I. THE MORRIS DANCE TO-DAY
Before the revival of Morris dancing in 1905, there was only one description of the steps and evolutions of the dance, and that was in Orchesographie et Traicte en Forme de Dialogue, by Thoinot-Arbeau, published in 1588.
This is so interesting that I have had a photograph of it taken from the copy in the British Museum.
The Morris dance may be roughly divided into five kinds—processional, corner, handkerchief, stick dances, and solo jigs.
The corner dances are danced with handkerchiefs and so are the processional and jigs, but there are also others where handkerchiefs take the place of sticks.
Since 1905 Mr Cecil Sharp has published instructions for the Morris dance in a series called the Morris Book, with the tunes as played at the present day. The first two volumes of the series were written in collaboration with Mr H. C. MacIlwaine, and with the help of Miss Florence Warren, of the Espérance Guild of Morris dancers, from whom the steps of most of the dances were taken down as she had learned them from William Kimber, of Headington.
I have also edited, with the help of Mr Clive Carey, Mr Geoffrey Toye, and Miss Florence Warren, two volumes called The Espérance Morris Book, and Mr John Graham has collected Midland, Lancashire, and Cheshire dances in two volumes.[3]
It is probable that these books contain complete instructions in the steps and figures of the dance and are a fairly complete collection of the existing dances, and that others still in the Collector’s books, but not yet published, may only be variants. There is a varied and extensive terminology used by the old dancers, and it is often difficult to arrive at the exact meaning of certain expressions, for each set of dancers has its own phraseology, which varies considerably from that of other sets even when they are not many miles apart in locality. The following are some of the terms used:—“Shake up” and “foot up” for the first figure of a dance; “hey up” or “hey sides up,” “back to back,” “hands across,” and “capers.” “Gipsies” must be seen to be understood, and “galley” is a turning round on your own axis with a single or double shake of the leg, which seems to be better done the older and more shaky the dancer is.