Organised in partnership by The Historical Dance Society with The English Folk Dance and Song Society and The Morris Ring, The Morris Federation, Open Morris.
The focus of the conference is morris dancing in all its forms (including rapper, long sword, molly, and other ceremonial dance) within the British Isles and its history up to recent times. As an enduring feature of British culture across more than six centuries, research in, and understanding, appreciation and practice of, our vernacular dance genre is worth celebrating. We invite contributions from practitioners and scholars to this two-day event to share practice, archival research, oral history and local custom. This may be in the form of papers and talks for 30 minute slots to include discussion time, or workshops of 90 minutes, or posters. We hope to publish selected papers in a volume of proceedings.
Topics: the following suggestions are offered as a guide and further relevant ones will be of interest.
- Morris within specific historical periods (including 20th century)
- Morris within specific contexts; English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish; morris on the move; external influences on morris in Britain
- Histories of morris sides, both national and local
- Morris and calendar customs
- Morris as national identity
- Comparative histories; historical development
- Morris music and instruments
- Costume, equipment, and characters
- Morris in literature, morris on the stage; representation in other art forms
- Issues: gender, age, teaching, public perception, decline/renaissance
- Forms: Cotswold, NW Morris, Border Morris, Rapper and Sword, Molly dancing
Please send your proposal (with a 300 word biography), stating whether for a paper, workshop or poster to: Anne Daye conference@thds.org.uk or 96, Dover Crescent, Bedford, MK41 8QH by 31st August 2016.
