Morris dancers mob Trafalgar Square

[Flashman]

I love it and want a go!

That film looks great

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Are there no pictures of the tourists' faces watching this quaint little tradition?

 

[innit]

love the pics

 

[Divisive Cotton]

whittlesey straw bear:

And in 1909:

 

[pogofish]

Fact! The 'blacked up' Morris dancers come from the Welsh borders. There are no Welsh Morris dancers. Or Scottish ones, for that matter.

(Least that's what the Morris bloke from Huddersfield told me).

He is wrong then - At least for Scotland.

Much as it pains me to say this, the earliest reference to Morris dancing in the British Isles came from Scotland in the 15th Century. It didn't appear in English writings till about a century and a half later in the 17th.

I remember the Banchory Morris troupe. Scary drinkers!

 

[hipipol]

Old Spot Morris



These are the only Morris side I have ever really followed - this 94 clip shows em a bit cleaned up really - I saw them brawl once with a team of Scottish country dancers who they accused of being "poofs" on account of them wearing "skirts" and that was early on - the Festival of Copuntry dancing taking place in the courtyard of an ex coaching in in Prestbury neede three van loads of coppers to break up the melee in the end - it was a top day out!!!!

The third guy to be interviewed is an ex flatmate of mine

 

[tar1984]

The pics are well funny!

 

[hipipol]

More Morris.....

http://www.bu.edu/dbin/dance/ggsearch.htm

Sadly the site aint been updated for yonks so the vids are all Realplayer

Gives more of avibe of the mad morris caners that were the old spot in their prime

I had never thought to see a Morris man with a pint in one hand and a spliff in his mouth dance - sadly these vids dont show just how very different they were!!!

 

[Divisive Cotton]

cup - no swords or sticks, but the finest outfit of them all (and a great dance too)...

Here they are:

 

[killer b]

Here they are:

fuck yeah.

 

[skyscraper101]

whittlesey straw bear:

And in 1909:

Is this like the Cambridgeshire version of Duffman?

 

[pogofish]

Is this like the Cambridgeshire version of Duffman?

Or the various Scottish Burrymen?

 

[quimcunx]

I reckon if you are a tourist and you stumble upon a Morris Dancing festival in London you must be like WTF?!

You wouldn't be though, as it's just the sort of thing you get all over the shop.


Morris Dancing is

 

[pogofish]

And should also be classed alongside Swan Upping in the league of strangness IMO

http://www.daylife.com/photo/00Vu8wB7fKfz8

 

[sojourner]

And should also be classed alongside Swan Upping in the league of strangness IMO

http://www.daylife.com/photo/00Vu8wB7fKfz8

w.t.f.

the morris dancers look ace, but what is the blacking up all about?

 

[Divisive Cotton]

it's to ward off evil spirits, apparently

 

[the button]

That, and the racism.

 

[isitme]

I didn't want a potentially interesting thread being fucked up by an idiot trolling away with irrelevant, attention-seeking, tasteless shit about 'Nazis' and accusations of paedophilia. He was fairly warned at the start, said he'd go away, but then returned to carry on. So he was banned, as per the FAQ. It's just boring now. Further discussion -> feedback forum please.

you forgot to mention the fact that it realy offended you because it was you and your potentially interesting thread about some boring tourist shite in london

if you banned people every time a potentially interesting thread was trolled you would be banning people every day (and photos of morris dancing in trafalgar sq isn't potentially interesting anyway)

wanker

 

[editor]

you forgot to mention the fact that it realy offended you because it was you and your potentially interesting thread about some boring tourist shite in london

if you banned people every time a potentially interesting thread was trolled you would be banning people every day (and photos of morris dancing in trafalgar sq isn't potentially interesting anyway)

wanker

It's actually about you getting pissed up and trashing threads all over these boards, time and time again and thinking that you can keep on getting away with it.

You can't, so you're off for 48 hours.

 

[hipipol]

you forgot to mention the fact that it realy offended you because it was you and your potentially interesting thread about some boring tourist shite in london

if you banned people every time a potentially interesting thread was trolled you would be banning people every day (and photos of morris dancing in trafalgar sq isn't potentially interesting anyway)

wanker

Morris Dancings cool you scrote!!!!

I was interested anyway, maybe not much of crowd I admit, but a start!!

 

[killer b]

it's to ward off evil spirits, apparently

that's balls - the morris dancing ring or whatever just say that, 'cause otherwise they'd have to stop. it's clearly dressing up as black guys - you can tell by the outfits too.

That, and the racism.

not sure if i'd go that far though. if it is racism, it's fairly harmless version of it...

 

[isitme]

 

[editor]

that's balls - the morris dancing ring or whatever just say that, 'cause otherwise they'd have to stop. it's clearly dressing up as black guys - you can tell by the outfits too.

The PC brigade tried to ban it in 2000:

Morris dancers face ban over black make-up

They've been merrily dancing with blackened faces on the England-Scotland border for 200 years but, in the cause of political correctness, the game was up for the morris dancers of Carlisle yesterday.

Carlisle council has told the city's Sword, Morris and Clog Dancers troupe - which says its black make-up dates to the days morris-dancing poachers daubed charcoal and fat on their faces as a disguise - that its routine may offend tourists. If it does not drop its trademark dance and make-up, the group will be banned from the city's Living Together multicultural festival later this month.

The dancers, who have performed their Borders Dance the world over for 15 years to songwriter Stephen Collins Foster's "Oh Susannah", insist they have never had a complaint.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...ancers-face-ban-over-black-makeup-715386.html

This seems to describe the tradition well:

About the black face

In recent years, the black face has created some controversy, particularly in North America. The usual explanation for the black face is that it is for "disguise", and that during the hard winters of the 17-18th Century out of work labourers and builders sought to anonymously supplement their income by a bit of dancing and begging. The use of the black face as a form of disguise is certainly well established in early 18th century England - so much so, that in 1723 it became a capital offence under the Waltham "Black Act" to appear "in disguise, either by mask or by blackened face".

Another theory is that the black face tradition derives from earlier forms of the dance involving a Moroccan king and his followers (which links into the theory that the word "morris" is derived from moorish or moresco). There is recorded evidence from 1688 of payments in Shrewsbury of 10 shillings to Ye Bedlam Morris and 2 shillings for Ye King of Morroco.

There are even earlier recordings of a black-face morris tradition in Europe. Carved figures from 1480 in Munich, Germany show "moriscan dancers" with black faces and bells and evidence from France includes the quote from Arbeau circa 1580 which stated "In fashionable society when I was young, a small boy, his face daubed with black and his forehead swathed in a white or yellow handkerchief, would make an appearance after supper. He wore leggings covered with little bells and performed a morris". However, there is too little recorded evidence to prove or disprove any linkage to the dances on the English Welsh borders.

More recently, some people have postulated that the black face tradition was linked to the much later introduction of the American minstrel shows into Victorian England in the late 1830s. However, there is no direct evidence of this nor any explanation for why rural border morris dancers would choose to adapt their traditional folk dances to partially dress like the minstrel performers, but not adopt the whole costume or any other element of the show. By the early 20th century, border morris dancing was known colloquially in some villages as "nigger dancing" or "going niggering". Some view this as direct evidence of the link with minstrel shows: others regard this as nothing more than an obvious description of an older black-face tradition using the terminology and culture of the times.

Whatever the theory, there is certainly no evidence that modern border sides attach any racial significance to the blacking of their faces and most choose to accept the explanation of "disguise" for the tradition. Despite that, a few recent sides have chosen to paint their faces in colours other than black to avoid controversy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_Morris

 

[Edinburgh]

I have always wondered if someone could do for English Morris Dancing what Micheal Flatly did for Traditonal Irish dancing. Perhaps you guys could do it.

 

[Edinburgh]

I think you should put this on the main forum.

 

[editor]

I think you should put this on the main forum.

Thanks for the advice, but it's fine here for now.

 

[lang rabbie]

The PC brigade tried to ban it in 2000:

Morris dancers face ban over black make-up

They've been merrily dancing with blackened faces on the England-Scotland border for 200 years but, in the cause of political correctness, the game was up for the morris dancers of Carlisle yesterday.
....
The dancers, who have performed their Borders Dance the world over for 15 years to songwriter Stephen Collins Foster's "Oh Susannah", insist they have never had a complaint.

That doesn't sound so innocent of any racial taint
Stephen Foster wrote Oh! Susanna for the "Ethiopian Serenaders" - one of the earliest "blackface" minstrel troupes in the States.