Thoughts on NW Morris
I have been dancing NW since the late 1960s. My first experience of seeing NW Morris came at the Wells Ring Meeting in 1965 when Chingford were on the same tour as Manchester MM. I had no idea that such a form of Morris existed and found it quite fascinating. The only dance I remember them performing was Colne with Julian Pilling conducting it. A couple of years later at a Roy Dommett Morris weekend at Halsway Manor Julian taught the dance and we included it in our repertoire so it became the first NW dance I performed. In 1971 Chingford were invited to take part in Broadstairs Folk Festival and were required to include the Royton dance in the performances which Bert Cleaver taught to us so Royton became my second NW dance. In 1973 I moved to Lancashire and joined Manchester MM where I danced Colne as well as Oldham, Godley Hill, Mossley and Medlock (which was put together from fragmentary notations from various traditional dances). In 1976 I founded The Rumworth Morris to dance exclusively NW in traditional style.
NW has become popular and widespread since I first started dancing it, particularly in recent years, but there seems to be a lack of knowledge and understanding of the origins and style of the traditional dances among many of the teams performing it so here are my thoughts on the subject.
Why do some teams call it “Clog Morris”? I’ve never heard anyone refer to Cotswold as “Bell Morris”! Traditionally clogs were mostly worn by teams from the Pennine area and teams on the Lancashire Plain and Cheshire wore shoes or pumps. Unfortunately, many (most?) teams particularly from other areas on the country have little knowledge of the origins and history of NW Morris and this is reflected in the inaccurate information given on their websites. I have even seen teams’ websites referring to dances performed by the workers in cotton mills in Cheshire!
Clogs were worn by teams in the Pennine area around Manchester most of whom danced using a polka step, the rhythm of which was emphasised by the clogs. It is interesting to note that in her book “The Lancashire Morris Dance” which included many of the figures and steps from teams in Royton, Maud Karpeles states “The clogs undoubtedly emphasise the rhythm of the movements and give additional point to the deft footwork of the dancers, but the dance is not dependent on their use, and it would probably be inadvisable for those who are unaccustomed to wearing them to adopt them for the purpose of the dance.” Too many teams seem to concentrate on the clogs and making noise instead of dancing (the clue is in the term Morris Dancing! ) Maud talks about “deft footwork” which is in complete contrast to the way many teams view and perform NW dances. There is also a tendency by some teams to perform the dances in a manner which has more in common with the Tiller Girls or military drill rather than natural movements.
The polka step is frequently and incorrectly called a rant. It isn’t! The Northumbrian rant step is a polka or double step used in social dances and although it obviously has the same rhythm it is not danced the same as the Lancashire polka step. The rant step is danced in shoes and is quieter and less vigorous and, like the Lancashire polka, has variations. For example, the front foot is not always crossed, especially when travelling. The front foot is often placed only slightly in front of the supporting foot or alongside it. In one area of Lancashire the polka step is very vigorous with the free foot being swung out and round the supporting foot and placed smartly and precisely behind it and the weight transferred onto it. There is also a straight polka where there is no crossing of feet at all. There is now a tendency for many NW teams to dance very quickly and this has a detrimental effect on the polka step, changing the rhythm as both feet are placed on the ground simultaneously with equal weight (1 2 3) rather than the front foot tapping the ground just after the initial hop giving the distinctive polka rhythm (a1 2 3).
Unfortunately, many teams are unaware of the three distinct areas and styles of traditional NW Morris treating them all the same. In very general terms the dances from the area around Manchester were danced by men wearing clogs using a polka step and using ropes or slings, referred to variously as mollies, slings, throw ups, tiddlers or tittlearas. Many of the dancers worked in the cotton mills or pits. Cotton mills were a good source of cotton thread or cotton waste for making flexible slings but there is no evidence of traditional teams using cotton bobbins as implements. The widespread use of these seems to date from revival teams in the 1970s.
Dances from the Lancashire plain were often juvenile and mixed teams, danced in shoes or pumps to a skipping step, or occasionally other steps that were definitely not the polka step, and holding sticks, either in the middle or at one end. The Cheshire dances were frequently mixed adult or juvenile teams using a skipping step with raised knees holding shakers, often referred to as shillelaghs.
As I said this is very generalised and there are exceptions, especially in the early 20c when dancers from one area moved for work and took their local dance with them, but it helps to understand the way the dances were performed. The common factor is the structure of the dance which is danced in groups of four working together. There was usually a chorus movement consisting of a step up frequently, but not always, followed by a step and turn figure. In Lancashire it was also commonly danced in processions. The Cheshire dances tended to be display or stage dances although they were danced in the carnival processions before reaching the display ground to perform in the arena.
Anyone interested in finding out more about traditional NW Morris should read "The North-West Morris: A General Survey". This was written by Dan Howison and Bernard Bentley, both members of Manchester Morris Men who carried out extensive research and collecting in the 1950s. It was published in The Journal of The English Folk Dance and Song Society in 1960 and can be downloaded from JSTOR
Many teams are now making up their own dances and I have no problem with that. I’ve been composing dances since the mid 1960s, not long after I first started dancing. Of Rumworth’s current repertoire of ten dances, four were collected from traditional sources and six were composed by me. These six are all based on traditional NW style and figures etc. Some include elements from fragmentary notations as well as some original figures and sequences but they all follow the basic NW pattern of sets in multiples of four with figures for two repeated for four, or figures for four repeated for eight etc. They all have a Step Up chorus between figures with some of them including a Step and Turn variant in the chorus. The problem I do have with many newly composed dances is that very few of them are based on the structure and form of traditional NW dances with sets comprising multiples of four all facing in the same direction and working together. The number of dancers and the formation of the set is also often inconsistent with the traditional form. There are 442 NW dances listed in the Morris Dance Database. 380 of these are new dances with only 62 being traditional, collected dances. 20 of the new dances are for an odd number of dancers (3, 5, 7 or 9) and 49 are for only 6 dancers! These newly composed dances are inadvertently creating a new type of NW Morris. The dances often consist of figure after figure with no discernible pattern or chorus. This is similar to the way Carnival Morris evolved from the traditional dance with the emphasis on changing patterns rather than structured sequences of figures with a chorus movement. If you took away the clogs and changed the look of the kit would they be recognisable as NW dances? To misquote Star Trek "It's NW Morris, Jim, but not as we know it"