2019

TG2208 : Members of the Rose & Castle Morris dancers

taken 5 years ago, near to Norwich, Norfolk, England

Members of the Rose & Castle Morris dancers
Members of the Rose & Castle Morris dancers
Awaiting their turn on the Millennium Plain in front of the Forum, with their bass drum still parked on the pavement. For some information and to see them in action see > Link.
Morris dancing

Morris dance is a type of English folk dance . It is usually accompanied by music and based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers, frequently wearing bell pads on their shins and wielding sticks, swords or handkerchiefs. The earliest known and surviving English written mention of Morris dance dates from 1448 and records the payment of seven shillings to Morris dancers by the Goldsmiths’ Company in London. 

The name was first recorded in the mid-15th century as Morisk dance, moreys daunce, morisse daunce. The modern spelling 'Morris'-dance first appears in the 17th century. It would seem that the dance became part of performances for the lower classes by the later 16th century, and in 1600 the Shakespearean actor William Kempe Morris-danced all the way from London to Norwich - an event chronicled in his 'Nine Daies Wonder'. By the mid 17th century, the working peasantry is documented to have taken part in Morris dances, and Morris dancing continued in popularity until the industrial revolution.

A number of English folklorists were responsible for recording and reviving the tradition in the early 20th century, often from a bare handful of surviving members of mid-19th-century village sides. The most notable among these are Cecil Sharp, Maud Karpeles, and Mary Neal. In the first few decades of the 20th century, several men’s sides were formed, and in 1934 the Morris Ring was founded by six revival sides. In the 1950s and especially the 1960s, there was an explosion of new dance teams, some of them women’s or mixed sides. At the time, there was often heated debate over the propriety and even legitimacy of women dancing the Morris, despite there being evidence from as far back as the 16th century that there had always also been female Morris dancers.

Historically, Morris dancing music is believed to have been played on loud and rhythmical instruments of the time such as the pipe and tabor. Today, the music is often played on accordion, melodeon and concertina, the so-called "free-reed instruments," but fiddle and flute can also often be heard, together with percussion instruments such as the tambourine, tabor and bass drum.


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TG2208, 4039 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Evelyn Simak   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Saturday, 14 September, 2019   (more nearby)
Submitted
Sunday, 15 September, 2019
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TG 2290 0841 [10m precision]
WGS84: 52:37.6592N 1:17.5247E
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TG 2290 0841
View Direction
North-northwest (about 337 degrees)
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Image Type (about): close look 
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