This is a film made by Chris Watson of Acorn Video, Bradford, and part of the A4E Contemporary Video Collection, a project of making contemporary films led by the Yorkshire Media Consortium Partnership, which included the YFA. Between 1998 and 2001 38 films were made of local life in Yorkshire, covering a diversity of topics.   As well as this film Chris also made Curry City (2000), about life in two of Bradford's curry houses, and The Bradford Festival Mela (1998) which can be seen on...

This is a film made by Chris Watson of Acorn Video, Bradford, and part of the A4E Contemporary Video Collection, a project of making contemporary films led by the Yorkshire Media Consortium Partnership, which included the YFA. Between 1998 and 2001 38 films were made of local life in Yorkshire, covering a diversity of topics.   As well as this film Chris also made Curry City (2000), about life in two of Bradford's curry houses, and The Bradford Festival Mela (1998) which can be seen on YFA Online. Other films from this project that can be viewed on YFA Online include Taming the Tigers (1999), Weekend Nights (1998) and Home Grown (1999), made by Judi Alston of One to One Productions.  All the films have been made to allow those featured in them to speak for themselves, without imposing any external perspective. This is certainly true of this film which manages to convey a true feel of what it is like being a part of this dance group.

 

The Flagcrackers of Craven, based in Skipton in North Yorkshire, were formed in 1988, performing a form of Morris dancing called ‘Border’. The name derives from the English/Welsh border counties of Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire, where this kind of dancing originates, characterised by blackening of faces, the wearing of clogs and colourful rag jackets.   Some of these aspects can be found in other varieties of Morris Dancing: wearing clogs is customary also in Lancashire, and Greater Manchester, where a 'processional' dance form fits in nicely in an urban environment, especially with cobbled streets. In fact although there are differences of dress, dance and styles in different regions, there is also an overlap, and some groups have a mixed style. And as can be gleaned from the film, there is a good deal of leeway for members to invent their own dress, dance and music.

 

Border Morris is a relatively new form emerging mainly as an offshoot of the folk revival that began in the 1950s and 1960s, and continued into the 1970s. The Border Morris group Wayzgoose note on their website that the dances have undergone a total transformation, and they remark that: “Border sides can appear almost 'courtly', sedate with precise patterns, a leisurely step and so laid back as to be horizontal. Other Border sides appear to be manic, racing about in a whirl of rags, flash of sticks and desperate to get to the end of the dance” (References).

 

The origins of Morris Dancing are lost in the murky mists of time, and only speculation remains – although of course historical scholarship continues to reveal new evidence.   The earliest known reference to the dance is from 1458. In all probability the Morris Dance, like many related traditions such as Easter, goes back to the pre-Christian pagan ceremonies for fertility and luck-bringing. Again like other pagan rituals, such as Whitsun and May Day, they become incorporated into the Church; serving the dual function of keeping the lower orders within acceptable boundaries, and raising funds for the Church. The dressing up is not unlike the mumming plays – see the Context for Pace Egg (1963). And like the mumming plays it was to suffer the aftershocks of the Reformation when Oliver Cromwell included it among the ‘abuses’ prohibited by an ordinance of 1654. 

 

Although this ordinance was rescinded in the Restoration, Morris Dancing never really recovered, with scant evidence of performances from after the mid 19th century. Given the Victorian dislike of anything that might be associated with alcohol, this is perhaps not surprising. Nevertheless the tradition didn’t entirely die out, and it came to life again at the beginning of the twentieth century when the folk song and dance collector Cecil Sharp recorded sixty dancers from a region having Oxford as its centre. The story is recounted by Douglas Kennedy – who as Director of the English Folk Dance Society between 1925 and 1961 was to play a crucial role in loosening interpretation and widening the repertoire. Sharp was in fact travelling around recording folk songs, when on Boxing Day 1899 whilst a guest at a home in Headington, on the outskirts of Oxford, the Morris men of the nearby village of Quarry, “trooped onto the lawn and danced in the snow outside the sitting-room window.” (Kennedy, p. 41). 

 

Cecil Sharp was a member of the Folk Song Society, which was formed the previous year in 1898 by individual folk song collectors and enthusiasts.  Among its influential members were Ralph Vaughan Williams, George Butterworth, George Gardiner, Henry Hammond, Annie Gilchrist and Ella Leather. Sharp went on to collect 4,977 folk tunes in England, and later from across North America. In 1911 he formed the English Folk Dance Society, and the two organisations merged in 1932 to become the English Folk Dance and Song Society. Cecil Sharp House was opened two years before in 1930 (Sharp died in 1924). 

 

Kennedy’s book provides an excellent guide to folk dancing, and in particular comes up with some interesting thoughts on the derivation of the name, dismissing the connection with the Moors of North African (as does Knightly, References), without coming up with a definitive answer. Kennedy reckons that every village in the Oxford region would have had their own dance group, each distinctive enough to be recognised. These surviving dance groups performed the ‘Cotswolds’ form, which originally flourished in Gloucestershire and surrounding counties. It is this form – men in white costumes waving handkerchiefs – that has subsequently become dominant and which most people will associate with Morris Dancing; and prompting much mirth from those with a different sensibility. Other forms of Morris dancing include processional in Lancashire and Cheshire, long sword in Cleveland and Yorkshire, rapper sword in Tyne and Wear, Northumbria and Durham, molly dancing in East Anglia and hobby horses in East Kent (see Rippon, References). To view Sword dancing in action see Kirkby Malzeard Sword Dancers At Azerley (1930-32).

 

This was not a peculiarly English phenomenon, however, similar dances can be found right across Europe. What many of them have in common is the wearing of a mask, or the blackening of faces: something that can also be found in mummer plays and carnivals, as seen in many films of carnivals from the 1920s held with the YFA. The disguises could also be dressing up as animals. All of these practices have old roots – Kennedy states that face blackening goes back to the stone age – and across many cultures. Apart from allowing participants to be less self-conscious and more abandoned than they would normally be, as some in the film testify, this was also part of the superstition of trying to bring good fortune. 
 


Since their foundation the Flagcrackers have danced in locations from Eire to Belgium, from Orkney to Kent. As a mixed dance team they have a real family feel; with ages ranging from toddlers to septuagenarians. So in response to claims that Morris dancing is a dying tradition they can point out that a quarter of their members (31 as of January 2010) are either children or teenagers, and that some 40% are under 45. In fact the Morris Dance, along with folk music in general, seems to be thriving, with at least fifteen dance teams in North Yorkshire alone; covering different kinds, including some that are simply unclassifiable (two lists can be found on websites in the References). 

 

The Flagcrackers remain very popular, having 45 invitations to events in 2009, of which they attended 15 – which is not a bad number given that the season for Morris dancing starts in Easter and normally only lasts until the end of September (although they have performed at the Skipton Medieval Festival which takes place in December).  Another feature of the films made for this project is their ability to tease out what brings people together, and perhaps it is the reminder of a past way life on a smaller scale, generating a greater sense of shared community, that helps to maintain the feel good factor that Morris Dancing brings.  And sharing is very much a part of the Morris Dance community, with groups learning from each other; as exemplified by the Flagcrackers helping new groups such as Wayzgoose, who were founded in 1993.  For anyone wishing to join this spirit of camaraderie the group meet every Wednesday.

 

References

 

The YFA also holds detailed background files on the films produced as part of Yorkshire Media Consortium.

Douglas Kennedy, English Folk Dancing: Today and Yesterday, Bell and Sons, London, 1964.

Charles Knightly, The Customs and Ceremonies of Britain, Thames and Hudson, 1986.

Hugh Rippon, Discovering English Folk Dance, Shire, 1975.

The Flagcrackers Of Craven

The Morris Federation

One to One Productions

Stories by younger members of the Flagcrackers

Dance teams: North Yorkshire

Celebrate North Yorkshire

Wayzgoose

The English Folk Dance and Song Society