Speaker – Lynda Edwards
Lynda explained that she had been a dancer for over 50 years. She described it as being like ‘joining a family’. She informed us that there are various Morris dancing traditions that date back to fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
Lynda then described the costumes of the various traditions as shown in the group dancing today. Cotswold traditions use hankies and sticks, wear bells on their shins, and also crossed tapestry baldrics. Northwestern traditions dance in clogs and wear garlands. Traditions from the borders of Wales and England wear ‘tatty jackets’. They used to blacken their faces, but this tradition ceased in 2020. The reason for blackening was to disguise the dancer. Nowadays faces may be painted in any colour or a mask may be worn.
Cardiff Morris ladies took their style of costume from the traditional Welsh lady outfit (as displayed on the mannequin). Lynda also mentioned the USA style of Morris dance costume which included a bowler hat and baldrics.
Cecil Sharp was a key figure in the folk-song revival in England during the Edwardian period. He travelled around the country and collected and encouraged the dance traditions, enabling them to survive and flourish.
The dancers then entertained us with the Lichfield dance.
After this, members had a go at learning this dance.
This lively and most enjoyable session ended with the performance of a jig.
No comments:
Post a Comment