Morris Dancing

            Stafford Morris Men dancing outside High Offley church to celebrate a May Day wedding

Morris dancing is one form of men's ritual dance. Ritual Dance takes many forms and different types come from various parts of the country.

In the Cotswolds, which is in the South Midlands around Gloucestershire, the Morris took the form of dances using Sticks or Handkerchiefs with the occasional hand clapping dance. The costumes are generally white with coloured ribbons, bell pads on the legs and Straw hats decorated in many ways, but generally having a floral theme.

There are two formats the Set Dance (usually a 'Side' of six) and Jigs which may be solo, two man (Double Jigs), or sometimes more. (See Lichfield Jigs.) The figures, or patterns of movement of the six depend on the traditions concerned, as do the steps and the hand movements.

While we are on the subject, we should mention the Lichfield Tradition, our 'local'.
These dances are similar to Cotswold, but require sides of eight men.
Lichfield dances have a number of unique figures and most bear names associated with various aspects of the city.

The Traditions and dances that we cover are given in the table below.

There are rather more dances about than the public perception of "The Stick Dance" or "The Handkerchief Dance" and Stafford Men have quite a good repertoire. Whether Quality and Quantity are incompatible we could debate for hours, but we enjoy learning and doing a variety of dances even if we do not quite achieve perfection in their execution!

(If this means nothing to you, never mind.Come and join us one Monday night and we'll show you what its all about)

The list below is a reference for dancers (including Stafford Men) who may like to practice the steps and try to remember the figures. For visiting dancers, who may find themselves at a loose end in Stafford on a Monday evening; if you can do any of the dances on this list we will try to find another five men and a musician to join you. Feel free to come to our practice sessions or to the locations indicated on our programme in the News pages.

To be more precise these are the dances that we have been known to practice at least once.
What we do on displays, or in pubs, may be completely different.