The tradition is characterised by black faces, tattered shirts or coats, much stick-clashing and a big band traditionally comprising melodeons, fiddles, concertinas, triangles and tambourines, although they now often also feature a tuba or sousaphone, and flute or oboe. “Broadstairs is a bit like a Cornish fishing village perched on the side of Kent,” says Jo Tuffs, director of the town’s folk week, which began on Friday. Drumbegger Border Morris will be dancing the May this year for 2nd time. With Lucy Akhurst, Brodie Bass, Andy Black, John Boswall. 4:55. Formed in November 1999, Pretty Grim is a mixture of experienced dancers and new faces to Morris, brought together by a band of excellent musicians. During the current lockdown and suspension of morris activity, the Black Lives Matter protests and more significantly counter protests by far right groups have brought a decisive shift in how issues such as this are viewed and debated in public life. Happenstance welcomes both men and women of all ages as dancers and musicians. Be a part of history! 'towards the making of a disguising for a morysse'" in September 1501. This style of Morris is called Border Morris. Driver is convinced, based on evidence from a number of folk-dance scholars, that the practice was influenced and inspired by American minstrel shows from the Victorian era and their homegrown spin-offs. We dance traditional border dances written by various members of the side (past and present). Just last week Belgium’s Africa Museum held a party, for which it has since apologised, where guests wore colonial costumes, and some painted their faces black too. The use of blackface as a form of disguise is established in early 18th-century England. Gallop (1934)[15] questions the Moorish link, quoting both Douce and Cecil Sharp who felt the English dance was too dissimilar in style and appearance to be derived from the continental European Moorish dances believed to be of Moorish origin. They are dressing up as chimney sweeps or miners, a ploy that originated with agricultural workers trying to disguise themselves from their employers when they went out to sing and dance for a few extra pennies, when begging was illegal. In 1723 it became a capital offence under the Waltham "Black Act" to appear "in disguise, either by mask or by blackened face". As an organisation, we are open to clubs to join who agree to uphold the standards and dignity of Morris. That’s the water-filled bit between Cornwall and England. [30]. With the advent of the railways and music halls, styles of dancing, shows and skits spread easily across the ocean and from town to town. Morris Dance is a type of English folk dance of mysterious origins. His recollections of the dancing of the time as having "lots of bowing, hat-raising, and clashing of sticks on the ground" led to the "revival" of Postons' stick dance. Regardless of the historical basis for black face disguise in border morris, the practice has become increasingly controversial. Morris dancing is a flexible art form, and participants usually try to make their act as silly as possible (except for these guys).. They argue that the practice dates back centuries to well before the time morris dancers might have encountered blacked-up performers from overseas. Over the past few years, many morris teams have already proactively taken the decision to stop using full face black makeup to avoid causing offence or hurt. Later evidence from France includes this quote from Thoinot Arbeau circa 1580: "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. Elsewhere we find a 'queen of the fairies' leading a rising and her 'servants' poaching; indeed, the first 'black act' against poaching when disguised passed in 1486.[19]. I don’t think the folk week organisers need to further examine whether performers’ use of blackface is or isn’t racist. There is recorded evidence from 1688 of payments in Shrewsbury of 10 shillings to "Ye Bedlam Morris" and 2 shillings for "Ye King of Morocco". ... North West Of England Morris Dancing - Duration: 4:55. kamara79 61,474 views. All of these arguments are well-worn. Morris is a unique cultural tradition of which we should be rightly proud. But everyone has their line in the sand. The term morris is believed to be from the late Middle English word morys, a variant of the word moorish[9] – from the Moors of Morocco; this explanation was cited as early as 1801.[10]. It was a racially diverse group and included three or four undergraduates who educated me over our time together. The dances collected from a particular place sometimes differ quite markedly between informants, as at White Ladies Aston, reflecting the flexibility from year to year. Border Morris, as it has come to be known, Is a style of English Morris Dance that developed along the border with Wales in Shropshire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire. Morris is a living tradition and it is right that it has always adapted and evolved to reflect society. Today, there are six predominant styles of Morris dancing, and different dances or traditions within each style named after their region of origin. Teams that continue to use full face black or other skin tone make up will find they are no longer part of the mainstream morris community, be covered by JMO public liability insurance, or invited to take part in events organised or sponsored by the JMO. She writes about food, feminism and contemporary culture, Whether or not the tradition has racist roots may be arguable – but how it is perceived now is not, and that’s what matters, Racism harms black people most. Becket could have been invoked because of his reputed championing of the interests of the poor, or because of his defence of ecclesiastical privileges. Our traditions do not operate in a vacuum. It’s time to recognise ‘anti-blackness’ | Ahmed Olayinka Sule. If it’s your first visit, some of the acts may surprise you. Posts about Border Morris Dancing written by fusilier55. It was traditionally danced in Herefordshire and Shropshire – the counties at the northern end of the Welsh borders. The argument of disguise is used to "explain away" the blackface, while the black faces of dancers have radically different symbolic potential than that of the faces of supposedly disguised labourers. Border morris dancing was different on the Welsh side of the border, and a team on the Welsh side was formed in 1992. He argued that the name Moorish was used as a description of an existing earlier tradition, not because the dancers represented Moors. Sometimes a gang would only have one dance, sometimes two, or as at Malvern and Pershore an indeterminate set of figures. The explanation of disguise is also given for the blackface in the later periods, and that during the hard winters of the 17th and 18th century, out of work labourers and builders sought to anonymously supplement their income by a bit of dancing and begging. Blackface and disguise, often in a pagan themed context have their own history which intersects with morris tradition. The Australian Morris Ring from Australia is the collective orginisation of Australian Morris dancers who perform Cotswold, Border, Northwest and rapper morris dances originating mostly from the Thames Valley/Cotswolds, north west and north east of England. The Morris Ring is an apolitical organisation and such sides who do not change must continue that debate outside of membership of the Morris Ring. Loading... Unsubscribe from dorian higgins? I’d hate to be thought of as a Nimby. The race equality thinktank, the Runnymede Trust, has said that “supporters of the English folk tradition claim that blackfacing has nothing to do with race but their protestations certainly need to be contrasted with historical evidence and not reported as if this were undisputed fact”. By the end of the week, around 60,000 people will have passed through Broadstairs – population 25,000 – to enjoy the 54-year-old festival. We perform dances in the English border Morris style (from the England/Wales border region) at various locations through-out the UK at fetes, pubs, festivals, days of dance, corporate functions, private bookings and anywhere that will have us! It has nothing to do with race, they say. There is no record of any sides dancing together. Afterwards Gorilla dance … Many dances were collected by Cecil Sharp and later collectors, and several were included in Bacon's book,[5] but border morris was largely neglected by revival morris sides until late in the 20th century. Directed by Lucy Akhurst. This movie follows the fortunes of an avant garde Morris team in their struggle to evolve Morris Dancing. Such detail as starting foot rules and phrase endings are notable for their apparent absence. What relevance has origin in what is perceived as outwardly – often proudly – racist behaviour? It is “history” or a “bit of fun”, they claim. However, various theories exist, and these are discussed below. The dance depends on the numbers available, as at Brimfield. In the 1960s, E.C. They are part of the Morris dance tradition. We want people from all races and backgrounds to share in this pride and not be made to feel unwelcome or uncomfortable by any element of a performance. Many of us would have been at, or on our way to, Whitby Folk Week right now had it gone ahead this year, so here is a consolation throwback to Jet Set's ceilidh spot back in 2009 �� Jet Set Border Morris dancing 199 Steps and Knickers in the Hedgerow at the late night extra, Whitby Folk Week 2009 Unfamiliar with the localised and historicised explanations of Morris tradition used by dancers, audiences might historically contextualise blackface in terms of entertainment forms such as vaudeville and view it in light of the overtly or covertly racist ideas associated with these practices. [12] However, the precise linkage between the morris in France and England at that time remains unclear. These are typically morris dancers from the “border morris” tradition – a style which came from the counties lining the English-Welsh border: Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire. Morris dancers say there are “no racial connotations” to the make-up, though. A collection of individual local dances from Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire, Details of the collected dances can be found in, "Border Morris: Roots & Revival (Transcript of Talk)", 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199573837.001.0001, "Visit to Herefordshire & Worcestershire, May 1957", "Morris Dancing And America Prior to 1913", "On the Whiteness of Morris: An Illumination of Canadian Folklore", "Statement from the Morris Ring Officers Re: The Use of Full Black or Skin Tone Face Make Up By Morris Ring Member Sides | The Morris Ring", "Morris Dancing: An Appeal to Young Nationalists", "Joint Morris Organisation condemns nationalist website article", "Morris dancing groups ban blackening faces", https://www.academia.edu/5468139/To_Black_up_Or_Not_to_Black_Up_A_Personal_Journey, http://www.great-western.org.uk/dommett/BlackFace.pdf, https://web.archive.org/web/20120222000637/http://www.ironmenandseverngilders.org/, Border Morris: Roots & Revival, Gordon Ashman, Visit to Herefordshire and Worcestershire, May 1957. There are 35 troupes of morris dancers attending, for example, and five of these perform in blackface. Certainly by the 17th century, border morris seems to have degenerated into a source of public nuisance, as many of Lowe's (1957)[20] primary accounts recall. [26], Theresa Buckland's (1990) research details the linkages between the 19th-century Lancashire Britannia Coconut Dancers and minstrel shows, although it does not discuss any link to Welsh border morris. We now believe we must take further steps to ensure the continued relevance and inclusivity of the tradition. The officers unanimously agree that the use of such face make up now falls short of this test and is wrong. The Bedford Morris Men will be dancing Border Morris and the ancient Abbot's Bromley Horn Dance. Those in favour say the face-painting has nothing to do with racism, the Black and White Minstrels or the lampooning of anyone of black and minority ethnic backgrounds. With many of the newer sides, the dances have often become complex, involving many invented and evolved steps, figures and choruses. Shrewsbury folk festival banned such dancers. [28], Canadian academic Pauline Greenhill, commenting on morris dancing in Canada, writes that, [...] it seems unlikely that North American audiences, who encounter Morris at dance-outs at local shopping centres, pubs, and so on, far from geographical associations with coal miners, would see in blackface dances anything other than a white peoples' representation of black culture. Gallop asks whether the Christian–Moorish link is actually a later interpretation of earlier pagan mock battles between Summer and Winter, such as that fought on May Day on the Isle of Man between the Queens of Summer and Winter. Origin stories fascinate people. CONTACT. These armed men had charcoaled faces, wore long false beards and withheld their names, calling themselves servants of the Queen of the Fairies.[17]. [2], In the 1960s, E.C. Another theory is that the blackface tradition derives from earlier forms of the dance involving a Moroccan king and his followers. The chancellor, Sajid Javid, defended the practice in 2017, when he was communities secretary, saying he was “proud” of a group in Alvechurch in his Bromsgrove constituency. Morris dancing is great entertainment for weddings, schools, historical, social, and media events. Thus the link to blackened faces, and between morris dance and disguise, is clearly established by the early 16th century, although the nature of that disguise is broader than simply a black face, and includes all manner of elaborate costumes. For example, ballet, ballroom dance and folk dance can be single dance styles or families of related dances. By contrast, in 1975, John Kirkpatrick created a new border tradition with the Shropshire Bedlams, which seeks to capture the spirit of the border sides, but not recreate any specific tradition or dance. This view remains popular for many today. [27], According to the American Morris News (2005), "It is most commonly thought that the origin and function of blackface in Morris dancing lies in primitive disguise rather than an imitation of black men. Barbara Lowe's (1957) review of early records of the morris in England[20] cites one of the earliest recorded mentions of the morris in England, with Henry VII paying "Master Wentworth £6 13s. Now that the summer is a cumen to a close, its time to shake out the bells and the legs and return to our dance practices for our Fall season. An event which took place in the autumn of 1450 illustrates well the way in which the often separate activities of poaching and protest could on occasion conflate. Perhaps in keeping with the original tradition, the Original Welsh Border Morris (founded 1973) meet only once a year, at Christmas, and dance the traditional dances of Herefordshire and Worcestershire. But the more I listen to how critics and supporters slice, dice and muddle the evidence, the more tempted I am to say to hell with all of it. Comrades OK we seem to have so far failed to ignite the revolution south of the border with our mass mobilization of the Scottish working class and left! As a university lecturer, I used to teach a cultural studies class on race and identity to journalism students. Later records from Shrewsbury mention payment to the "Bedlam Morris" in 1688 and 1689. Henry VII may have become familiar with French morris during his time in France, and is recorded as having morris at his own court in England (see below). Initially the side was named Morys ar y Clwt but it was changed to Carreg-las in 1997. Practice season is from September to April at The Stoke Sub Hamdon Memorial Hall (TA14 6PZ) from 8:00 pm every Monday. They advise member sides who wish to remain in the Morris Ring to stop this practice. Since the 1960s and with further collecting in the 1970s by people such as Dave Jones (late of Silurian Morris, founded 1969, and later the Not For Joes)[4] and Keith Francis (of Silurian Morris) a distinctive border morris style has grown. Cawte, the folklorist, proposed that these dances from the English side of the Welsh borders – Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire – constituted a Welsh border tradition. Cawte, German carvings from 1480 showing "moriscan dancers" including black faces, Home page of the Silurian Border Morrismen, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Border_Morris&oldid=993609330, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 11 December 2020, at 14:34. They use traditional Welsh and English folk and morris dance tunes. He argues that in parts of Portugal and the Basque Country, the word moor is also used to mean 'pagan', and that perhaps morris dance originally meant 'pagan dance', and that bells and disguised faces are a common feature of pagan ritual. The Leominster Morris[8] were reformed in 1988, split from The Breinton Morris (who disbanded after a further ten years) and made contact with one of the musicians from the previous side from the 1930s, Tom Postons. He calls the festival “institutionally racist” and says the organisers are all white and the acts are 90% white even though there is African-Caribbean, Hispanic and Eastern European folk music which would better represent the local area. Thirty-two men, nineteen of them yeomen, were named in subsequent indictment which made clear that a good number had escaped by its claim that there had been a total of a hundred present (not a figure to be taken too literally). There’s an easy solution. “They are as racist as I am,” he tweeted. 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