View source for Morris dance

{{Short description|English performance folk dance}}
{{Redirect|Morris music|the former jazz record store in New Orleans|Karnofsky Tailor Shop–House}}
{{Redirect|Morris dancing|instrumental by Art Bears|Moeris, Dancing}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2019}}
[[Image:Morris Dancers, York (26579460201).jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Morris dancers with handkerchiefs in [[York]]]]

'''Morris dancing''' is a form of [[English folklore|English]] [[folk dance]]. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of [[choreographed]] figures by a group of dancers in costume, usually wearing bell pads on their shins, their shoes or both. A band or single musician, also costumed, will accompany them. Sticks, swords, handkerchiefs, and a variety of other implements may be wielded by the dancers.

Morris dancing first appeared in [[England in the Middle Ages|England in the 15th century]]. Its earliest surviving mention dates to 1448 and records the payment of seven shillings to Morris dancers by the [[Goldsmiths' Company]] in London.<ref>{{cite journal |first=M. |last=Heaney |title=The Earliest Reference to the Morris Dance? |journal=Folk Music Journal |volume=8 |issue=4 |year=2004 |pages=513–515 |jstor=4522721}}</ref> The term ''Morris'' derives from the [[Spanish language|Spanish]] term {{lang|es|[[morisco]]}}, although Morris dancing has no known historical connection to the Moors.

Three prominent groups organise and support Morris in England: [[Morris Ring]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://themorrisring.org/|title=The Morris Ring &#124; The Founding National Association of Morris & Sword Dance Clubs|website=themorrisring.org}}</ref> [[Morris Federation]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.morrisfed.org.uk/|title=The Morris Federation – UK's largest Morris & traditional dance teams association}}</ref> and [[Open Morris]];<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://open-morris.org/|title=Open Morris – Open Morris – Dancing for All}}</ref> all three organisations have members from other countries as well.

There are around 150 Morris sides (or teams) in the United States.<ref>{{cite book | title = Llewellyn's 2012 Witches' Companion | publisher = Llewellyn Worldwide | year= 2011 | page = 126}}</ref> English immigrants form a large part of the Morris tradition in Australia, Canada, New Zealand<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.morrisdancing.org.nz/ |title=New Zealand Morris Dancing |publisher=Morrisdancing.org.nz |access-date=28 May 2013}}</ref> and [[Hong Kong Morris|Hong Kong]]. There are relatively isolated groups in other countries, for example those in [[Utrecht (province)|Utrecht]] and [[Helmond]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://morrisdans.nl/helmond/index.html |title=Morrisdansgroep Helmond |access-date=19 June 2012 |archive-date=14 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161114043703/http://morrisdans.nl/helmond/index.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Netherlands; the Arctic Morris Group of Helsinki, Finland<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://helsinki-morrisers.tripod.com/|title=Helsinki Morrisers|website=helsinki-morrisers.tripod.com}}</ref> and Stockholm, Sweden; as well as in Cyprus<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cyprusmorris.net |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723070016/http://cyprusmorris.net/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=23 July 2011 |title=Cyprus Morris |publisher=Cyprusmorris.net |date=23 May 2012 |access-date=28 May 2013}}</ref> and St Petersburg, Russia.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://vk.com/happykelpie |title=Happy Kelpie Morris |publisher=vk.com}}</ref>

==Name and origins==

Throughout its history, the Morris seems to have been common. It was imported from village festivities into popular entertainment after the invention of the [[court masque]] by [[Henry VIII]]. The word Morris apparently derived from ''morisco'', meaning '[[Moors|Moorish]]'. [[Cecil Sharp]], whose collecting of Morris dances preserved many from extinction, suggested that it might have arisen from the dancers' [[blackface and Morris dancing|blacking their faces]] as part of the necessary ritual disguise.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/Morris-dance |title=Morris dance |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] }}</ref>

The name is first recorded in [[English language|English]] in the mid-15th century as {{lang|enm|Morisk dance}}, {{lang|enm|moreys daunce}}, {{lang|enm|morisse daunce}}, i.e. 'Moorish dance'. The term entered English via Flemish {{lang|nl|mooriske danse}}. Comparable terms in other languages include German {{lang|de|Moriskentanz}} (also from the 15th century), French {{lang|fr|morisques}}, Croatian {{lang|hr|[[moreška]]}}, and {{lang|it|moresco}}, {{lang|ca|[[moresca]]}} or {{lang|es|morisca}} in Italy and Spain. The modern spelling ''Morris-dance'' first appeared in the 17th century.<ref>[[OED]], s.v. "morris dance" and "Morisk". D. Arnold, ''The New [[Oxford Companion to Music]]'', vol. 2 (Oxford University Press, 1983), p. 1203.</ref> In Edward Phillips's ''[[The New World of English Words]]'', first published in 1658, the term ''morisco'' was referenced as both "a Moor" and "the Morris dance, as it were the Moorish dance", while John Bullokar defined it in 1695 as "a certain dance used among the Moors; whence our Morris dance".<ref>{{cite book |last= Phillips |first= Edward |title= The New World of English Words |year= 1658}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= Bullokar |first= John |title= An English Expositour |year= 1695}}</ref>

[[Image:Moreska Grasser06.jpg|thumb|upright|One of [[Erasmus Grasser]]'s small {{lang|de|Moriskentänzer}} statues from 1480, showing what would have been termed a "moorish" dancer, where [[commons:Category:Moreska dancers (Grasser)|seven of the other nine surviving carvings]] are fairer-skinned. All wear bells on their legs.]]

It is unclear how the dance came to be referred to as Moorish, "unless in reference to fantastic dancing or costumes", i.e. the deliberately "exotic" flavour of the performance.<ref>[[OED]], [[etymonline.com]].</ref> The English dance thus apparently arose as part of a wider 15th-century European fashion for supposedly "Moorish" spectacle, which also left traces in Spanish and [[Italian folk dance]]. The means and chronology of the transmission of this fashion is now difficult to trace; the ''[[London Chronicle]]'' recorded "spangled Spanish dancers" performed an energetic dance before King [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]] at Christmas in 1494, but Heron's accounts also mention "{{lang|enm|pleying of the mourice dance}}" four days earlier, and the attestation of the English term from the mid-15th century establishes that there was a "Moorish dance" performed in England decades prior to 1494.<ref>{{cite book |last=Billington |first=Sandra |title=A Social History of the Fool |publisher=Harvester Press |year=1984 |pages=36, 37}}</ref><ref>{{cite OED|morris dance}}</ref>

An alternative derivation from the [[Latin]] {{lang|la|mōs}}, {{lang|la|mōris}} (custom and usage) has also been suggested.<ref>''The Pocket Oxford Dictionary'' (1913 / 1994) Oxford University Press, Oxford.</ref>

It has been suggested that the tradition of rural English dancers blackening their faces may be [[Black Act|a form of disguise]], or a reference either to the Moors or to miners;<ref>{{cite news |first=Lola |last=Okolosie |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/14/david-cameron-blacked-up-morris-dancers-nationalistic-englishness-black-people |title=Cameron and the morris dancers: a sign of our nationalistic mood |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=14 October 2014 |quote=Is the prime minister an expert in the complicated and obscure history of blacking up in Morris dancing? Perhaps he is, and this is why he felt comfortable posing for this picture, because he is sure that the tradition is either related to a pagan ritual to ward off evil spirits; a celebration of Moorish ancestry; the prevalence of mining in particular communities; or a disguise donned by poor men who went begging during the 1800s. }}</ref> the origins of the practice remain unclear and are the subject of [[blackface and Morris dancing|ongoing debate]]. In June 2020 the Joint Morris Organisation called for the use of black makeup to be discontinued, in response to the [[Black Lives Matter]] movement. Groups that used face paint changed to blue, green, or yellow and black stripes.<ref>{{Cite news |title=May Day Morris dancers wear blue makeup over racism concerns |website=[[BBC News Online]] |date=1 May 2021 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-56956071 }}</ref>

==History in England==
[[Image:Will Kemp Elizabethan Clown Jig.jpg|thumb|Illustration of William Kempe Morris dancing from London to Norwich in 1600]]
[[Image:Morris dancers Thames at Richmond.jpg|thumb|Morris dancers and a [[hobby horse]]: detail of ''Thames at Richmond, with the Old Royal Palace'', {{circa}} 1620]]
The earliest (15th-century) references place the Morris dance in a courtly setting. The dance became part of performances for the lower classes by the later 16th century. [[Henry VIII]] owned a gold salt cellar which depicted a Morris dance with five dancers and a "tabrett". A "tabret" is a small [[Tabor (instrument)|tabor]] drum.<ref>Francis Palgrave, [https://archive.org/details/antientkalendars02grea_0/page/286/mode/2up ''Antient Kalendars of the Exchequer'', vol. 2 (London, 1836), pp. 286-7]</ref> On 4 January 1552, [[George Ferrers]], the [[Lord of Misrule]] of [[Edward VI of England|Edward VI]], put on a show in London which included "mores danse, dansyng with a tabret".<ref>Clare Sponsler, 'Morris Dance and Theatre History', Thomas Postlewait, ''Representing the Past: Essays in Performance Historiography'' (Iowa, 2010), p. 96: John Gough Nichols, [https://archive.org/details/diaryofhenrymach00machrich/page/12/mode/2up ''Diary of Henry Machyn'' (London: Camden Society, 1848), p. 13]</ref> In 1600, the [[William Shakespeare|Shakespearean]] actor [[William Kempe]] Morris danced from London to [[Norwich]], an event chronicled in his ''Nine Daies Wonder'' (1600).

Almost nothing is known about the folk dances of England before the mid-17th century.<ref>the first description of such dances was [[John Playford]]'s ''[[The English Dancing Master]]'', published in 1651.</ref> While it is possible to speculate on the transition of "Morris dancing" from the courtly to a rural setting, it may have acquired elements of pre-Elizabethan (medieval) folk dance, such proposals will always be based on an [[argument from silence]] as there is no direct record of what such elements would have looked like. In the [[Elizabethan]] period, there was significant cultural contact between Italy and England, and it has been suggested that much of what is now considered traditional English folk dance, and especially [[English country dance]], is descended from Italian dances imported in the 16th century.<ref>M. Dougal MacFinlay & M. Sion Andreas o Wynedd, [http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/lod/vol4/pretty_conceit.html#n1 To Tame a Pretty Conceit], volume 4 of the ''Letter of Dance'' (1996).</ref>

By the mid 17th century, the working peasantry took part in Morris dances, especially at [[Whitsun]].<ref>{{cite book | title = Llewellyn's 2012 Witches' Companion | publisher = Llewellyn Worldwide | year= 2011 | page = 125}}</ref> The [[Puritan]] government of [[Oliver Cromwell]], however, suppressed [[Parish ale|Whitsun ales]] and other such festivities. When the crown was restored by [[Charles II of England|Charles II]], the springtime festivals were restored. In particular, Whitsun Ales came to be celebrated on Whitsunday ([[Pentecost]]), as the date was close to the birthday of Charles II.{{clarify|date=September 2013}}<!--yes, but where is the reference that at the time, "Whitsun Ales" involved Morris dancing specifically?-->

A regional reference occurs in [[Horsham]], [[Sussex]] in 1750.<ref>{{cite news |title=Highwayman's 1750 confessions reveal 'unusual' ambivalence about gay sex |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/feb/13/highwaymans-1750-confessions-reveal-unusual-ambivalence-about-gay-sex |work=The Guardian |date=13 February 2021 |ref=highwayman |language=en}}</ref>

Morris dancing continued in popularity until the [[Industrial Revolution]] and its accompanying social changes. Four teams claim a continuous lineage{{Clarify|Continuous to when or to whom?|date=December 2012}} of tradition within their village or town: [[Abingdon, England|Abingdon]] (their Morris team was kept going by the Hemmings family),<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.communigate.co.uk/oxford/mrhemmingstraditionalabingdonmorrisdancers/index.phtml|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060402235702/http://communigate.co.uk/oxford/mrhemmingstraditionalabingdonmorrisdancers/index.phtml|url-status=dead|title=Hemmings tradition|archivedate=2 April 2006}}</ref> [[Bampton, Oxfordshire|Bampton]], [[Headington Quarry]], and [[Chipping Campden]].<ref>[http://www.chippingcampdenmorrismen.org.uk/ Chipping Campden Morris Men | Homepage<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070208070428/http://www.chippingcampdenmorrismen.org.uk/ |date=8 February 2007 }}</ref> Other villages have revived their own traditions, and hundreds of other teams across the globe have adopted (and adapted) these traditions, or have created their own styles from the basic building blocks of Morris stepping and figures.

By the late 19th century, and in the [[West Country]] at least, Morris dancing was fast becoming more a local memory than an activity. D'Arcy Ferris (or de Ferrars), a Cheltenham-based singer, music teacher and organiser of pageants, became intrigued by the tradition and sought to revive it. He first encountered Morris in Bidford and organised its revival. Over the following years he took the side to several places in the West Country, from [[Malvern, Worcestershire|Malvern]] to [[Bicester]] and from Redditch to [[Moreton in Marsh]]. By 1910, he and Cecil Sharp were in correspondence on the subject.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Judge |first=Roy |year=1984 |title=D'Arcy Ferris and the Bidford Morris |journal=Folk Music Journal |volume=4 |issue=5 |pages=443–480 |jstor=4522157}}</ref>

Several English folklorists were responsible for recording and reviving the tradition in the early 20th century, often from a bare handful of surviving members of mid-19th-century village sides. Among these, the most notable are Cecil Sharp and [[Mary Neal]].

===Revival===
[[Boxing Day]] 1899 is widely regarded as the starting point for the Morris revival.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Burgess |first=Paul |date=2002 |title=The Mystery of the Whistling Sewermen: How Cecil Sharp Discovered Gloucestershire Morris Dancing |journal=Folk Music Journal |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=178–194 |jstor=4522669}}</ref> Cecil Sharp was visiting at a friend's house in [[Headington]], near Oxford, when the Headington Quarry Morris side arrived to perform. Sharp was intrigued by the music and collected several tunes from the side's musician, [[William Kimber]], including [[Country Gardens]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Country Gardens (Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection (at Clare College, Cambridge) CJS2/10/946)|url=https://www.vwml.org/record/CJS2/10/946|access-date=2020-11-17|website=The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library|language=en-gb}}</ref> A decade later he began collecting the dances, spurred and at first assisted by [[Mary Neal]], a founder of the [[Espérance Club]] (a dressmaking co-operative and club for young working women in London), and Herbert MacIlwaine, musical director of the Espérance Club. Neal was looking for dances for her girls to perform, and so the first revival performance was by young women in London.

===Organisations===
[[File:Morris dancers, York (26075936964).jpg|thumb|Morris dancers in North Yorkshire]]
In the first few decades of the 20th century, several men's sides were formed, and in 1934 the [[Morris Ring]] was founded by six revival sides:

*[[Cambridge]] Morris Men
*[[Letchworth]] Morris
*[[Thaxted]] Morris Men
*East Surrey Morris Men
*Greensleeves Morris Men (based in [[Wimbledon, London|Wimbledon]])
*[[Oxford]] Morris (which was not at the initial ring meeting at Thaxted but was influential in the creation of the Ring's constitution).<ref>{{Cite web |title=History {{!}} The Morris Ring |url=https://themorrisring.org/about-mr/history |access-date=2022-07-22 |website=themorrisring.org|date=19 August 2020 }}</ref>

In the 1950s and especially the 1960s, there was an explosion of new dance teams, some of them women's or mixed sides. At the time, there was often heated debate over the propriety and even legitimacy of women dancing the Morris, even though there is evidence as far back as the 16th century that there were female Morris dancers.<ref>[[William Kempe]], ''Kemps Nine Daies Wonder'' (1600) :"At Chelmsford, a Mayde not passing foureteene yeares of age, dwelling with one Sudley, my kinde friend, made request to her Master and Dame that she might daunce the Morrice with me in a great large roome. They being intreated, I was soone wonne to fit her with bels; besides she would haue the olde fashion, with napkins on her armes; and to our iumps we fell. A whole houre she held out; but then being ready to lye downe I left her off; but thus much in her praise, I would haue challenged the strongest man in Chelmsford, and amongst many I thinke few would haue done so much".</ref> There are now male, female and mixed sides to be found.

Partly because women's and mixed sides were not eligible for full membership of the Morris Ring (this has now changed), two other national (and international) bodies were formed, the [[Morris Federation]] and [[Open Morris]]. All three bodies provide communication, advice, insurance, instructionals (teaching sessions) and social and dancing opportunities to their members. The three bodies co-operate on some issues, while maintaining their distinct identities. An umbrella body that includes all three, the '''Joint Morris Organisation''', organises joint events and discusses issues that affect all members, such as access to both [[public liability insurance|public liability]] and personal insurance cover.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.morrisfed.org.uk/about/who-we-are/ |title=Morris Federation: Joint Morris Organisation |publisher=morrisfed.org.uk |access-date=5 July 2020}}</ref>

== Morris dancing in Wales ==
{{Main article|Welsh Morris dance}}
[[File:CardiffMorrisNant.jpg|right|thumb|187x187px|Cardiff Morris in [[Carmarthen]] finish a Nantgarw stick dance in distinctive style, by surrounding the [[mascot]], Idris.]]
Traditional [[Welsh dance]] experienced a revival in the early twentieth century, and while these dances were commonly performed as progressive longways display dances, [[Lois Blake]] noted that the [[Llanover Dances]] displayed "the influence of the Morris, both in form and movements".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Blake |first1=Lois |title=The General Characteristics of Welsh Folk Dance |date=1974–1975 |publisher=Dawns |page=22}}</ref><ref>[http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/alunroach/RealCMM.htm The Real Cardiff Morris]. Myweb.tiscali.co.uk. Retrieved on 2011-09-27.</ref> 

While these traditions that had been recorded by [[Ceinwen Thomas]] and [[Catherine Margretta Thomas]] were not specifically Morris dances as recognised today, they were interpreted in new ways by Morris men. While one dance, ''Y Gaseg Eira'' would become a central part of the Welsh morris.<ref name="Blake">{{cite book |last=Blake |first=Lois |title=Ffair Caerffili and other Dances from Nantgarw |publisher=Cymdeithas Ddawns Werin Cymru}}</ref>{{rp|5}}<ref name="dawnsio-easter">{{cite web |title=Easter Course Address (English) |url=http://dawnsio.com/dawnsfeydd/dawnsfeydd-nantgarw/easter-course-address/ |work=dawnsio.com |publisher=Welsh National Folk Dance Society |accessdate=16 September 2011}}</ref><ref name="Lascelles">{{cite web |last=Lascelles |first=Keith |date=13 March 2009 |title=Why is Morris Dancing always considered English? What about the Welsh? |url=http://www.arts-wales.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=153&Itemid=52 |work=Art Wales UK |accessdate=16 September 2011}}</ref> 

The revival saw the reinvention of a living tradition in Wales, with new dances such as ''Y Derwydd'', ''Hela'r Sgwarnog'', ''Ty Coch Caerdydd'' and ''Y Goron'' becoming recognised to be just as much a part of the Nantgarw tradition as the original dance.<ref name="CardiffMorris">{{cite web | title=Home Page|publisher=Cardiff Morris| url=http://www.cardiffmorris.org/CMMhome.htm | access-date=3 October 2022}}</ref><ref name=weston/>

== Morris dancing in the United States ==
Morris dancing has been practiced in the United States since at least 1908, although an article published by the [[Country Dance and Song Society]] points to 1910 as the year Morris dancing truly took off in America.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Krause |first=Rhett |date=2010 |title=One Hundred Years of Morris Dancing in America |url=https://cdss.org/wp-content/uploads/resources/winter-2010_100-years-of-morris.pdf |website=CDSS News |publisher=[[Country Dance and Song Society]]}}</ref> The primary organization supporting Morris Dance in the US is the North American Morris Dance Organization, which is affiliated with the Country Dance and Song Society as well as the Morris Ring, Morris Federation, and Open Morris. British-American musician and folklorist [[Tony Barrand]] was key in developing and documenting Morris history in the US, including founding the Marlboro Morris Men as well as the Marlboro Morris Ale.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Winick |first=Stephen |date=2022-03-21 |title=Remembering the Life and Work of Tony Barrand: The 2003 Interview [Part 1] {{!}} Folklife Today |url=https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2022/03/remembering-the-life-and-work-of-tony-barrand-the-2003-interview-part-1/ |access-date=2024-10-25 |website=The Library of Congress}}</ref>

Most Morris sides in the United States are concentrated on the [[East Coast of the United States|East Coast]], particularly in the [[Northeast megalopolis|Boston-Washington development corridor]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-05-11 |title=Morris Dancers Usher in Springtime Across Otsego County |url=https://www.allotsego.com/morris-dancers-usher-in-springtime-across-otsego-county/ |access-date=2024-10-25 |website=All Otsego |language=en}}</ref> Large regular events in this part of the country include the Marlboro Morris Ale and Dancing America Rapper Tournament (the American offshoot of [[Dancing England Rapper Tournament]]).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Merryclough |first=James |date=2024-10-24 |title=Swordplay Across the Pond: Rapper Dancing in the USA |url=https://tradfolk.co/performance/morris-dancing/swordplay-across-the-pond-rapper-dancing-in-the-usa/ |access-date=2024-10-25 |website=Tradfolk |language=en-GB}}</ref> [[Minneapolis]] is the hub for Morris dancing in the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]], with 6 teams in the [[Minneapolis–Saint Paul|Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area]] and 9 teams in the whole of Minnesota.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Morris and Sword teams in The Midwest |url=https://morrisdance.org/midwest/ |website=The North American Morris Dance Organization}}</ref> Dancing the sun up on [[May Day]] is an important activity for many American Morris dance teams.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-05-01 |title=Minnesota Sounds and Voices: Morris Dancers welcome spring in a centuries-old tradition |url=https://www.mprnews.org/story/2012/05/01/minnesota-sounds-and-voices-morris-dancers |access-date=2024-10-25 |website=MPR News |language=en}}</ref>

== Styles ==
Today, there are six predominant styles of Morris dancing, and different dances or [[#tradition|traditions]] within each style named after their region of origin.
* Cotswold Morris: dances from an area mostly in [[Gloucestershire]] and [[Oxfordshire]]; an established [[misnomer]], since the [[Cotswolds]] overlap this region only partially. Normally danced with handkerchiefs or sticks to accompany the hand movements. Dances are usually for 6 or 8 dancers, but solo and duo dances (known as single or double jigs) also occur.
* North West Morris: more military in style and often processional, that developed out of the mills in the North-West of England in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
* [[Border Morris]] from the English-Welsh border: a simpler, looser, more vigorous style, occasionally danced with blackened or coloured faces.
* [[Long Sword dance]] from [[Yorkshire]] and southern [[County Durham]], danced with long, rigid metal or wooden swords for, usually, six or eight dancers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jaffé |first1=Nigel Allenby |title=Folk Dance of Europe |date=1990 |publisher=Folk Dance Enterprises |location=Europe}}</ref>
* [[Rapper sword]] from the [[Northumberland and Durham Coalfield]], danced with short flexible sprung steel swords, usually for five dancers.
* [[Molly dance]] from Cambridgeshire. Traditionally danced on [[Plough Monday]], they were feast dances that were danced to collect money during harsh winters. One of the dancers would be dressed as a woman, hence the name. [[Joseph Needham]] identified two separate families of Molly dances, one from three villages in the Cambridge area and one from two in the Ely area.

===Cotswold===
[[Image:morris.dancing.at.wells.arp.jpg|thumb|Cotswold-style Morris dancing in the grounds of [[Wells Cathedral]], [[Wells, Somerset|Wells]], England – Exeter Morris Men]]

Lionel Bacon records [[Cotswold]] Morris traditions from these towns and villages:
[[Abingdon, England|Abingdon]], [[Adderbury]], [[Ascott-under-Wychwood, Oxfordshire|Ascot-under-Wychwood]], [[Badby, Northamptonshire|Badby]], [[Bampton, Oxfordshire|Bampton]], Bidford, [[Bledington]], [[Brackley, Northamptonshire|Brackley]], [[Bucknell, Oxfordshire|Bucknell]], [[Chipping Campden]], [[Ducklington]], [[Eynsham]], [[Headington Quarry]], [[Hinton-in-the-Hedges, Northamptonshire|Hinton-in-the-Hedges]], [[Ilmington]], [[Kirtlington]], [[Leafield]] (Field Town), [[Longborough]], [[Oddington, Gloucestershire|Oddington]], Sherbourne, [[Stanton Harcourt]], [[Upton-upon-Severn]] and [[Wheatley, Oxfordshire|Wheatley]].<ref name="bacon">Bacon, Lionel 1974 ''A Handbook of Morris Dances''. Published by The Morris Ring</ref>

Bacon also lists the tradition from Lichfield, which is Cotswold-like despite that city's distance from the Cotswold Morris area; the authenticity of this tradition has been questioned.{{by whom|date=May 2017}} In 2006, a small number of dances from a previously unknown tradition was discovered by Barry Care, [[Order of the British Empire|MBE]], keeper of The Morris Ring Photographic Archive,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://themorrisring.org/publications/morris-tradition|title=The Morris Tradition {{!}} The Morris Ring|website=themorrisring.org|access-date=2019-04-08}}</ref> and a founding member of Moulton Morris Men ([[Ravensthorpe, Northamptonshire]])—two of them danceable.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}

Other dances listed by Bacon include Border Morris dances from [[Brimfield, Herefordshire|Brimfield]], [[Bromsberrow Heath]], [[Evesham, Worcestershire|Evesham]], [[Leominster]], [[Much Wenlock]], [[Pershore]], Upton-upon-Severn, [[Upton Snodsbury]], [[White Ladies Aston]], and miscellaneous non-Cotswold, non-Border dances from [[Steeple Claydon]] and [[Winster]]. There are a number of traditions which have been collected since the mid-twentieth century, though few have been widely adopted. Examples are Broadwood, Duns Tew,<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/morris/trads/DunsTew.html| title=The Duns Tew Morris 'Tradition'}}</ref> and Ousington-under-Wash in the Cotswold style, and Upper and Lower Penn in the Border style. In fact, for many of the "collected" traditions in Bacon, only sketchy information is available about the way they were danced in the nineteenth century, and they have been reconstructed to a degree that makes them largely twentieth-century inventions as well. Some traditions have been reconstructed in several strikingly disparate ways; an example would be Adderbury, danced very differently by the Adderbury Morris Men and the Adderbury Village Morris.

===North West===
[[Image:North West Morris 20040501.jpg|thumb|Horwich Prize Medal Morris Men, a North West Morris side based near Bolton]]
The North West tradition is named after the North West region of England and has always featured mixed and female sides, at least as far back as the 18th century. There is a picture of Eccles Wakes painted in 1822 that shows both male and female dancers.<ref>'Eccles Fair Wakes - Mayday 1822' by [[Joseph Parry]]| [https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/eccles-wakes-fair-1822-165461/search/keyword:joseph-parry]</ref>

Historically, most sides danced in various styles of shoes or boots, although dancing in [[Clog (British)|clogs]] was also very common. Modern revivalist sides have tended more towards the wearing of clogs.<ref>[http://www.crimple.demon.co.uk/clogshoe.htm Use of clogs]</ref> The dances were often associated with [[rushcart]]s at the local [[Wakes week|wakes]] or holidays, and many teams rehearsed only for these occasions. While some teams continue to rehearse and dance for a single local festival or event (such as the Abram Morris Dancers<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://abram-morris-dancers.org.uk/|title=Abram Morris Dancers|website=abram-morris-dancers.org.uk}}</ref>), the majority of teams now rehearse throughout the year, with the majority of performances occurring in the spring and summer. The dances themselves were often called 'maze' or 'garland dances' as they involved a very intricate set of movements in which the dancers wove in and out of each other. Some dances were performed with a wicker hoop (decorated with garlands of flowers) held above the dancer's head. Some dancers were also associated with a tradition of [[mumming]] and hold a [[Pace Egg plays|pace egging play]] in their area.

[[File:ModernNorthwestMorris.jpg|thumb|left|North West Carnival Morris troupe dancing in [[Skipton]], Yorkshire in 1987]]
The [[Britannia Coconut Dancers]], named after a mill not far from [[Bacup]], are unique in the tradition, in that they used sawn bobbins to make a noise, and perform to the accompaniment of a brass ensemble. They are one of the few North West Morris groups that still black up their faces. It is said that the dance found its way to the area through Cornishmen who migrated to work in the [[Rossendale Valley|Rossendale]] quarries.

Carnival morris dancing shares a parallel history with North West morris dancing but began to evolve independently from around the 1940s onwards. It remains extremely popular with upwards of 8,000 current dancers.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wright |first=Lucy |date=2018 |chapter=Girls' Carnival Morris Dancing and the Politics of Participation |title=The Histories of the Morris in Britain |publisher=Vaughan Williams Memorial Library Press |pages=295–312 |url=https://media.efdss.org/docs/HOM/HOM%20Wright%20Girl%20Can%20Morris%20Dance.pdf}}</ref>

Girls' carnival morris dancing is highly competitive and characterised by precise, synchronous routines with pom-poms (or 'shakers') executed to pop music. It is performed almost exclusively by girls and women in Lancashire, Cheshire and parts of North Wales.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wright |first=Lucy |date=2017-04-03 |title=Girls' Carnival Morris Dancing and Contemporary Folk Dance Scholarship |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0015587X.2016.1231486 |journal=Folklore |language=en |volume=128 |issue=2 |pages=157–174 |doi=10.1080/0015587X.2016.1231486 |issn=0015-587X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Performances typically take place in sports halls and community centres and participants more closely align with British carnival performances such as jazz kazoo marching bands, entertainer troupes and majorettes, than with the morris performances of the folk revival.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wright |first=Lucy |date=2019 |title="What a Troupe Family Does": Family as Transmission Narrative in the British Carnival Troupe Dancing Community |journal=Dance Research Journal |volume=37 |number=1 |pages=35–58 |doi=10.3366/drs.2019.0252 |url=https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/drs.2019.0252?journalCode=drs|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

In 2005, playwright Helen Blakeman staged 'The Morris' at the Liverpool Everyman, inspired by her childhood experience as a carnival morris dancer.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.everymanplayhouse.com/whats-on/the-morris |title=The Morris |date=2005 |publisher=Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse |access-date=19 March 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2005/may/16/theatre1 |title=The Morris |work=The Guardian |last=Hickling |first=Alfred |date=16 May 2005 |access-date=19 March 2025}}</ref> In 2017, an exhibition of photographs taken at a carnival morris dancing competition in Southport by artist, Lucy Wright was presented at Cecil Sharp House.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://museumcrush.org/this-girl-can-morris-lucy-wright-photos-celebrate-girls-morris-dancing/ | title=This girl can Morris: Photographer Lucy Wright celebrates girls' Morris Dancing |last=Moss |first=Richard |work=Museum Crush |date=5 April 2017 |access-date=19 March 2025}}</ref>

===Border===
{{main|Border Morris}}
[[File:Charlie-Corcoran-Red-Leicester-.jpg|alt=A Border Morris Dancer|thumb|upright|A Morris dancer with coloured disguise which was often used by dancers from the borders of Wales and England]]
The term "Border Morris" was first used by E. C. Cawte in a 1963 article<ref>{{cite journal
 | last = Cawte
 | first = E. C.
 | title = The Morris Dance in Hereford, Shropshire and Worcestershire
 | journal = Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society
 | volume = 9
 | issue = 4
 | pages = 197–212
 | year = 1963
 | jstor = 4521671 }}</ref> on the Morris dance traditions of [[Herefordshire]], [[Shropshire]] and [[Worcestershire]]: counties along the border with Wales. Characteristics of the tradition as practised in the 19th and early 20th centuries include: blackface or coloured facepaint (in some areas), use of either a small strip of bells (in some areas) or no bells at all (in others), costume often consisting of ordinary clothes decorated with ribbons, strips of cloth, or pieces of coloured paper (known as 'raggies'); or sometimes "fancy dress", small numbers of traditional dances in the team repertoire, often only one and rarely more than two, highly variable number of dancers in the set and configurations of the set (some sides had different versions of a dance for different numbers of dancers), and an emphasis on stick dances almost to the exclusion of hankie dances.<ref>{{cite book
 | last = Jones
 | first = Dave
 | title = The Roots of Welsh Border Morris
 | publisher = Morris Ring
 | year = 1988
}}</ref>

===Sword dancing===
Usually regarded as a type of Morris, although many of the performers themselves consider it as a traditional dance form in its own right, is the [[sword dance]] tradition, which includes both [[rapper sword]] and [[Long Sword dance|longsword]] traditions. In both styles the "swords" are not actual swords, but implements specifically made for the dance. The dancers are usually linked one to another via the swords, with one end of each held by one dancer and the other end by another. Rapper sides consist of five dancers, who are permanently linked-up during the dance. The rapper sword is a very flexible strip of spring-steel with a wooden handle at each end. The longsword is about {{convert|2|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} long, with a wooden handle at one end, a blunt tip, and no edge. Sometimes ribbons are threaded through a hole in the tip of the sword, and the dancers grab on to them during the course of the dance. Longsword sides consist usually of five to eight dancers. In both rapper and longsword there is often a supernumerary "character", who dances around, outside, and inside the set.

===Other traditions===
[[Image:StompMorrisdance.jpg|thumb|upright|Plough Monday dance by the Royal Liberty Morris]]
The English [[mummers play]] occasionally involves Morris or sword dances either incorporated as part of the play or performed at the same event. Mummers plays are often performed in the streets near Christmas to celebrate the New Year and the coming springtime. In these plays are central themes of death and rebirth.

Other forms include Molly dance from [[Cambridgeshire]]. Molly dance, which is associated with [[Plough Monday]], is a parodic form danced in work boots and with at least one Molly [[cross-dressing|man dressed as a woman]]. The largest Molly Dance event is the [[Whittlesey#Whittlesea Straw Bear|Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival]], established in 1980, held at [[Whittlesey]] in Cambridgeshire in January.

There is also [[Stave dancing]] from the south-west and the [[Abbots Bromley Horn Dance]].

Additionally, there is a specifically Welsh version of the art<ref name="CardiffMorris"/> that is distinct from the Borders Morris style. This style is called Nantgarw tradition after a small village in the Taff Valley.<ref name=weston>{{cite web |url=http://www.cardiffmorris.org/Nantgarw.htm|title=The Nantgarw Tradition| last1 = Weston | first1 = Pete| last2 = Roach | first2 = Alun|year=2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019012628/http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/alroach/Nantgarw.htm |archive-date=19 October 2012|publisher=Cardiff Morris |url-status=live}}</ref> One Nantgarw dance, Y Caseg Eira, is derived directly from notes made on traditional Welsh dances from the 1890s. These notes were made by Ceinwen Thomas in the 1950s from the childhood recollections of her mother, Catherine Margretta Thomas.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dawnsio.com/en/dances/nantgarw-fair-dances/easter-course-address-english/ |title=Easter Course Address (English) &#124; cgdwc ~ wnfds |publisher=Dawnsio.com |access-date=28 May 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120711015157/http://dawnsio.com/en/dances/nantgarw-fair-dances/easter-course-address-english/ |archive-date=11 July 2012 }}</ref> Others are more modern inventions made in the style of older dances.<ref name=weston /> Dances in the Nantgarw style include; Caseg Eira (The Snow Mare), Hela'r Sgwarnog (Hunting The Hare) and Ty Coch Caerdydd (The Red House of Cardiff).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/user/CardiffMorris |title=Cardiff Morris Videos |publisher=YouTube |date=28 July 2011 |access-date=28 May 2013}}</ref>

==Music==
[[File:Morris dancers York 8667.jpg|thumb|left|Ebor Morris dancing to accordion music, York (June 2018)]]
Music was traditionally provided by either a [[pipe and tabor]] or a [[Musical styles (violin)#Fiddle|fiddle]]. These are still used today, but the most common instrument is the [[diatonic button accordion|melodeon]]. [[Accordion]]s and [[concertina]]s are also common, and other instruments are sometimes used. Often drums are employed.

Cotswold and sword dancers are most often accompanied by a single player, but Northwest and Border sides often have a band, usually including a drum.

For Cotswold and (to a degree) Border dances, the tunes are traditional and specific: the name of the dance is often actually the name of the tune, and dances of the same name from different traditions will have slightly different tunes. For Northwest and sword dancing there is less often a specific tune for a dance: the players may use several tunes, and will often change tunes during a dance.

For dances which have set tunes, there is often a short song set to the tune. This is sung by the musician(s) or by the whole side as an introduction to the tune before the dance. The songs are usually rural in focus (i.e. related to agricultural practices or village life) and often bawdy or vulgar. Songs for some dances vary from side to side, and some sides omit songs altogether.

Several notable albums have been released, in particular the ''Morris On'' series, which consists of ''[[Morris On]]'', ''[[Son of Morris On]]'', ''[[Grandson of Morris On]]'', ''[[Great Grandson of Morris On]]'', ''Morris on the Road'', and ''Mother of all Morris''.

==Terminology==
[[File:The Royal Liberty Morris 'molly'.jpg|thumb|upright|Pete the Royal Liberty Morris fool]]
Like many activities, Morris dancing has a range of words and phrases that it uses in special ways.

Many participants refer to the world of Morris dancing as a whole as "the Morris".

A Morris troupe is usually referred to as a ''side'' or a ''team''. The two terms are interchangeable. Despite the terminology, Morris dancing is hardly ever competitive.

A ''set'' (which can also be referred to as a ''side'') is a number of dancers in a particular arrangement for a dance. Most Cotswold Morris dances are danced in a rectangular set of six dancers, and most Northwest dances in a rectangular set of eight; but there are many exceptions.

A ''jig'' is a dance performed by one (or sometimes two) dancers, rather than by a set. Its music does not usually have the rhythm implied by the word "[[jig]]" in other contexts.

The titles of officers vary from side to side, but most sides have at least the following:
* The role of the ''squire'' varies. In some sides the squire is the leader, who speaks for the side in public, usually leads or ''calls'' the dances, and often decides the programme for a performance. In other sides the squire is more an administrator, with the foreman taking the lead, and the dances called by any experienced dancer.
* The ''foreman'' teaches and trains the dancers, and is responsible for the style and standard of the side's dancing. The foreman is often "active" with the "passive" dancers.
* The ''bagman'' is traditionally the keeper of the ''bag''—that is to say, the side's funds and equipment. In some sides today, the bagman acts as secretary (particularly bookings secretary) and there is often a separate treasurer.
* On some sides a ''ragman'' manages and co-ordinates the team's ''kit'' or costume. This may include making bell-pads, ribbon bads, sashes and other accoutrements.

Many sides have one or more ''fools''. A [[Jester|fool]] is usually extravagantly dressed, and communicates directly with the audience in speech or mime. The fool often dances around and even through a dance without appearing really to be a part of it, but it takes a talented dancer to pull off such fooling while actually adding to and not distracting from the main dance set.

Many sides also have a ''beast'': a dancer in a costume made to look like a real or mythical animal. Beasts mainly interact with the audience, particularly children. In some groups this dancer is called the ''[[Hobby horse|hobby]]''.

<div id="tradition">A ''tradition'' in Cotswold Morris is a collection of dances that come from a particular area, and have something in common: usually the steps, arm movements, and dance figures. Many newer traditions are invented by revival teams.</div>

Most Cotswold dances alternate ''common figures'' (or just ''figures'') with a ''distinctive figure'' (or ''chorus''). The common figures are common to all (or some) dances in the ''tradition''; the distinctive figure distinguishes that dance from others in the same tradition. Sometimes (particularly in ''corner'' dances) the choruses are not identical, but have their own sequence specific to the tradition. Nevertheless, something about the way the chorus is danced distinguishes that dance from others. Several traditions often have essentially the same dance, where the name, tune, and distinctive figure are the same or similar, but each tradition employs its common figures and style.

In England, an ''ale'' is a private party where a number of Morris sides get together and perform dances for their own enjoyment rather than for an audience. Food is usually supplied, and sometimes this is a formal meal known as a feast or ale-feast. Occasionally, an evening ale is combined with a day or weekend of dance, where all the invited sides tour the area and perform in public. In North America the term is widely used to describe a full weekend of dancing involving public performances and sometimes workshops. In the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, the term "ale" referred to a [[Parish ale|church- or dale-sponsored event]] where ale or beer was sold to raise funds. Morris dancers were often employed at such events.

==Evolution==
===Continuance of Morris tradition===
The continuance of Morris is as much in the hands of independent groups of enthusiasts as it is in the nationwide groupings such as The Morris Ring or The Morris Federation. So while for some sides there is a feeling that the music and dance recorded in the 19th century should be maintained, there are others who freely reinterpret the music and dance to suit their abilities and including modern influences. In 2008 a front-page article in the ''Independent Magazine'' noted the rising influence of [[neopaganism]] within the modern Morris tradition.<ref name="HNN">
{{cite news
|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/hey-nonny-no-no-no-goths-and-pagans-are-reinventing-morris-dancing-823498.html
|title=Hey nonny no, no, no: Goths and pagans are reinventing Morris dancing
|newspaper=[[The Independent]]
|access-date=14 March 2010
| location=London
| first=Cole
| last=Moreton
| date=11 May 2008}}</ref> The article featured the views of [[Neopagan]] sides Wolf's Head and Vixen Morris and Hunter's Moon Morris and contrasted them with those of the more traditional Long Man Morris Men. The Morris may have become popular in neopaganism thanks to the scholarship of [[James Frazer]], who hypothesised that rural folk traditions were survivals of ancient pagan rituals. Though this view was fiercely criticised even by Frazer's contemporaries, it was fully embraced by Sir Edmund Chambers, one of the first to produce serious writing on English folk plays and dances, and who became a major influence on popular understanding of Morris dancing in the 20th century.<ref name="hutton">Hutton, Ronald. ''The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain''. Oxford University Press, 1996. pp.&nbsp;218–225</ref>

===Age and gender issues===

[[File:Belles_of_London_City_dancing_at_Lyme_Regis,_July_2021.webm |thumb|Belles of London City performing in [[Lyme Regis]]]]
In January 2009 ''The Telegraph'' published a report predicting the demise of Morris dancing within 20 years, due to the lack of young people willing to take part.<ref>''The Daily Telegraph'', 5 January 2009</ref> This widespread story originated from a senior member of the more traditionally minded [[Morris Ring]], and may only reflect the situation in relation to member groups of that one organisation.

A survey published in December 2020<ref>{{cite web|title=Findings from the 2020 Morris Census|last=Worth|first=Jack|url=https://www.morrisfed.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Findings-from-the-2020-Morris-Census-as-at-202012.pdf|publisher=Morris Federation|date=December 2020}}</ref> identified how the profile of morris dancers had evolved since the first survey published in 2014. The number of morris dancers in the UK had increased from 12,800 in 2014 to 13,600 in 2020. The average age of a morris dancer in the UK was 55, up from 52 in 2014. The survey also reported an even balance between male and female performers by 2020.

===Use of the Internet===
The advent of the Internet in the 1990s has also given Morris sides a new platform upon which to perform. Many Morris sides now have entertaining websites which seek to reflect the public persona of the individual sides as much as record their exploits and list forthcoming performances.{{citation needed|date=August 2025}}

Morris sides have traditionally raised funds by collecting cash from spectators, but in the post-Covid moves to a more cashless society, many sides now use portable card payment terminals.{{citation needed|date=August 2025}}

There are also a multitude of thriving Morris-related blogs and forums, and individual sides are to be found maintaining an interactive presence on major social networking sites. Surveys in 2021 of use of social media services by morris sides found that the Westminster Morris Men YouTube channel had received over 100,00 views<ref>{{cite web|title=Survey: Use of YouTube|first=Brian|last=Kelly|url=https://www.morrisfed.org.uk/resources/it/survey-use-of-youtube/|publisher=Morris Federation|date=1 September 2021}}</ref> and the Shrewsbury Morris's Twitter account had over 100,000 followers.<ref>{{cite web|title=Survey: Use of Twitter|first=Brian|last=Kelly|url=https://www.morrisfed.org.uk/resources/it/survey-use-of-twitter/|publisher=Morris Federation|date=1 September 2021}}</ref>

===In popular culture===
The success of [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'' novels has seen the entirely invented Dark Morris tradition being brought to life in some form by genuine Morris sides such as the Witchmen Morris and Jack Frost Morris.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://picasaweb.google.com/104420944580823979375/MayDay2010 |title=Picasa Web Albums – Jack Frost – May Day 2010 |date=30 April 2010 |access-date=28 May 2013}}</ref> Dark Morris has been described as having been "evolved from the border revival of the 1970s which was part of a wider neo-traditionalist surge of interest in regional morris styles".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.morrisfed.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/The-History-and-Development-of-Dark-Border-Morris.pdf |title=The History & Development of Dark Border Morris |date=October 2021 |access-date=24 Oct 2021}}</ref>

==Kit and clothing==
[[File:Morris men.jpg|thumb|Victory Morrismen from [[Portsmouth]] dancing in [[Hampshire]]]]
There is great variety shown in how Morris sides dress, from the predominantly white clothing of Cotswold sides to the tattered jackets worn by Border teams. Common items of clothing include
bell pads, [[baldric]]s, [[Suspenders|braces]], rosettes, sashes, waistcoats, tatter-coats (or raggies), knee-length breeches, wooden clogs, hats (straw hats, top hats, or bowlers), neckerchiefs, and armbands.

==Namesakes==
* The dance may have given name to the board games [[three men's morris]], [[Nine men's morris#Six men's morris|six men's morris]] and [[nine men's morris]].
* [[Erasmus Grasser]], a German sculptor, created 16 realistic animated wooden figures in the late 15th century called the ''Morris dancers''.
* Two ships named [[HMS Morris Dance|''Morris Dance'']] served in the [[Royal Navy]] in the 20th century.

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
* {{annotated link|Ball de bastons}}
* {{annotated link|Blackface and Morris dancing}}
* {{annotated link|Călușari}}
* {{annotated link|Maculelê (dance)}}
* {{annotated link|Matachines}}
* {{annotated link|Moreška}}
* {{annotated link|Morris: A Life with Bells On|''Morris: A Life with Bells On''}}
* {{annotated link|Saint George's Day in England}}
* {{annotated link|Way of the Morris|''Way of the Morris''}} by [[Tim Plester]] and [[Rob Curry]]
* {{annotated link|Weapon dance#Europe|Weapon dance}}
{{div col end}}

==References==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== General references ===
* Forrest, John (1999). ''The History of Morris Dancing, 1458–1750''. Cambridge: James Clarke & Co.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Morris dance}}
{{EB1911 poster|Morris-Dance}}
* [http://www.efdss.org/ The English Folk Dance and Song Society] at Cecil Sharp House, London
* [http://www.umilta.net/morris.html The Morris & Sword: Dances of England]

{{English folk music|state=collapsed}}
{{Pentecost|state = collapsed}}

[[Category:Morris dance| ]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]