XML
|
| Welcome! |
|
28th June - no football
Guess what, there was a large crowd of people out at the pub this Wednesday. The Sun was shining, no football to keep the audience glued to the TV so we all had a great time.
The Sloop did us proud, they always enjoy us coming along.
We had a great song and music session after a very extended Morris dancing session.
A great time was had by all.
September is getting closer and we will be running a Morris Dancing Workshop at the Hurstpierpoint Arts Festival, 16th September. I will put more details here nearer the time.
This is a busy time for Morris Dancing with fetes and other performances that have been booked months ago so it keeps surprising me that some organisations leave it to a couple of weeks before their big event then make contact and are disappointed when we say we are already booked.
I am off Morris Dancing in Poland in a few weeks time so there may be some interesting things that I can add after the visit.
posted on 29.6.06 by John
0 comments
 
The world cup (football)
Well the world cup may be great for some but its effect on audience watching Morris Dancing is dramatic, (what is the singular of audience?).
Last week we danced with another local team making with camp followers a group of about 40, non related audience 2 and people in the pub watching the big screen 6.
The landlady was new and overwhelmed by the number of men wanting to buy her basic product, I'm sure she will learn that Morris Dancers get thirsty. But another important point would be to consider whether a TV really does bring in extra business. We were all discouraged from going inside and a lot drifted off home long before the football on the tv had finished, loosing her a lot of business.
Once the game had finished the locals left (so much for loyalty) if it were not for the Morris Men the place would have been empty.
This week the same thing happened except a few more of us hardy Morris types braved it out until the end of the match but once again as soon as the match finished the locals vanished.
Morris Dancing will continue but it is much more fun dancing to a large audience!
posted on 23.6.06 by John
0 comments
Alfriston
Take a bronze ingot, cast it to a desired shape then get another piece of bronze and vigorously hit the two together for over 5 million times. What happens, well read on.
We were Morris Dancing at Alfriston's 600 anniversary of being granted a market charter on Sunday, a glorious hot and sunny day. Before we started dancing I wandered around the various market stalls and went into the small info barn which gave a history of the charter and of Alfriston. Now being a bellringer I was particularly interested in the description of the big tenor bell. I have rung this several times in the past without realizing just how old the bell really is. It is even older than the market charter.
Just think for a moment, way back in 1406 this bell would have been donging away not just for Church services, but to bring the people together for many other meetings, since then 7 other bells have joined it and we now get the melodious sound drifting across the meadows.
This tenor bell is over 600 years old it has never been repaired, just had new bearings a couple of times but still rings steady and true. A quick calculation shows that it has been struck over 5 million times. If you are not a bellringer, buy one a pint and check it out at a local pub.
It is reassuring to know that modern bells are produced in the same time honored way so they too could still be ringing in 2606.
Anyway back to Morris Dancing, my bells are just 40 years old and already falling apart. They worked well on the tye (green) and we did a very spirited performance, we could have done with a few more of the men turning up, don't see why a football match way over in Germany should have influenced their attendance. We supplemented our performance by getting some of the audience to join in with our last dance, I think by the end of it they understood why we were dancing so near to the beer tent.
Warm beer after 30 minutes of vigorous Morris Dancing much better than ice cold lager!
posted on 12.6.06 by John
0 comments
7th June
We danced in the City Centre of Brighton last night, quite a contrast to the sleepy villages we normally dance at. Parking, wow I am glad we don't have to do it every week.
Still we had a large and interested audience and who knows, some of them may wish to come along and join us.
While I was going round with our collecting trug I was accosted by an ex reporter who thought it may be a great idea to do a semi spoof article in the local newspaper about suddenly waking up one morning and discovering you were a Morris dancer. Well that was the sort of wacky idea that went around during the 80's & 90's fortunately these days most people enjoy the spectacle of dance without thinking it strange. Morris dancers are after all number 7 in the list of English Icons as published in the Daily Telegraph, so somebody must like us. Incidentally, the photograph they published is one of me taken way back in 1968!!! I looked a bit thinner and younger in those days.
We had our dragon out with us and it caused a bit of a stir when it poked its nose into the pub, however with beer at over 2.60 a pint nobody offered it a pint to sooth its burning throat. Dragons as some of you may know were roaming through deepest Sussex way after St George had killed them off elsewhere and if you ever get to Lyminsterr you should be able to find the grave of the young man who killed the dragon that used to live in the nearby knucker hole (not quite sure I've spelt that right).
posted on 8.6.06 by John
0 comments
|
|
|
|
