Morris Hey!
This Morris Hey! resource (films, audio and website content) can be used and shared free of charge for non-commercial educational use only. Permission must be sought from the authors and EFDSS for any other use of this material.
Morris dancing is exciting, energetic and fun! This resource is about helping young dancers and schools to experience this dynamic traditional art form.
Morris Hey! provides an introduction to morris dancing for young people.
It contains instructions for six morris dances – three from the Cotswold tradition, and one each from the North West, Border, and Molly dancing traditions, along with suggestions for creating your own dances. Written and diagrammatic instructions are complemented by step-by-step instructional videos featuring young morris dancers, and audio files of the
music.
Morris Hey! was written by Mike Ruff and the Morris Hey Set, and filmed by Max Thomas featuring the dancing of Fool’s Gambit and music of Ollie King.
We recommend that you work through this resource in order, using the menu near the top of this page.
So what is morris dancing? We know that it has existed in England for hundreds of years, although there is not a lot of detail to start with. What is danced now comes from the dances and music that people collected in different parts of the country in the decades around 1900 to stop them being lost. Since then many dance groups, or sides, have danced them. Recently there has been more research and innovation and Morris Dancing now is very much a living, vibrant tradition danced by people of all ages all over the country.
Morris Hey! looks at 4 of the major styles of Morris Dance – Cotswold, Border, Molly and North West – and there is a brief description of each below. These all have a similar structure; they are danced in sets, usually of 6 or 8 dancers, and have a combination of figures and usually a repeated chorus. They also have different steps and hand movements to learn, although many of these are quite simple.
Morris dancing is designed to be distinctive, so there is a lot of detail. This is hard to do all at once by young dancers learning for the first time. On the videos our dancers have their own style and we have not attempted to explain all of it. Try and copy them if you want – or create your own style. Nowadays there is a lot of creativity in morris dancing.
Cotswold Morris is what many think of as morris dancing. It has the sticks, the bells and the hankies. Historically, each village or town would have their own collection of dances and style. So a dance with the same title in another village could be quite different. The Cotswolds, the area where they were mostly collected, was very rural and the dances had been passed down through the generations, probably with little variation.
Border Morris dancing comes from the region where England and Wales join. Some dances were collected around the same time as the Cotswold Dances but were not danced much
until the 1970s. Then new sides were formed to dance this style and the wildness, relative simplicity and energy created quite a contrast with other more disciplined styles and its popularity has continued to increase.
Molly Dance originates in East Anglia. It was almost unknown in the 1980s and there was very little documentary evidence of what it was and how it was done. However it is a great style and there are some fantastic sides and projects promoting it, particularly in East Anglia. The style is very strong and it has the advantages of needing little equipment and allowing creative scope in costume.
North West Morris was traditionally danced in Cheshire and Lancashire. It probably originates from the Rushcart processions. There were lots of changes in this part of the country during the Industrial Revolution and the dances evolved to reflect this. Each town would have one dance and there were competitions during the 19th century. This style is often danced in clogs but this was not always the case historically.
We aim to teach all these styles in the way they have been danced traditionally, while allowing a degree of creativity. Each side will have its own style and we have made no attempt to include all the little flourishes in the instructions. These flourishes and variations are in any case much easier to learn by observation and emulation than by written or verbal instructions. You might want to follow what you see on the videos or do slightly different versions. How you develop the dances is up to you; this is a living tradition!
The information in this web resource is meant to supplement, not replace, proper dance training. Like any physical activity involving speed, equipment, balance and environmental
factors, morris dancing poses some inherent risk. The authors and publisher advise readers to take full responsibility for their safety and know their limits, and the limits of the participants. Before practising the skills described in this book do not take risks beyond your level of experience, aptitude, training, and comfort level and be sure that your equipment is well maintained.
Acknowledgements
Morris Hey! was originally produced on two DVDs, a CD and a PDF booklet. You can buy these physical resources for £20 from Mike Ruff’s online shop and from our Folk Shop.
This online version has been prepared by the English Folk Dance and Song Society, using materials kindly supplied by Mike Ruff.
This turned out to be a bigger project than anyone realised and many people were involved at different stages. Thanks are due to the following:
- Angela Williams, St Albans Morris Men, Fred Giltrow-Tyler & Elizabeth Ruff for their financial contributions.
- Max Thomas for filming, editing and incredible patience as the project changed and developed.
- Aran Belcourt, Alan Simpson, Tony Rundle and Jeff Dent all had a major part to play at different times.
- Fool’s Gambit for their incredible dancing and ideas.
- Jon Peett, Dave Byett, NYFTE and Marcus Batley at dB Masters.
- The Morris Ring, The Morris Federation & The Joint Morris Organisation.
Other resources on morris dancing for young people
Morris Contemporary Dance: this resource aims to introduce a creative, contemporary approach to using morris within the secondary dance curriculum. It is for teachers and students teaching and learning dance at key stages 3, 4 and 5 (11 plus years of age).
Tradition and Composition: Unit of Work for Cotswold Morris Dance: A resource for teachers and dance artists working with dance courses at Key Stage 4 and above.
