Active participants in a living tradition
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Active participants in a living tradition |
Who we are and what we do.Formed in Aynho in 1987, we are a ladies Morris side dancing traditional English dances from the Cotswolds and Welsh borders. Our name derives from the local tradition of growing apricots up the cottage walls. We perform both stick and hanky dances, and sing the odd song or two. On May Day we dance a traditional longsword dance, the circle of swords representing the unbroken cycle of life, death and rebirth and on St George’s Day we perform a traditional mummers play about St George and the Dragon. We wear white blouses and skirts with a blue cummerbund and blue and yellow baldricks. When performing dances from the Welsh borders we wear blue and yellow raggy jackets or tatters.
So what is Morris Dancing anyway?Morris dancing is part of a world-wide culture of ritual ceremonial dances. Their purpose was to bring good luck and fertility. Clashing sticks and noisy bells were a means of expelling winter and dark spirits, leaping high was to make the crops grow tall etc. The regional differences in types of ritual dances coincide with particular areas of settlement, e.g. Cotswold dances are found in mainly Saxon areas whilst the longsword is from Yorkshire, settled by the Danes. The heyday for morris dancing was in the early 19th century when there was much rivalry between villages and the shape, steps and character of most of today’s dances probably date from this period. The decline began with the movement of the population to the new towns as a result of the Industrial Revolution and was further hastened by the loss of men during the First World War. Despite what many Morris Men will tell you, women have always danced the morris. In fact it was women who kept the tradition alive during the early years of the 20th century when so many men were away, many never to return. The 1970’s saw a revival in morris dancing and we are proud to be part of this most English tradition |
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