Morris dancers performing by the Riverboat Centre in Whanganui. Video / Steve Carle
Aaron Bosch from Phoenix Morris Dancers in New Plymouth explains about Morris dancing, after a spring equinox event in Whanganui recently.
Q: What is your club’s name in New Plymouth and what is your role?
A: We are called Phoenix Morris Dancers. The name was born out of the former side here in New Plymouth, and it is called Egmont Cowpatters. When the side ceased a new side rose from the ashes. Hence Phoenix. My role in the club is “bagman”, holder of the bag. Otherwise the treasurer. I’m also co-foreman. This is the teacher of new and old dances in our repertoire.
Q: How long has the club been going? How many members are there? Is this the nearest club to Whanganui?
A: Morris dancing has been in New Plymouth continuously for 39 years. We would say we have 15 members in Taranaki. The nearest club to Whanganui is Rosewood, based out of Palmerston North.
A: New Zealand Morris Dancing has a national website. Google “NZ Morris Dancing” and it lists all the NZ Morris sides. Or simply approach us if you see us out dancing.
Q: Is the Whanganui Spring Morris Dancing an annual event in Whanganui?
A: No. The Whanganui Spring Equinox is not an annual event in Whanganui itself. We, Phoenix, as the host side decided to head out of Taranaki this year. But the spring equinox is celebrated every year, as are all the equinoxes and solstices.
Q: Were there any other clubs there?
A: Yes we had representatives from HOTS, Heart of the Sun, Hawke’s Bay; Whangarei Morris; Phoenix Morris, Taranaki; Bedlam, Wellington men’s side; Whiterose, Wellington mixed side; Rosewood and Palmerston North; Scallywags, Wairarapa.
Morris dancers performing outside the Riverboat Centre in Whanganui.
Aaron explains some background:
The history, or old origin, of Morris dancing, is of much debate and not definitive. One theory is that it could have come from the Moorish culture, hence the name Morris. And when you see them perform with sticks and bells attached to their legs or feet it has a lot of similarities.
The form we do is English and what its original form metamorphosed into. Its first believed written mention, or reference to, is in the 15th century. There are many traditions from various regions of England.
Some use hankies, mainly from the Cotswolds. Short sticks, from the Welsh borders, clogs with short, belled sticks and garlands from the North West. And Rapper Sword dancing, to name a few examples.
And in England traditionally you only do the tradition from your area or village. In NZ we have no allegiance to any county, we mix and mingle and dance various traditions, what we feel like basically.
But note the various traditions have a basic format so hence why, if you know the tradition rather than each individual dance, we can dance together. No matter which side of the country we come from.
Morris has its roots in the working class, the honest working man. The mill workers, ploughboys, agricultural workers, miners etc. As an example, Molly Tradition, from the Fens, in East Anglia, was done by the ploughboys in winter.
When the ground was frozen and all the work in the fields was done, there was no work and no money. So they would dress up in their wives’ and girlfriends’ clothes and dance in the villages as a form of busking. It was said, cheekily, that often the gentry would pay them just to go away.
The fluttering of hankies in spring represents the scattering of seeds and the blessing of the new season’s crop.
And we ring bells, like so many cultures all over the world, to ward off evil spirits.
There is so much broadness within Morris that one can’t possibly describe all its intricacies.
But to summarise Morris, it has its background in pagan blessing, a form of busking to earn money in times before a welfare system.
It is a representation of culture and working life. And of course we do it for fun, the love of folk music and dance, and rural English village life.
