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04/16/2007
What a time it’s been…
I am still in London; I was in Birmingham over the weekend doing Jongleurs. I left husband in the fancy apartment in Chelsea, there was no reason he should have to come up to Birmingham with me and Ashley is still in Glasgow .
I really no longer know where home is.
I miss my daughter and she will be 21 years old on 19th of April and I will miss it, but she is happy she has her own space back in Glasgow .
There were Morris dancers in Birmingham ; honestly a bunch of strangely dressed men with bells on their toes waving hankies at each other…gay isn’t even the best word to describe it all.
The Morris Dancing Annual Event was on and there were at least 200 dancers of all shapes and sizes yet none of them black or Asian which amazed me as the majority of people watching the show in Birmingham were of some ethnic minority!
I wondered what they made of the skippy- happy -clappy -hanky waving men with flowers on their heads brandishing short ribbon clad sticks at their opposite dance partner.
I cant really talk being Scottish we have men dressed in skirts tiptoeing over a pair of swords.
So I am back in Chelsea, husband has gone off to forage for food…or go downstairs to the Supermarket next door to us and I am going to watch 13 episodes of a TV series that I am reviewing on a radio show tomorrow…I need more time!
10:55 Posted in Blog | Permalink | Comments (3) | Email this | Tags: Life
Comments
A comment on your comments: There are some Morris Men of ethnic minority origin about - but not many. Morris is open to all, but so few young people are joining teams to learn these days - and this combined with the fact that it is an English tradition - maybe means that the few youngsters that do join tend to be white (and middle class!). Maybe this will change over time. I must say, however, that your 'gay' remark was maybe intended mean 'fun', but this is a loaded term and thus maybe the use was demeaning in this context and therefore inappropriate. I don't think I want to called gay simply because I am taking part in an old English tradition of men's dance. I am suprised that, since you are a reviewer of other's work, your observation isn't a little more accurate: "bells on their toes" (were they barefoot?) and that you are not more cautious with your use of words - particularly if you attempt to brand us with political incorrectness in not reflecting in our membership the correct balance of minorities to whom we are performing at any given time.
We will try to do better in future. But please look at what the dancers are wearing next time. Oh, and why should the main dance tradition of England be 'strange' when danced in England? Would you say that of a performance of Bharata Natyam dancers in India?
Posted by: Mac McCoig | 04/17/2007
OK, I'm out of the closet as a musician for Morris Dancers, and I'm proud of it. There's nowadays probably a similar proportion of gay, lesbian & bisexual morris dancers as there are in the population as a whole - although that's quite surprising, as until recently, most gay men wouldn't have been seen dead doing morris (much too effeminate). And morris teams are quite welcoming places - they tend to be pleased to see any new members, irrespective of orientation or race.
Likewise, until about 20 years ago, women dancing morris were rare, but now they make up about 50% of dancers in the UK.
Our english folk dance tradition is an evolving, growing one, no longer stuck in the 19th century (unlike most 'traditional dance forms). You only need to look at the cutting edge teams to see how well they compare with other quality street performers.
It's a shame you're not in Birmingham next Saturday - more morris dancers, but also NYFTE (the National Youth Folk Troupe of England) - aged 9 to 18, with the older members being absolutly superb dancers & musicians (the younger ones are pretty good), with some quite funky music.
Posted by: Mark Rogers | 04/17/2007
Overlooking the "gay" remark, which is unfortunate for a number of reasons, I can tell you what "minorities" think of Morris dancing. In the US, where I dance, people of non-European descent are generally better audiences than those of European descent. They seem to have longer attention spans and they spend more time watching the performance. It doesn't look "gay" to them at all. It reminds them of their own folk traditions, and they are charmed and fascinated that the English have them, too.
Similarly, those of European descent who are close to their ethnic roots tend to appreciate it for what it is.
Posted by: Bill Brown | 04/19/2007