Morris dancing could be "extinct" within 20 years because young people are too embarrassed to take part, a UK Morris association has warned.
The number of people taking part in the English folk dance is falling while the average age of the dancers is going up.
The Morris Ring, which represents 200 troupes, hopes a recruitment drive will revive the flagging tradition.
"There is still time for new blood to get ready for the spring fertility offensive," said the ring's Paul Reece.
That spring fertility offensive sounds interesting, might well be..er...up for that myself this year.
Real ale and Rapunzul beards* are also possible selling points....
What’s also interesting is when you pop into the Morris Ring website is that there are also Morris dancing troupe(?)s in Scotland and Wales.
No mention of either Northern Ireland or the Republic, although something at the back of my mind recalls a piece on UTV a little while ago about a local group.
*From the Blackheath Morris Group Flickr site.
4 comments:
There was a woman on RTE Radio there a few minutes ago saying that her 10yr old daughter takes Morris dancing lessons... in Dublin I think it was
Good to hear that Kloot, I'll see if I can find out a bit more about it.
Morris Dancing has always been seen as "English" although there is a large movement in the Aberdeen area for many years.
I remember in the 1980's the Morris Dancers performing all over the city. They used to perform in St Nicholas Churchyard (then a favourite picnic spot) one lunchtime a week at least.
This is one of their clubs in the Aberdeen area:
http://www.raggiemorrisons.org.uk/index.html
You are probably surprised at this in the bastion of Scottish nationalism!
Pleasantly surprised!
A bit of digging reveals there is also a Dublin City Morris Dancers group.
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