Saving Morris Dancing
In the news this week: The Morris Ring (England’s national association of morris dancers) is worried that Morris Dancing will die out. Apparently there aren’t enough young people wanting to join Morris sides around England, and in 20 years time “there will be no Morrismen left.” The dancers think that youngsters are embarrassed to be seen walking around with bells on their ankles, leaping about with handkerchiefs and hanging out with 50 year-olds. Well… yeah, OK.
I have one suggestion for saving morris dancing: make morris dancing a competitive inter-school event. You can laugh if you want, but it might just work. I think of an example from New Zealand. Every year, the Auckland Secondary Schools Polyfest brings together students from across Auckland to perform Maori and Pacific Island dance and music. It’s held in a stadium over three days, and thousands of people turn out. There’s food and market stalls. Schools enter performance groups in competition, the contest is fierce, and resultant quality of performance is often amazing.
I’m sure that people will complain about full curriculums, a lack of teacher time, and the plethora of other school activities that fill up pupils’ days. But there are numerous benefits:
- daily exercise for Albion’s famously rubenesque youths
- building teamwork and school pride
- creating awareness of local history
- providing links between younger and older people (a relationship that in the UK seems particularly dysfunctional)
- claiming back pride in English traditions from the BNP and the Daily Fail
The Morris Ring needs to stop moaning and get a little creative. It’s just a matter of packaging the concept in the right way. Some gutsy morris side should get a sound system and dance at the Notting Hill Carnival.
The competition element is key, it seems to me. If getting kids interested in Morris traditions seems a challenge, why not look at combining traditional elements of Morris with breakdancing, or rap? Or martial arts? If people are worried that about diluting or destroying traditional practice, then create ‘traditional’ and ‘contemporary’ disciplines.
But if a school competition doesn’t work, it’s worth trying the other ultimate motivator: beer. Morris dancing is often preceded or followed by a trip to the pub (or the dancing happens at the pub). This makes it a pastime that is eminently suited to the English temperament – and pubs aren’t going out of fashion with the young, at least last time I looked.
The fact that morris dancing has even survived in such health into the 21st Century is a small miracle. It’s one of the few traditions in the UK that is identifiably English (ie. it’s not Scottish, Welsh or Irish). Living in Oxford for several years, one got use to seeing morris sides from all over the country dancing in the streets for the Folk Festival or on May Morning. It’s worth finding a way of keeping morris alive and relevant.
And if anyone thinks morris dancing ain’t funky, check this out:
