Morris dancing is the most recognisable English folk tradition and the one the English are most self-conscious about. It involves teams — properly called sides — in white clothing with bells strapped below the knee, dancing in formation to a fiddle or melodeon, waving handkerchiefs or striking sticks together.
Where it came from
The first written record is from 1448, when the London Goldsmiths’ Company paid seven shillings to “Moryssh daunsers”. The name most likely derives from Moorish, possibly via dancers who blacked their faces as an exotic disguise — though the connection is unclear and much argued over.
It was widespread in Tudor England, declined sharply in the 19th century, and was very nearly lost. In 1899 the folk song collector Cecil Sharp saw a side dancing on Boxing Day in Headington, Oxford, wrote down the tunes and steps, and effectively saved the tradition by documenting it.
The styles
- Cotswold — the classic image. Handkerchiefs, white clothing, bells, high leaps, performed in sets of six.
- North West — processional, in clogs, with a more military feel; grew up around mill towns.
- Border — from the Welsh Marches. Ragged coats, sticks, loud drums, and faces painted as disguise. Rowdier and increasingly popular.
- Molly — East Anglian, associated with Plough Monday, with one dancer dressed as a woman.
- Rapper and Longsword — from the North East and Yorkshire, using flexible or rigid swords woven into a locked star.
The blacking-up question
Some Border sides traditionally painted their faces black as a disguise, and the practice became indefensible in a modern context. After sustained pressure, the two main national Morris organisations ruled in 2020 that full-face black make-up should no longer be used. Most sides switched to blue, green or multicoloured paint, and the change is now largely settled — though the argument was fierce while it lasted.
May Day
The great day of the Morris year. Sides dance at sunrise on 1 May to greet the summer, often on a hilltop or at a landmark. At Magdalen Bridge in Oxford, the college choir sings from the tower at 6am and Morris sides dance in the street below to a crowd of several thousand, many of whom have not been to bed.
The reputation
The English are affectionately embarrassed by Morris dancing, and the dancers are entirely aware of it and unbothered. The standard joke — attributed to composer Arnold Bax — is that you should try everything once except incest and folk dancing.
Numbers dipped worryingly in the 2000s, with warnings that the tradition might die out within a generation. It has since recovered, helped by younger, mixed and LGBTQ+ sides, and by the Border style’s louder, rowdier appeal. There are now several hundred active sides in England.