Around Plough Monday (the first Monday after 12th night), we
perform MOLLY DANCING from East Anglia.
These are the seasons when the Vancouver Morris Men perform
COTSWOLD MORRIS. The dancers wear white clothes
with
bright sashes and jingling bells. They flick white hankies (probably to
accentuate the hand movements) and vigorously clash sticks
(possibly symbolizing ancient combat).The dances are graceful, but virile. Music is to the pipe-and- tabor, melodeon or fiddle. The dancers are often accompanied by a bizarre "Beast", and sometimes even a "Fool" dressed in an old farmers smock and carrying an inflated sheeps bladder.
A special highlight of the Spring season is May Day, when we "dance up the dawn" usually accompanied by the famous "Green Man". Around Easter, a PACE-EGGING MUMMERS PLAY is also performed.
These are the "dark" seasons, when, for the Vancouver Morris Men,
the Morris takes on a different, more earthy character - some say
degenerate! This is when the Vancouver Morris Men perform WELSH
BORDER MORRIS. We wear dark clothes and rags and have our faces
"blacked" as a form of disguise. Nearly all the dances consist of
vigourous stepping and powerful stick clashing accompanied by a
loud band comprising melodeon, banjo, fiddle, whistle, drums,
triangle, trombone and tuba! During the Winter Solstice, we perform our mid-winter, DEATH-&-RESURRECTION MUMMERS PLAY.
Around Plough Monday (the first Monday after 12th night), we
perform MOLLY DANCING from East Anglia.
For this, the men, dressed in old farmers clothes and with blackened faces, typically carry a plough from door-to-door, performing a strange, stamping dance lead by the "head" couple - the King and the Molly (a "man-woman").
The photo to the right was taken in 1992 during our inaugural Molly dance-out, an event which has now become a regular, annual event. The dances come from the villages of Girton and Comberton, near Cambridge.
We also perform the "WOOING" MUMMERS PLAY from Bassingham.