Westminster Morris Dancers

It’s an age-old story – you’re out at a pub one summer evening when your evening is unexpectedly enhanced by the appearance of a set of morris dancers, and you say to yourself, “I’d really like to give that a try – it looks like fun!”.  Well, the excellent news is that it is, and YOU CAN!

On Wednesday October 9th will be holding an open practice session, and anyone who wants to come along & learn a dance will be welcome.

We’ll be going through the basics of the structure & form, learning about key differences between different Cotswold village dance Traditions, some warming up techniques (note: the pictured method is not recommended) and then learning the “figure” and “chorus” moves of a couple of the dances – the end goal is that by the end of the evening you’ll have learned one or two (depending on time, progress, and how distracted we get talking nonsense) complete morris dances.

We’ll provide the hankies, sticks, and traditional music for the evening.  You don’t need to bring anything other than enthusiasm.  No experience necessary*.

Please send Lewis, our Bagman, an email on newbagman@westminstermorris.org if you’d like to attend, or have any questions.

7:45pm until 10pm, Napier Hall, 1 Hide Place, Westminster, London, SW1P 4NJ.  Closest tube stations Pimlico (Victoria Line) & St James’s Park (District/Circle Line).

* that’s experience of morris dancing, not experience of being enthusiastic.

We’re very proud to be celebrating the team’s 60th anniversary this year – it’s widely known that Westminster first danced out in public on the Queen’s Coronation Day (which also makes it a lot easier to remember significant milestones). One of the celebrations therefore was to hold a grand dinner of team members past and present, partners, and our dear friends from both within and without of the morris.

Saturday night saw a Who’s Who of Westminster descend on Brown’s Brasserie in Old Jewry – a building once housing the London branch of Australia’s Commonwealth Bank, itself well-known for its distinctive yellow and black livery.

People came from far afield to join the evening of conviviality and reminiscence – guests from all corners of England, plus a few who’d made the considerably longer hauls in from Guernsey and New Zealand! And of course the locals made an appearance (although the Westminster men are spread further afield than you might think – from Cambridgeshire to Wales, Petersfield, and The Cotswolds!). There was plenty of mingling over the champagne reception with people catching up with their comrades not seen in years, and also newer members being introduced to their terpsichorean forebears, and finally putting faces to names spoken of in team folklore.

As the dinner bell was rung, 60 years of morris history made its way (slowly) up the staircase to enjoy a delightful 3 course meal – accompanied by toasts and speeches as befits such a moment. Daniel Fox of the Thaxted Morris Men delivered a fine piece in tribute to theme of Westminster. A Westminster man of old, Angus Morris-Coole responded with quite an epic tribute to our friends and guests (we were delighted and honoured to be joined by representatives from Chester City, Monkseaton, Headington Quarry, Thaxted, Moulton, Martlets, Winchester, Greensleeves and Etcetera Morris Men), including those present and absent – notably the rural Dean of Hackney, Father Kenneth Loveless. Robin Ainley passed on a message in absentia from our immediate outgoing Squire, his son Rupert: recently relocated to Nanjing and unable to join us.

With the formalities concluded and every belly in the house satisfied, we repaired downstairs for further catching up and merriment as Mitch Hursey and Brian Jackson deftly wielded their accordion and fiddle.

And as the magic hour approached and people slowly bundled into taxis to return to the various corners from whence they came, a certain unicorn was seen reclining in a corner – with a little smile playing over its face.

A big thanks to all who attended, and also who helped organise this grand feast (and grand feat!) – especially to the evening’s chief architect, Mike WIlson-Jones.

2013 sees the 60th anniversary of the first performance of the Westminster Morris Men – we first danced out in public on the Queen’s Coronation Day, and we thought that if Her Majesty is allowed to celebrate her impressive milestone then perhaps we should also.

Our budget didn’t stretch to a floating carnival on the Thames – however we recently held our annual Day of Dance, celebrating 60 years of dancing in London.  We were very happy to be joined by guest teams from around England, who danced with us in Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, and all around Westminster in the sunshine for the enjoyment of locals and visitors alike.

This year we have a busy & varied programme – featuring tours of the “historical buildings” of old favourite London areas such as Belgravia, Baker Street and Clerkenwell, and introducing a few trips out to places we haven’t explored so much, like Clapham and Richmond.  Further afield, we’ve visited our friends in Thaxted, danced at the Oxford Folk Weekend.  Later in the year we’ll be in Gloucestershire & Chichester and in July we’re off on our annual pilgrimage to The Cotswolds.

In the autumn, to mark the 60th year of the team we’re holding a dinner for friends, our families, and members past & present.

If anybody has any photos, stories, or memories of Westminster that you’d like to share with us, please get in touch!

That’s another marvellous Day of Dance in the bag – and we thought we should share this great video made by an audient of the show, featuring the lunchtime massed performance in Trafalgar Square.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAB6THh6RUc

Many thanks to krasnapolski2000 !