The Morris Dancer

Summary of contents

In this edition of the MD, I reproduce an article by Liz Mellish and Nick Green, originally presented at the ‘What to do with Folklore?’ International Interdisciplinary Symposium, Institute of Ethnomusicology SRC SASA, 24-29 September 2009 and Trapped in Folklore? Studies in music and dance tradition and their contemporary transformations, 2013. A very good juxtaposition of Romanian folk dance and English Morris dance, well researched and including some interesting analysis and an insight into Romanian traditional dance that most of us may be unfamiliar with.

George Frampton’s look at newspaper reports of traditional Molly dancing is an excellent and thorough piece of research. Let us also hope that, like Jameson Wooders, George will continue his researches and turn up some more fascinating Morris history.

As well as providing us with a memoir, John Jenner has listed some excellent material for future researchers in our field in his second contribution: the Travelling Morris and Old Dancers. It certainly demonstrates how much time and effort the TM spent in talking to the old dancers and validating their practice from the horse’s mouth.

An intriguing glimpse at a tangential but relevant part of Morris history is provided by Jameson Wooders. I can only hope that his curiosity will take him into other neglected corners of our tradition.

Peter Harrop’s response to Julian Whybra’s articles in previous editions of The MD. Julian is not a writer who steers shy of holding a controversial view on folk tradition, however if one holds to this standpoint, one must expect some well-researched flack.

Finally, I include an excellent article on Border Morris developments since 1963 by John Swift. Well researched and comprehensive, I have learned a lot from John’s writing and I hope when you read it, you will appreciate this facet of English traditional dance a lot more as a result. John’s essay on the Border tradition is a must-read for anyone interested in both Cotswold and Welsh Border Morris, being an excellent encapsulation of Border’s history and development in recent times.

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