A publication devoted solely to

English Morris and Suord Dancing.

Vol. 111 no. 4

WOMEN'S MORRIS GOES TO ENGLANI

The special feature promised in the last issue was partially mails: Morris Sunderland's article had not arrived two weeks The Newsletter presents one half of the feature here: an acd team's trip to England during the summer of 1979. --FMB

January 1980

Eoiled by the Christmas after the copy deadline. Runt by Jody Evans of her

touring England. We 1 . . Twelve members of Ring o' Bells spent 2% weeks in June 1

danced with twenty-two teams, four of which had separate men's ana w0men.s siaes, ana saw another twenty at a meeting of the Morris Ring. Herewith are a few observations of morris on its native soil, particularly women's morris, which began six years ago and ,

is now booming. (Those interested in a full account of the adventure should contact our official log-keeper.)

:ruck by the great variety, both in :n addition to the Cotswold morris \ad tried to convince us, that no women1$ 1 traditions (such as Wheatley and - . . . . ..

Among the women's teams we saw, we were st types of dances and in approaches to dancing. I familiar to Americans (it is not true, as some t ;

teams dance Cotswold), there are less well-known Stanton Harcourt) and lots of North-West and Border morris. aritisn siaes are also less hesitant than us to invent dances and even whole traditions: Derby Crown has created a Derby tradition which is wholly original and one of the most exciting things we saw. . The approaches to dancing range from that of chosen to dress extremely prettily (long gin I handkerchieves) and dance in a "feminine" st and make a show of being ''masculine" -- brea ,,.., ,,A,nY s.r,r..bAv..uAsJ yvuAA..e ul--

over their heads. The teams that impressed us most were those that had stopped trying to impress people and had gone on with the business of developing their own style, be it the precision and exuberence of Derby Crown or the vigor and ex~ansiveness of Windsor.

Ladies of Green Willow (~uneaton) , who have gharn dresses with lacy smocks and embroidered yle, to that of Phoenix, who wear trousers tino atinbe intant+nn=allv pnrl nniir ino hnor

We found less knowledge of the morris than we had expe little about the history or the "standard" repertoire; many Sharp and Bacon books. They learn primarily from other team workshops at festivals. Because of the lack of Country Danc classes and the inaccessibility of Ring instructionals, many second-hand through their husbands (in fact, a good many sid the local men's side).

cted. Many dancers knew had never heard of the s and from occasional e and Song Society-type women's sides must learn es are made up of wives of

Of the men's morris we saw, in general the Cotswold morrie cTa- lnCC imnrnRCilTa

than other forms. We saw first-rate North-West morris and ral the "definitive" Lichfield of Green Man and Handsworth's long of the trip.

As a women's side, we encountered some hostility from i~lulvluua~ n 1 r u . ~ ~ ~ u a r ~ y enough, some of those most opposed to women's morris had never seen a women's team dance! We found that a lot of this hostility evaporated once we started to dance and were seen to be moderately competent. Men were absolutely amazed, however, that we had neither a male musician (many, but not all, English women's sides do) nor a male

d r i v e r ("But who d r i v e s the van?"). B r i t i s h s i d e s tend t o do considerably m dr inking and less dancing than American ones, a s i t u a t i o n t h a t sometimes l e f f e e l i n g w e had no t had enough dancing, even though w e were doing i t every da were, however, very impressed by B r i t i s h h o s p i t a l i t y . We were t r e a t e d p r a c t l i k e roya l ty , and w e r e gree ted wi th everyth ing from homebaked goodies (decoracea wl tn American f l a g s and sword locks) t o boat t r i p s , c i v i c ceremonies wi th Mayors, and 1

c a s t l e s t o dance in . Everyone was i n t e r e s t e d and s u r p r i s e d t o l e a r n about American morris ; few had any idea of what is going on here. Severa l tl i n coming t o the S t a t e s . Windsor Morris is th inking about 198 don ' t m i s s them!

Every yea r i n t h e Apr i l i s s u e of the Newslet ter appears an impressive survey of clubs ' tour ing d a t e s on t h i s cont inent . Although no t intended a s an exhaust ive l i s t i n g of American morr is a c t i v i t y , i t does g ive one an idea of t h e e x t e n t t o which o t h e r s a r e involved i n dancing. I f your c lub has any tour d a t e s planned by t h e middle of March, p lease note t h e d a t e and p lace on a postcard and send i t t o t h e Newsletter ( i f d a t e s a r e t e n t a t i v e , p lease mark a s such). I f you p r e f e r t o telephone, the number i s 802-387-5985. Deadline f o r t h i s information is - FRIDAY,MARCH 21, 1980. P lease do drop a note; i t only c o s t s a dime!

MORRIS I N NORTH A M E R I C A

Another annual f e a t u r e of t h e Newslet ter is a l i s t i n g of c lubs and groups using morris o r sword dancing i n t h e i r a c t i v i t i e s . I f you know of any new c lubs which have formed dur ing the p a s t year , p l ease inform t h e Newsletter of t h e i r name and con tac t person. Also h e l p f u l would be a postcard from e x i s t i n g c l u b s showing how they wish t o be l i s t e d . P lease observe the same deadline: FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 1980. Thank you!

TEAM NEWS

A regu la r f e a t u r e of t h e American Morris Newsletter dependent on your letters, pos tca rds , and telephone c a l l s . Names of correspondents appear a t t h e end of each c l u b ' s news. A s p e c i a l thank you t o a l l of t h e c l u b ' s which s e n t news f o r t h e c u r r e n t i s s u e . --FMB

Bel les of t h e North: "Minnesota now has another Morris team! A women's c lub pu l l ed together informally l a s t May and now has dubbed i t s e l f the Belles of t h e North. There a r e c u r r e n t l y about twelve members. J i m Brickwedde of the men's team has been funct ioning a s foreman and Laur i Levin has been t h e s q u i r e . A s t h e r e is no organized bag y e t , a 'bagperson' has not emerged. We decided t o do a d i f f e r e n t major t r a d i t i o n than t h e men and have begun wi th Bampton and a s p r i n k l i n g of I lmington and Headington dances. Our debut performance was given i n November a t a f u n d r a i s e r f o r t h e S a l t a r i Folkdance Coffeehouse and was rece ived e n t h u s i a s t i c a l l y . W e took g r e a t p leasure i n p r i ck ing t h e p r i d e of t h e men by l ay ing claim t o being t h e only l e g i t i m a t e team i n Minnesota (Parl iament has d i c t a t e d only t h a t women may not l e g a l l y be prevented from dancing Morris) ." Laur i Levin, 12816 Melody Lane, Minnetonka, Minnesota 55343

Binghamton Morris Men: "Our new o f f i c e r s a r e Bob DeLuca, s q u i r e , and Nate Lord, bag- man. The year was aga in an a c t i v e one s t a r t i n g wi th o u r G i l b e r t s v i l l e weekend and ending with our Harvest Feas t . The f e a s t he ld an added h igh l igh t : dur ing the pre- s e n t a t i o n of a mummers play o u t s i d e a Chestnut S t r e e t abode, t h r e e p o l i c e squad c a r s converged on the scene wi th l i g h t s f l a s h i n g j u s t a s t h e v i l l a i n b i t t h e dus t . I t has

not been determined i f t h i s was p a r t of t h e a c t o r not . "Training of new men is c u r r e n t l y t ak ing p lace under our s q u i r e and roreman, aob

DeLuca. One s i d e of men has moved t o New York Ci ty t o he t h a t c i t y the proper (improper?) way t o t i p a pot .

"The Binghamton Men send t h e i r b e s t wishes t o a l l t dance with them i n t h e p a s t year . A s p e c i a l thanks t o t h p a r t i c i p a t e d i n our f o u r t h American Trave l l ing Morrice. w e LOOK Iorwara co m e commg Ye a r and renewing a l l our f r i e n d s i n t h e Morris."

Szymanski, 2820 Smith Drive, Endwell, New York 13760

l p teach t h e o t h e r teams i n

he teams who allowed us t o e teams i n Maine where w e .. . . r . . . . I

ggy Bottom Morris Men: "After s e v e r a l months of amicable d i scuss ion , Foggy Bottom rris has become t h e Foggy Bottom Morris Men. The women's s i d e i n Washington is a l t h i e r than eve r , bu t is a s y e t nameless. New o f f i c e r s f o r t h e yea r a r e Laur ie dres , Par ty Chariman and General Secre tary; Greg Fabian, Bagman; A 1 Kehs, A s s i s t a n t gman; and Roger Avery, Foreman.

"This year w e have enjoyed v i s i t s from Morris Sunderland, Roger Car twright , Roy m r n e t t and Tubby Reynolds, Geoff Hughes, Tony P o i l e (who danced wi th us a t t h e nghamton Sudze),and Andrew of Derby. We e s p e c i a l l y thank Matt S c h a l l e r of t h e nghamton Morris Men f o r in t roducing us t o t h e idea of the walking pub tour . S ince e in t roduc t ion , w e have done l i t t l e else."

Greg Fabian, 6032 North 19th Road, Ar l ington, Vi rg in ia 22205

Greenwich Morris Men " j u s t had a f a n t a s t i c t o u r with Pinewoods, .et a l , i n Boston [ i n ~ c t o b e r ] . Now we a r e prepar ing f o r t h sword, Abbots Bromley Horn Dance, morr is , throughout the winter ."

-- e Christmas Revels i n New York Ci ty -- long e t c . We w i l l be cont inuing morr is and sword

Dan S tenz le r , 19 Pheasant Lane, East Setau k e t , New York 11733

Ha' Penny Morris "now two y e a r s o l d , is making good progress i n p r a c t i c e s and having fun, too! A f t e r p a r t i c i p a t i n g i n t h e Pinewoods F a l l Tour, we s e t t l e d down t o organized p r a c t i c e s under Foreman Jan E l l i o t t . A combination of review, new dances, and v a r i e t y , p l u s having c e r t a i n goals i n mind, has l e d t o product ive and p o s i t i v e p r a c t i c e s . J a n w i l l be l eav ing soon f o r t h e remainder of t h e season, s o Margy Rj Roberts w i l l be teaching, wi th some a d d i t i o n a l coaching from Curl Jokers . Although we a r e l o s i n g another member, former s q u i r e D i : we s t i l l w i l l have a r e g u l a r two s i d e s a t p rac t i ces . "

Jack ie Chew, 19 Cen t ra l Road //I, Somervil le , Massachusetts 0214:

Lexington Morris Men (?): "Currently i n Lexington, Kentucky, a (

s t a r t . Dvnt - t inne r.14 11 hmrrin i n T n n . t n r r r *.A th n n n n r l - e - f n n r l o r n a q n n f n n n n r C n l l r e -.rar.~

and 01 have n (o r ma

Don Ca

Flarlbo is bru way f o dancer Rumors

Fred B

A LO-L..LC.F;D -&LA. ~ ~ 6 1 ~ s .LL. UC.ISUC.LJ ~ 1 1 . 1 ~ a ~WUU-OIYGU ~ L U U ~ UL c - 6 ~ ~ L U I ~ Q 1 1 ~ -

d t o t h e morr is , s o w e expect t o have some dances ready f o r the sp r ing . W e o name a s y e t l ~ o v e m b e r --E'MB], bu t probably w i l l be t h e Lexington Morris Men ybe Mama Mia's Morris Men -- from a f a v o r i t e haunt)."

mpbell, 332 Duke Road #2, Lexington, Kentucky 40502

r o Morris and Sword " th inking t h a t s p r i n g might be on its way (we have no snow), sh ing the cobwebs o f f of i ts spr ingt ime Cotswold r e p e r t o i r e . Planning is under- r t h e f i f t h Marlboro Morris A l e ( s e e Announcements --E'MB). A new crop of women ,s has been working s i n c e t h e f a l l and a r e f i t t i n g n i c e l y i n t o t h e women's s i d e .

a r e a foo t about a men's rapper set forming."

r eun ig , R.D. #1 Box 9A, Putney, Vermont 05346

Hntintnn: " T t a e e m n aa i f WP have h ~ ~ n dant-ino n r t t nhntlt- nvorv g e r n n d w e e k e n d . Men of ..,,,,-.,. -- ----- -- -- -- ---.. --.---.-o --- ----- -.--, ---.-..- ..--..-..-y which has been somewhat f r u s t r a t i n g a s w e have not been a b l e t o l e a r n many new dances. Bshou ld qu ie ten o f f f o r n few months now [ ~ c t o b e r l e t t e r --FMB]. Lots of i n t e r n a l

discuss ion a s t o where w e go from here, e t c . Gary Coover's t r i p t o Marlboro and Thaxted has caused us t o f ace the f a c t t h a t w e hi s u r e i n what d i r e c t i o n . "

John Vivian, 3804 Vil lanova, West Univers i ty Plal

Minnesota T r a d i t i o n a l Morris: "While w e cannot caKe coca1 c r e a l c r o r t n e wave o r may- l i k e weather t h a t b lankets o u r region, t h e MTM w i l l not exclude t h e p o s s i b i l i t y of some

f o r t h e t t h e Coura !' ) - and e

?d wi th the ~ e l l e s of z ! Tony Barrand's and tory of t h e c lub ; w e

inf luence with the seasons. perhaps the Morris workshop we sharc t h e North s o sharpened our dancing t h a t t h e c l i m a t e had no choict John Roberts ' work wi th u s was c e r t a i n l y a high po in t i n t h e his1 hope t o have them back.

"In November the rappers came out of t h e bag and w e developed a snappier team than we have had i n some time. Thc Sword dance and t h e i r charactc Minnesota Sword Ceremony v i s i t '1: thought you brought t h e s w o ~ S t . Paul and a t our f i f t h annt t e r e s t i n g show took p lace a t t Rayfield and Nick L e t h e r t , joi,,,, LC;CIIILLLIL:.t a a L V U L , U L L L S LLSLh UUaI AVVI.

"The yea r 1980 w i l l begin wi th our danci ce lebra t ion . We have t e n t a t i v e o f f e r s from I from some members of t h e C a r l i s l e Morris. Tt usual . Here's h igher capers t o a l l i n t h e n6

o t h e r ha l f of the c lub worked up the Ampleforth long zrs r a d i t i o n a l Christmas mummers play. The :ed ge Center f o r t h e Handicapped (our bagman: rds. , . ,ave performances a t t h e Landmark Center i n la1 series a t Bu t l e r Square i n Minneapolis. A very in- :he Pub l i c Library where o u r two mid-winter f o o l s , Rudd / - -A F ~ r m e n r n n . . < ~ 4 - 1 r. -9.4- -vm..-rl t h e - e n L n p a A. . - l f ~ m l

Stephen Parker, 434 N.E. 4 t h S t r e e t , Minneapc

ing at the s q u i r e ' s annual Twelfth Night rwo fc-lk f e s t i v a l s and a chance of a v i s i t le s e t s o n a l events w i l l be ce lebra ted a s ?W year ! "

~ l i s , Minnesota 55413

Pinewoods Morris Men: The c lub had a busy f a l l s t a r t i n g with t h e 14th annual f a l l t o u r

and we're d e l i g h t e d t o h e l p f u l f i l l t h e i r dream."' Keep t h e f a i th ! "

George Utter, c / o The Wester ly Sun, 56 Main S t r e e t , Wester ly, Rhode I s l a n d 02891

Rumors of new c lubs : New York C i t y , t h a t home of m i l l i o n s , may f i n a l l y be g e t t i n g ano the r men's morr i s team. John Dexter , r e c e n t l y moved i n t o t h e "Big Apple," r e p o r t s t h a t he i s " th inking of ano the r c lub h e r e ... perhaps t h e Rigor Morris?"

John Dexter , 250 E l i zabe th S t r e e t , New York, New York 10012

OTHER GROUPS

The N e w s l e t t e r f o l lows a l l l e a d s i t r e c e i v e s abaut ~ o s s i b l e l n u r r l s a c r l v l L v 1 1 1

North America. A s a r e s u l t of i n q u i r i e s , two groups r volvement:

A.B. Combs Med-o-larks: Seventy-one seven th and e i g h t h g r a d e r s belong t o t h i s fo lk - dancing c l u b i n e a s t e r n Kentucky which performs "a l l types of f o l k dances from many fo re ign c o u n t r i e s a s w e l l a s some mor r i s dances." They perform a t o t h e r e lementary schoo l s , hoping t o s p u r i n t e r e s t i n folk-dancing, and a l s o a t "nu-'- hfi-a- + -

area, and every y e a r they are t h e f i r s t t o a s k u s back."

Marvin Meadows, c / o A.B. Combs Elementary School , Combs, Kentucky

Folk Ensemble o f t h e James Madison Un ive r s i t y Dance Theat re : Ano i n t e r n a t i o n a l r e p e r t o i r e w i t h a n emphasis on American f o l k dance w e gec more requesLs f o r c logging thal f o r e i g n count r ie ! mor r i s , and couni Morrison of Char: Program a t JMU. room forms of dal a dance major ant

Ed Howard, I n s t r i

n anyth ing e l s e " ) , t h i s group g i v e s c o n c e r t s of dance from s e v e r a l ; ( I s r e a l and Mexico, as w e l l a s an Engl i sh s u i t e w i t h r appe r , Cotswold t r y dances) . They have l ea rned t h e i r Engl i sh m a t e r i a l from J i m l o t t e s v i l l e . "The performing Ensemble i s only p a r t o f t h e Dance We a l s o o f f e r c l a s s e s i n i n t e r n a t i o n a l f o l k , American f o l k and b a l l -

nce, i n a d d i t i o n t o modem and b a l l e t ... Our program a l s o i n c l u d e s d minor and a g radua te program l e a d i n g t o a Master's Degree."

uc tor of Dance, James Madison U n i v e r s i t y , Harr i sonburg , Va. 22807

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Re t h e a u t h o r of "Be l l s Have Turned Green" (publ i shed l a s t i s s u e a s "au thor unknoa --FMB) , I was t o l d by t h e Eng l i sh s i n g e r Johnny C o l l i n s t h a t t h e song was w r i t t e n by a group which took t h e name "ROBOT NIMB," an anagram of BOB, RON, and TIM. They a r e t h r e e members of Herga Morr i s who a l s o sang a t t h e Herga Folk Club from which, I unders tand , t h e mor r i s t e a m developed.

John Rober t s Wilmington, Vermont

I am i n t e r e s t e d i n ma in t a in ing c o n t a c t g e n e r a l l y i n t h e S t a t e s . A f t e r a l l we c o l o n i of any morr i s men ( o r l a d i e s ) who are p lannin put them i n touch wi th me and I w i l l s e e t o i t h e r e is a Morris s i d e o v e r he re .

P l e a s e pas s a long my new addres s and te lephone number t o t h e c l u b s i n t h e S t a t e s . Thanks ve.ry much f o r your he lp .

Mike Garland, 21 Ecc les Road Ipswich, S u f f o l k England Tele : 04

ANNOUNCEMENTS

R i t u a l Dance Weekend: .- The Country Dance and Song Soc ie ty o f A m e r i c a announces a weekend a t Hudson Guild Form i n Netcong, New J e r s e y on Fr iday , February 29 t o March 2, 1980. There w i l l be c l a s s e s i n Cotswold and bo rde r mor r i s , r appe r , long sword, and r ibbon and s t a v e dances. The s t a f f w i l l i n c l u d e Andy Barrand, T F o r r e s t , Lee E l l e n F r i ed l and , Paul Friedman, Cur t Hayashi, John Chairman Jody Evans. S p e c i a l f e a t u r e s : Eng l i sh - s ty l e c e i l i d h ( wi th r i t u a l dance demonst ra t ions by p a r t i c i p a t i n g teams (Sa turda b e s t r i t u a l dance teams i n England, and a l e c t u r e on t h e develop dance by s c h o l a r and r appe r expe r t John F o r r e s t from England. M t i o n may b e obta ined from CDSSA, 505 8 t h Avenue, New York, NY 1

ony Barrand, John Rowlands, and Program Fr iday) , c o n t r a dance y) , new f i l m s of t h e ment of t h e sword o r e d e t a i l e d inforrna- 0018.

School f o r T r a d i t i o n a l . .- . .. , 3 * - "Clog Dancing Engl i sh S t . , " a weekend cour se sponsored by t h e D i n c e anrl Snno o i 1 1 he he1 A i n Rratt 1 ~ h n r n Vermnnt nn the w o ~ k ~ n n n~ nnr, I I I - I 5

1980. I a s t h e h w i l l be summer o dance w i mat ion, Marlboro

.-. Y'..b, "-&A '- ..-A- '.. --U--a.-'---, '-..."-..- -.. -..- "--"-"- -- --r--- - - --, n t e n s i v e c l a s s e s i n s o l o Eng l i sh c l o g ( i n c l u d i n g w a l t z and reel s t e p s , a s w e l l : o m p i p e s t e p ) and t h e Northern c o u n t i e s ' three-hand r e e l s , r a n t s , and po lkas t a u g h t by School i n s t r u c t o r s Tony Barrand and Fred Breunig. Fi lms take= last if dance r s i n England w i l l b e f e a t u r e d du r ing t h e weekend and Sa turday n i g h t ' s S1 inc lude t r a d i t i o n a l North Country dances w i t h s t epp ing . For more i n f o r - p l e a s e w r i t e t o t h e School f o r T r a d i t i o n a l Dance and Song, P.O. Box 51, I, Vermont 05344.

Marlboro f i f t h Ma Col lege l o c a l t o The f a c i have bee which have never Peen t o an Ale, l n c l u d l n g s e v e r a l rrom g r e a t d i s t a n c e s . mass dances w i l l be t h e same a s l a s t y e a r w i t h t h e fo l lowing except ion: Fieldtown S t e p Back and t h e f a m i l i a r Balance t h e ! are: Headington 29th of T Bledington Morning S t a r a1 Shepherds Hey.

1 Morr is A l e : Marlboro Morr i s and Sword c l u b is p leased t o announce t h a t t h e -- . r l b o r o Morr i s A l e w i l l b e h e l d on t h e weekend of May 23-26, 1980 a t Marlboro i n Vermont. The program w i l l be s i m i l a r t o last y e a r ' s A l e w i t h t o u r i n g of wns on both Sa turday and Sunday, and t h e t r a d i t i o n a l a l l e y dancing on Monday. . l i t ies a t t h e c o l l e g e a g a i n l i m i t u s t o i n v i t i n g s i x t e e n c l u b s , a l l o f which n i n e x i s t e n c e f o r a t l e a s t two seasons . We a r e i n v i t i n g a number of c l u b s . - . - .. . - .. . - -

The American Morr i s N e w s l e t t e r is publ i shed f o u r t i m e s p e r y e a r ( A p r i l , J u l y , October , and January) . S u b s c r i p t i o n s are a v a i l a b l e t o anyone a t $2.00 p e r y e a r -- one of t h e last ba rga ins o f t h e Western world! Team s u b s c r i p t i o n s ( s i x o r more cop ie s t o one address ) a r e $1.50 p e r person p e r year . Ovcrseas s u b s c r i p t i o n s p l e a s e add $2.00 f o r a i r m a i l d e l i v e r y , 5 0 ~ f o r s u r f a c e m a i l . P l e a s e make a l l checks i n U.S. funds payable t o "American Morr i s Newsletter" and send t o t h e add res s on page 1. Copy d e a d l i n e f o r next i s s u e ( ca l enda r s , team news, add res ses , l e t t e r s , a r t i c l e s , c t c . ) is FRIDAY PIAKCH 21, 1980. P l e a s e be prompt! Thank you f o r your suppor t . --JW3 --2- --