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Our
style is Border Morris, which has been called the most primitive Morris,
and forms of it were probably danced long before the better known Cotswold
Morris with its recognisable white hankies, complicated footwork and white
kits.
The "border"
in question is between England and Wales and some of the oldest records
of Morris dance come from the counties of Hereford, Worcestershire and
Shropshire. The characteristics of the dance are simple footwork, robust
lively movements, tattered kits, no hankies and, very often, black faces.
Very few Border dances have been been written down, so many sides, like
us, now make up their own.
Maenads,
or wild women from whom we get our name, were dancers, shamans and fighters
who came from the ancient Greek island of Thrace. Their ecstatic dancing
and ritual phrophesying were performed in honour of the Moon Goddess and
her son-lover Dionysus, the God of Love and Death. Another name for him
was Attis, who was the original Green Man.
Maenads
chewed ivy and laurel leaves and "magic mushrooms" in order
to gain their frenzied state. They each carried a thyrsus, an ivy twined
staff tipped with a bayonet that was covered by a pine cone and their
bodies were tattooed with web patterns.
We may not
chew ivy and laurel, nor are we Greek, but our energetic dancing, flowing
skirts and long green tatters combine to predict the enjoyment we get
from dance.
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