The driver of the red car was very impatient and continued beeping his horn. Normally I would have agreed that he had the right of way – except for tonight. We were standing outside the pub cheering and waiting for our turn to take part in a dance with sticks and handkerchiefs in the middle of the road. We had all the props collected through years of following our set of Morris Dancers. We learned the moves too but it’s hard to remember them as we don’t see Morris Dancers in our area often – maybe once a month when they book one of the pubs and perform live outside in the car park, or, as tonight, in the middle of the road. They jump, make a perfect turns in time with the music and bang their sticks together.

The steps are easy to learn but the constant jumping and pressure to concentrate makes you tired and by the end of the tune and you are exhausted! But not the Morris Dancers.

According to our dear neighbour, Ernest, a very vigorous chap in his 90s who introduced us to the Morris Dancers, it’s one of the oldest English traditions. There are a few different Morris dancing styles but the main common characteristics are

1.  They all dance to accordians (these days), a pipe or fiddle.
2.  They usually dance in a group (set) of 6 or 8 but you can find twos as well.
3.  Each group or set has a leader who talks to the audience, calls the dances and decides the programme in advance.
4.  The group or set has a foreman who is in charge of training dancers, and a bagman in charge of the bag of money which is collected from the audience at the end of the performance to cover the group’s expenses.

It’s a perfect way to spend a summer evening dancing, learning a few steps and meeting new friends.