discussions as to whether women should dance.

Bat Goddess

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: CarolC
Date: 30 Jul 01 - 04:11 PM

Also, I have met two Morris dancers in Canada who are Mudcatters as well.

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 30 Jul 01 - 04:23 PM

They had some Turkish dancers at Sidmouth a few years back.The music wasn't very Morrissy, but a lot of the rest was - bells jingling, crossed sashes, mock battles. And men only. Which seemed to fit in with the alleged etymology Morris=Moorish.

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: GUEST, Morris Morris
Date: 30 Jul 01 - 10:13 PM

The Morris at Old Songs was performed mostly by the local team, Pokingbrook Morris Dancers, who hosted a nice pickup session at 10:00 a.m. Sunday.

Morris Morris

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 30 Jul 01 - 11:30 PM

Here's some info about Morris dancing in Minnesota.

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: JohnB
Date: 31 Jul 01 - 09:24 AM

In the Toronto area of Canada there are :- Toronto Morris Men (Cotsold), Toronto Womens Sword, Green Fiddle (Cotswold), Belles of York (NW clog), Half Crown Clog. Outside of Toronto there are Orange Peel Morris (Yah for my team, Border), Cold Barn (Cotswold). Further outside ie London Ontario area there are another 3 or 4 sides, plus others which I have probably missed and also dozens of American sides, I have met at least 10 different US sides at different Ales. So yes there is a great thriving Morris Tradition outside of the UK. JohnB

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: Maryrrf
Date: 31 Jul 01 - 10:25 AM

I've seen Morris dancers in Charlottesville, Virginia. Don't know what group they belong to, though but there were several of them and they were quite good!

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: Dave Swan
Date: 31 Jul 01 - 11:40 AM

Goat Hill Morris dances in San Franscisco, Berkeley Morris in Berkeley, Pipe and Bowl Morris shows up all over Northern California.

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: The Shambles
Date: 06 Aug 01 - 05:04 AM

Refresh

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: The Shambles
Date: 06 Aug 01 - 05:07 AM

Council Bans Morris

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Aug 01 - 01:56 PM

Madison Wisc has the OakApple Morris Dancers men and women together.They do May day at dawn and stroll through the campus and farmers' market occasionally.

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: vindelis
Date: 06 Aug 01 - 02:55 PM

Maryrrf, a side from Charlottesville VA, called Court Square were dancing at the Smuggler's Inn at Osmington Mills in Dorset UK, a few years ago. Could it be the same side? I think they were garland dancers.

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: GUEST,Jake Jones MMU
Date: 05 Dec 11 - 09:35 AM

Hi, i'm a student from MMU university in England, and i'm doing my dissertation on Morris dancing worldwide, and thought i'd look for some advice here haha :D i'm just wondering if anyone knows how morris dancing actually started to thrive in places like North America or Canada?

Jake.

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 05 Dec 11 - 11:52 AM

Jake, get in touch with the Country Dance and Song Society in Massachusetts. They were involved early on in morris dancing in the U.S., and certainly will be able to point you to various useful resources. (Originally they were a branch of the EFDSS.) Also, (Dr. Anthony) Tony Barrand recently retired from Boston University.

~ Becky in Long Beach

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: Ross Campbell
Date: 05 Dec 11 - 12:20 PM

Jake - could be they started from this - 1929 Morris Dancing in New York State - part 1 of 2 (Rapper dances and possibly Playford precede the Morris dance in the news clips).

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: pavane
Date: 05 Dec 11 - 03:31 PM

Did you hear of Morris dancc in the Gulf?
(ex Dubai-Sharjah Morris)

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: GUEST,I Don't Know
Date: 06 Dec 11 - 05:04 AM

Just seen this thread. My husbands close childhood friend emegrated to America back in 1978 and travelled around many states teaching morris dancing, he used to be a member of the Thaxted group (Essex U.K.) His name was Chris White (Chalky), he passed away earlier this year.

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: GUEST,Jake Jones MMU
Date: 11 Dec 11 - 01:49 PM

Thank you very much! I will definitely get in touch with them, thank you for your help :)That video is really interesting too, might try and follow up on that as i've noticed from my research that alot of morris dancing within the USA is around the New York area.

Jake

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: banksie
Date: 12 Dec 11 - 09:17 AM

I think you'll find there are a number of sides in the San Francisco area as well. Maybe it is associated with major ports where English ships might dock?

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 12 Dec 11 - 09:59 AM

I am correct in thinking all Morris in the US is post Sharp. probably post WW2 and that trace of morris has ever been found other wise?

L in C#

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 12 Dec 11 - 12:51 PM

Yes, post-Sharp, but appearances pre-WW2, although no active sides.

In this history of Pinewoods Morris Men it says,

"Morris dancing was taught almost exclusively in classes offered by the centers and affiliates of the Country Dance Society. When a Morris performance was called for (usually in the context of a CDS-sponsored event, or a local folk festival), a team was put together for the purpose, made up of men (and only men) who attended CDS classes regularly enough to become relatively proficient. Outside the "folk" world, Morris was virtually unknown."

"In 1963, CDS (Country Dance Society) invited the Artistic Director of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, Nibs Matthews, together with his wife Jean, to be on the staff of the Dance Weeks program at Pinewoods Camp." (I think CDSS is meant here.)

Matthews encouraged the dancers who usually only met annually at camp to form an ongoing side, which they did in 1964.

See also this tidbit from Erica Neilson's "Folk Dancing" in preview on Google Books, which highlights CDSS's camps at Pinewoods as "a training ground for American Morris Dance leaders in the 1970s".

This morris wiki entry, Pre-1980s morris in North America is pretty comprehensive.

--

Yes, plenty of morris in California, but not old enough to have anything to do with the docking of English ships. It dates to the 1970s.

Berkeley Morris (Berkeley, California, across the Bay from San Francisco) was founded 1977, it may have been the first in the state. Brad Foster was the long-time Executive and Artistic Director of CDSS (after his Berkeley days), and they'd certainly put you in touch with him.

Now I'll quit doing your research for you and get back to my own work! ;-)

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: GUEST,Eric Armstrong
Date: 12 Dec 11 - 01:29 PM

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: GUEST,Eric Armstrong
Date: 12 Dec 11 - 01:37 PM

Oops! a bit quick on the button there,

There is lots of Morris in the Northwest, including Vancouver Morrsmen, Tiddleycove Morris & Sword (also Vancouver) Mossybacks and Misty City in Seattle, Bridgetown Morris in Portland Island Thyme in Victoria

Eric Armstrong

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: Greg B
Date: 12 Dec 11 - 04:23 PM

Simon Spalding, Bob Walser, and href="mailto:[e-mail]>Jon Berger might all be able to offer you some good insights.

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: Greg B
Date: 12 Dec 11 - 04:39 PM

And now if one of the elves would correct my lousy html above...

Subject: RE: history of Morris Dancing in America
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 17 Jan 12 - 09:01 PM

I don't know if Jake Jones at MMU will be checking back in, but I just came upon a document from the Mary Neal archives at the VWML about her visit with Florrie Warren (one of the Espérance dancers, then 18) to the U.S. (New York and Boston) in the winter of 1910-1911.

A report on the visit was published in the Musical Herald in the UK and reprinted in the Esperance Morris Book - II.

Download the pdf and take a look.

The lead paragraph of the article seems to indicate that some teachers in the U.S. had tried to use morris dancing:

"New York and Boston have taken up morris dancing. In the schools also teachers were obliged to teach it, and, having wrong ideas of the dances, they did not like them, but now that they have seen the real thing they are completely converted. Here we have put into the dances the romance of the past and the pride of long possession, but America takes them for what they are worth now. A number of troupes have been started."

...but Neal's comments later in the article, and on the second page seem to indicate that they were introducing it from scratch.

There is also this item from her autobiography about Sharp's interference with the trip.

poster for a May 1911 performance in New York (This was after Neal's return to England. Florrie Warren had fallen in love, remained in the U.S., and been married that spring).

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 17 Jan 12 - 10:35 PM

In looking for more Mary Neal information, I came on another quite exhaustive set of material on various signs of morris in America, as well as the role of Mary Neal and Florrie Warren: Morris Dancing And America Prior to 1913, by Rhett Krause, M.D. (American Morris Newsletter, Volume 25, Number 4, December, 2005, originally in Country Dance and Song (journal of CDSS), v. 21, 1991, and v. 22, 1992).

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 17 Jan 12 - 11:12 PM

And, to answer my own question, Krause's article, in the section entitled "Elizabeth Burchenal and Morris Dancing in New York City Schools", does document the use of morris dance in the schools prior to Mary Neal and Florrie Warren's visit (from about 1909).

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 17 Jan 12 - 11:34 PM

sorry - 1908.

~ B in T

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: GUEST,Bill S from Adelaide
Date: 18 Jan 12 - 04:13 AM

The original question included Australia and anywhere else. Go to morris.org.au for current Oz sides and links to NZ and others. Hong Kong may still be going

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: GUEST,FloraG
Date: 18 Jan 12 - 08:39 AM

A few years ago we linked up with a morris side from Alaska. Very good they were too.
FloraG

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: RTim
Date: 18 Jan 12 - 09:49 AM

I have just written an article for the EFDSS magazine ED&S on Morris Dance in North America. It should be out in Feb.. It gives a current overview in my experiences verses my knowledge of Morris in the UK. It is limited because I only have experience on the East Coast, but I do know of the dancing on the West Coast and Midwest.

Tim Radford - Now in New England, ex-Adderbury & Kirtlington Morris, etc..

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: GUEST,Bob Walser
Date: 18 Jan 12 - 06:51 PM

Try this link for Minnesota (where there are at least a half-dozen active teams)

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: catspaw49
Date: 18 Jan 12 - 08:54 PM

I've never thought of using the words "Morris Dancing" and "thrive" in the same sentence...........


Spaw

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: GUEST,Jake Jones MMU
Date: 12 Feb 12 - 04:02 PM

Hello everyone :)

Thank you for all the positive feedback and responses, it is all very useful and informative and has been of great use. Sorry for taking so long to reply to everyone, i'm very grateful i've just been incredibly busy, those of you who have been to university will understand what I mean!

Thanks, Jake :)

Subject: RE: Morris Dancing in America
From: JemmaGurney
Date: 13 Feb 12 - 08:39 AM

Hey Jake!

Maple Morris, who are canadian / North east American, were over here in the UK last Summer and did a show called Must Come Down with Morris Offspring. I get the impression that they came together out of
The Country Dance and Song Society, which holds folk camps etc over there.

Pecsaetan ourselves are off to Toronto Morris Men's Ale this September, and we have hosted Orange Peel Morris five years or so ago...

The Mainly Morris Dancing Site was created by John Maher, who was the overseas bagman of the Morris Ring until he sadly passed this summer just gone. But that post still exists - so maybe talking to the person who is now responsible for it may give some further insights?

Jemma
Pecsaetan's CD "At One with the Bells" can be purchased from
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