Griffin's Corners Morris

What's Morris Dancing?

Morris dancing is an ancient dance form.

How ancient? We don't know. Shakespeare referred to morris dancing in a couple of places, and he seemed to think it went back a ways. On the other hand, Shakespeare had clocks chiming in ancient Rome, so what the heck did he know?

Where's it from? We don't know. The best guess is there were some European dances that were brought over to England by the 15th century and they sorta kinda evolved from there.

Who used to do it? That we do know: Rural English farm laborers, mostly. These were guys (almost exclusively guys; women were too busy having babies to do this stuff back then) for whom the proverbial English Stiff Upper Lip was what you gave someone else if they didn't dodge your left hook fast enough. They worked hard, they played hard, they drank hard... and they danced hard.

Who does it these days? Physicists, biologists, theater techies, museum staffers, librarians, mathematicians... Not quite the same as the Old Dead Guys. Decidedly lacking in agrarian romanticism. What can you do. We can't even beat each other up properly.

What's it like? That's another easy one: It's vigorous, energetic, sometimes boistrous, sometimes soul-stirring, and generally so much fun it shouldn't be legal.

For more than you really want to know on the subject of morris dancing, check Rich Holmes's morris web site.