Who was Morris & why did he dance?

In 1600 Shakespearean actor William Kempe
Morris-danced from London to Norwich. 

The Morris dance is one of the most delightful and enduring of the last half a millenium.  Dancers may be of either sex at just about any age and level of fitness.  So just who was this Morris who created the steps still danced at festivals and celebrations round the globe?

The term Morris Dance was coined in the 17th century and is said to have been derived from the phrase Moorish Dance.  The story goes that in 1492 Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castille unified Spain by driving the Moors out of the country. In celebration of this a pageant known as a Moresca was held. This pageant, along with the regional dance form known as the paloteao, is still performed in places such as Ainsa, Aragon, the Basque country, Castille, Catalonia and northern Portugal. The original Moresca is believed to have been a sword dance. This accounts for the striking swords and sticks used in Morris dance.

Morris Style
Despite its Spanish beginnings, the dance is now categorized as an English folk style.  The form is lively and jubilant, generally accompanied by an accordion, a fiddle and a drum, and is notable for its colorful costuming.  Costumes differ from region to region.  Many dancers dress in white with colored baldrics (belts) strewn across their chests. Border  Morris Dancers are known for their 'tatter jackets' and blackened faces.  Sides have been historically danced in shoes, boots or clogs. Modern revivalists have tended to favor clogs.  In addition to sticks and swords, some dancers brandish handkerchiefs and bells.

The dance sides themselves have often been called 'maze' or 'garland dances' as they involve intricate steps with dancers weaving around one another. Some dances are performed with a wicker hoop decorated with floral garlands that the dancers hold above their heads. In a few instances, dances are performed across a pair of crossed clay tobacco pipes laid on the floor.

Prior to the English Civil War, the Morris dancing was popular among the working peasantry, especially at Whitsun, where Ales festivities were held. Cromwell suppressed Whitsun Ales, but when the crown was restored by Charles II, the springtime festivals were restored as well. Morris dancing continued in popularity until the advent of the Industrial Revolution. Today four dance teams remain that claim a  continuous lineage of the dance tradition.

The Re-Revival
Cecil Sharp is credited with reviving the dance form on Boxing Day 1899, as it was on that date that Sharp became intrigued by the Headington Quarry, a dance team he saw perform while visiting a friend in Headington.  Sharp began collecting tunes and dances and a decade later gave them to Mary Neal and Herbert MacIlwaine for use by their dressmaking co-op called the Espérance Club in London. The 20th century saw some scattered activity, and in the 1960s the dance resurged with an explosion of new teams, some co-ed, which caused quite a debate as the dance had previously been barred to women in a majority of regions.  To this day, only all-male teams are allowed membership in the governing body called the Morris Ring.

As we gingerly step into the second decade of the 21st century, the current popularity of the Morris dance shows no signs of waning.  Many English villages have revived their previous dance traditions as new teams with their own traditions are springing up worldwide.  And it was just a few years back, in 2007, that 88 dancers participating in The Moreton-in-Marsh Show in Glouucestershire, UK set a world record for the largest Morris dance ever chronicled.

Long live Morris!