The Morris Federation

Following on from Barry Goodman’s recent posting, can I suggest you watch the pilot for the “2012 Got to Dance”. This is scheduled to go out on the 18th December on Sky. You might be pleasantly surprised !!

Listen out for “It’s Got Bells On” ~ Radio 2 Monday 12th December 10:00 p.m..

‘Strictly’; ‘Britain ‘s Got Talent’; ‘So You Think You Can Dance’… there is extraordinary enthusiasm for dance in many forms. But there’s one dance that never gets featured, and its England’s own – the Morris.

Stewart Lee puts this to rights in ‘It’s Got Bells On’ …though he’s a comedian Stewart is an enthusiast for English traditional music and dance. This is the stand up who had the Black Swan Rappers (dancers not MCs) open for him at a gig in Yorkshire, and the Forest of Dean Morris Men at his wedding reception.

Stewart discovers that the best young folk musicians, such as Jim Moray, Tim van Eyken and Laurel Swift all dance and all develop the form, that hip hop and morris merge in the work of The Demon Barbers and that contemporary choreographers are turning to the tradition. When danced by athletic young men, or women such as the Belles of London City (in their corsets) the morris becomes as sexy as salsa, as fearsome as flamenco.

Stewart hears from Ashley Hutchings and John Kirkpatrick, who gave a boost to the revival in the 1970s with classic albums ‘Morris On’ and ‘Battle of the Field’, when morris went electric. There is lots of fantastic music, including some from William Kimber, from whom Cecil Sharp collected his first morris tunes in 1899. All this, and a quick glance at rapper and clog dancing, too.

Produced by Julian May.

Let’s hope it’s as good as it looks!

The Big Dance Face book page is at http://www.facebook.com/bigdance2012#!/bigdance2012

Please log on and post your dismay at the omission of Morris and all related dance forms in the list of dance styles published on their website.

The Big Dance “…will feature 9 days of dance in unusual spaces throughout the UK – shopping centres, parks, galleries, and lidos – showcasing the diversity of dance styles in the capital and across the country. Everyone is invited to join in and make dance part of their lives in 2012 and beyond.”

However, there is NO MENTION of Morris dance, Country dance, Traditional dance, Sword, Clog or Molly dancing in the list of dance styles published on the Big Dance website.

If you think this is wrong, please post on their Facebook page, making it clear that England’s traditional dance should be represented along with all the other dance styles.