Hey Nonny Nonny - English Dancing

I was hoping to be involved in a creative project about morris dancing, but it looks as if the money won't be forthcoming now so we have abandoned the idea. Sigh.

Having put together a proposal, I got a bit obsessed about it, so I'm relieving my feelings by this post on morris dancing. (WARNING: if you're not interested in morris dancing, stop here NOW!!!!)

----- (pause)

Still reading?

-----(pause)

I guess most people reading this will know that Morris dancers come in all shapes and sizes. Mostly they seem to be the old men with flowered hats and lots of little bells tied around their legs who inexplicably dance around in the street, to the mild astonishment of passers by ... like this...

Laughing yet? Laughing at our authentic folk traditions, such as morris dancers. is pretty well an English tradition in itself. But inclusiveness is also part of the tradition. People do join in, despite their sneers and sighs, and anyone of any age can dance any way they choose. Clumpy, scary, elegant, cute.... which is one of the things that I love, because this makes it really creative.

There's a real trend at present for Dark Morris. Here is one of the original dark morris "sides," Hunters Moon, performing in the old Dorset town of Wimborne (Several members of my extended family live a few moments' walk from this scene, and I keep scanning the crowds to see if I can spot any of them)

Morris dancers come to village fetes and festivals, open days for big houses, and tourist events, or they will turn up at pubs and dance in exchange for beer. They're usually accompanied by accordions and drums, although in the olden days it was more likely a pipe and drum. I don't know when the squeeze box came in.

Usually the dancers are not ...hem hem.... what you'd call overlooked Nureyevs or Baryshnikovs. But sometimes, people research the old steps properly and then they can look very graceful. When you see young skilled dancers, you can get a feeling of the artistic skill and liveliness that originally characterised the dances, when they would certainly have been done by healthy young people.

Look at the lovely pair of dancers on the following clip. You sometimes see old wood engravings from hundreds of years ago which show Morris dancers in just these attitudes.

The two above are dressed in the traditional white outfits with flowers and bells, but morris dancers can dress in extremely creative outfits. Occasionally you think perhaps the dancers just want to make it hard for themselves. There is even a side dressed like Daleks, the famous baddies from "Dr. Who." Unfortunately I don't have any good clips of them, but what about dancing blindfold like this lot?

Morris dancing really is very old and morris men (and women) are linked with old fertility rituals and folk events. There are usually Morris dancers at Stonehenge at the solstice, for instance, and I like the good humoured druids on this clip - at least I think that is what they are. And I spot a Welsh dragon amongst the dancers.

Often there is an extra figure in the dance - a Hobby Horse or a Fool whose job is to dance around and get in the way. This side, who had the bright idea of performing the old Oxfordshire dance of "Shepherd's Hey" in a swimming pool, may not really need a Fool...??? Click the link here for the orchestral version of Shepherd's Hey, in case you want to hear it. It does not have much in common with the trombonist's version in the pool :D

.... specially since the men are singing in a different key to the trombone.

Here's "Shepherd's Hey" performed in the traditional way by the Moulton Men. Their Fool is an old woman who doesn't do a great deal, but some fools really mess things up. You will hear both groups singing (or shouting) the words of the old folk song before they start to dance.

Occasionally efforts are made to interest foreigners in morris dancing. I found part of an American documentary of 1929, in which dancers from the English Folk Dance and Song Society performed in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY.

The dancers on the 1929 film do a number of well known dances including the Furry Dance which is a big deal in Helston, Cornwall each May ...

The first dance on the 1929 film is a sword dance, popular in the North of England. (You may notice that the music is quite Celtic.) This type of dancing is also alive and well today. Here are some modern rapper dancers, in a more congenial (i.e slightly drunken) atmosphere. As you hear, the crowd wanted them to "get on with it!"

And talking of early films, the ones below were shot in 1912 - silent, of course. The English Folk Dance and Song Society has an archive with details of many of these traditional dances, which they collected from country folk at a time when they were seen as hopelessly old fashioned and were at some risk of dying out (even though they never did die).

The gym slip the lady is wearing is a bit disconcerting, but of course in those days the gym slip didn't really signify "St. Trinians" or "Kinky school dinners club" like it does now. It was a light and practical garment used by women who wanted to do physical exercise and didn't want to have to do it wearing hideous whalebone-corseted outfits like this:

Another thing I love about Morris is that many of the tunes are very old indeed. Here are the Gloucester Men rehearsing the Staines Morris, which I think is a nice old tune. (You'll see they have a Hobby Horse as their symbol, but they are not in costume for this rehearsal)

Morris probably aped the kind of dancing that the grand people did. I'm no dance expert, so if you are, please correct me. But I'm interested in the sort of rough "contretemps" step (I think that's the name of it) that the guys above do sometimes. Dancing like this must have looked comical and "country bumpkin" to the posh folk of the time.

Here for comparison is some historic upper class dancing, below. Every single movement of hands and feet and head had to be exact, and the rich folk spent hours and hours and hours learning how to acquire this accomplishment. It looks wonderful, even when danced to the rather scrapy music here.

How frustrating for poor people who were gifted dancers, because they would have been barred from these routines and forced to dance the morris. But in general, the laid back "everyone welcome" atmosphere of the morris probably meant that the rustics had a better time and more of a laugh than many grand folk.

I'll leave you with this delightful little movie of the decommissioning celebrations of the Xeikon printing machine at Mercian Labels, Ltd. A farewell dance to the trusty old machine by a Birmingham morris side, with the office staff joining in.

So, in conclusion, I am really sorry that this project isn't going to happen now. I think these guys have missed out on something good.

Wedding

I haven't ventured into Blogland for a few days, but I'll catch up soon. (Oh, hm, think I've said that before?) Lots has happened here, but of course the wedding was the great big event.

K and F decided not to put too many details online, but I would love to give you some snatches of the event.

They arranged and prepared it themselves, and the pic below shows the flowers for the bouquet, bought direct from a flower farm by K, the day before. She and her sister, plus a friend, made them into bouquets and posies. (The cup of tea is mine, as I lazed about and watched them work)

The flowers were so fine that I had to touch some of them to make sure they were real (they all were).

And we all loved the headdress, from her new sister-in-law. It was made by Lady Gaga's milliner, but it's less extreme and prettier than anything Lady G might wear. Of course everyone wanted to try it on! here it is on my head. (below)

K looked Elizabethan in it, like someone from the Tudor section of the National Portrait Gallery. She'd wanted shades of russet and gold, which suited her well and also suited her friend Matthew, who is Scottish, with lots of wavy ginger hair and a kilt. Matthew looked gorgeous, like a character from "Midsummer Night's Dream," He declined the honour of wearing it on the day :)

K had a plain off white dress with an antique gold and pearl brooch lent by her aunt, and she wore a long cream shawl embroidered with gold which my grandmother got in India many years ago.

The ceremony happened in Westminster Registry Office with a really cool registrar who seemed to love his job. Afterwards we cheered them down the steps with bubbles and confetti and had a tour of the city in a couple of red London double-deckers...

,.. ending up at the reception 45 minutes later. The hall dates from about 1930 in art deco style. T and I know it well, since before K was born we used to go to a lot of concerts and meetings there. In ye olde days when we went, it was a bit run down, but now it's right back in fashion and well painted up.

All the decorations were home made. K's friends had a paper cutting workshop and the style harmonized with the 1930s decor. (Here's a mermaid)

The wedding invites were in origami and a pretty mobile hung over the band. Those are origami cranes. The mobile was smaller and more impressionistic than a Japanese couple would have done it, apparently. But although it was definitely a Western "take" on the Japanese idea, it was a beautiful object, swaying and rustling in the slightest breeze.

The cake didn't come from Choccywoccydoodah after all. A baker in trendy Hackney did a delightful one, with three layers in different flavours, based on things they like. For instance, they love their canal boat ....

and they support Aston Villa football team, so the cake was themed around those things, in canal-art style.

LOTS of speeches. The English ones were touching, heartfelt and rather serious, the Irish ones were great and crazy and hilarious. Now we've got the Irish link, T and I will have to start being eejits too. Songs, stories, dancing around and general fun, with a delivery of chips at 11 PM and more partying the day after.

It was nice chatting with friends and relatives old and new, And we had such fun that some of us are getting together to see the flotilla on the Thames on 3 June, in honour of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, (of which more later.)

T and I helped with the day-after clearing up. And the washing up. These boxes are full of glasses and I've personally washed every single one.

And T. got on the ladder and put up a hook for the origami mobile. We've hung it in the living room as a reminder of a really good day.

Now life has whirled on, but we will always remember what a great wedding it was, a warm, friendly and happy time.

The Past Week

I've appreciated the many, many interesting comments on my last post. I want to reply very soon. (And also, leave my own comments everyone's blogs too). But .... THE WEDDING is approaching, so I think I might be slower than usual - sorry! But I will do it in the end.

Meanwhile, here are some random images from what I've been thinking about and doing in the last few days, when I have been out of London and away from my computer.

First, I've been thinking about flowers. K is getting flowers from a farm and making her own posies, she's so creative and I know will make a good job of it. Think I will be helping with that, (holding the flowers, holding the twine, that kind of thing, I suspect...) I have never made bouquets before.

I've also been thinking about wedding presents. NOT this...., we don't plan to give K and F this chair shaped like a human head! thank goodness, eh?

I'm including it here because when I saw it in a shop the other day I thought how awful it would be to get it for a wedding present. I mean, great if you specially want it, but as a present from your Auntie Matilda, it surely ticks all the wrong boxes? Huge, weird, probably won't go with any other furniture, is too big to hide away and impossible to pretend you dropped it and broke it, if Auntie Matilda should happen to visit.

So I'm hoping our present will be more acceptable for K and F!

A piglet. Yesterday before returning to London I went for a little walk in the country. Came across

two piglets who took great fright at the sight of me and rushed, grunting anxiously, into the undergrowth. After about 30 seconds it occurred to one piglet that we might have something good to eat. First his head poked out of the vegetation, and he looked thoughtfully at us, and then he trotted cautiously out, grunting hopefully. His brother, not such a bold character, followed in a minute or two. I didn't have anything to offer but he seemed to really enjoy licking the gate frame. After all, what could be more delicious than gate oil and rust? Yum!

Cold weather. It's been freezing, and we had the heating on. You'll see Mr. Elephant made a BIG mistake in standing on the stove.

Driving. I don't like driving or sitting in a car much but we have clocked up several hundred miles this week. This little guy was well wrapped up for his travels in a vintage car I'd guess he doesn't go more than a few miles (or, rather, the car won't).

Not feeling very well for several days

(yes, that's Klaus Nomi, not me. Just an impression of how I felt, you understand...)

I am glad to say that we are both now feeling okay.

Bluebell woods. With our super-sunny April, many bluebells were fooled into coming out way too early. I was afraid that we'd miss the usual Maytime delight of the woods carpeted in misty purplish- blue, but somehow most bluebells managed to bide their time.

It was great being in the woods and smelling their particular scent which always says "Maytime" to me.

And although the blossoms are falling, they can look beautiful - these were floating in a pond and show a different kind of beauty from when they were on the tree.

PS (later) Something went wrong when I first uploaded this - so the last picture, of petals floating on a lake, disappeared. I've just noticed and have now put it back

Scandal, the V & A and Feeling Ill

It's been a bit glum round Woolf Villa because T and I aren't feeling well. Today we decided to brave the cold, dreary weather and cycle to the Victoria and Albert Museum, our favourite museum. There's always something new to see.

Today it was a bronze mantel decoration called SCANDAL, made in 1930 by a sculptor called Charles Sargeant Jagger. This faded old magazine photo shows what "Scandal" looked like a fashionable London house in the 1930s. But there is more to it than meets the eye.

Take a close look and you will see it shows a pair of naked young lovers kissing passionately (below)

They are surrounded by spiteful old gossiping ladies, pointing their fingers and throwing up their hands, ugly figures but beautifully done. Look at this old hag's patterned dress.

Or this fat old lady below, with glasses and double chin? And her friend, to the right, gasping in horror.

The work was commissioned by Henry Mond (later Lord Melchett) and his wife Gwen. They had been targets of gossip for living in a three way relationship with Gilbert Cannan, a friend of D.H. Lawrence.

Jaggers also made a fire basket for the Monds with two long-necked art deco cats, a double face (representing two-facedness) and the front view of a parrot (signifying mindless copying prattle).

I found these pieces clever and fascinating yet also rather unpleasant - just as catty as any of the gossips the Monds objected to. I have no problem with people doing anything they like in their private lives as long as it doesn't break the law or harm the vulnerable. So I'm sympathetic to the young lovers. But I kept imagining these rich, privileged people flouting convention, then petulantly hiring an artist at vast expense to show how cross they were at being disapproved of.

Still, two guys next to me were highly amused at "Scandal" and thought the Monds must have been very cool - a feisty, likeable pair of jokers.

What do you think?

After considering "Scandal" T and I looked at other newly displayed sculptures. Some of them look a bit comical to modern eyes, so we amused ourselves by giving them alternative captions. Here's the god of gardening, conquering an intruder in the vegetable patch with his trusty fork

And these angels are surely singing at a karaoke party

Didn't feel like joking about this powerful bust of Oliver Cromwell, who defeated King Charles II in 1650. He was a strong, clever and ruthless man, and I'm still not sure if he was a hero or a villain, but this sculpture has such presence, and look at his clothes - a lion's head on his shoulder

and what does that face on his breast mean? (here's a close up of it, below).

Our plan was to see the British Design exhibition. There's a slew of accompanying events, including a wonderful free photography show with tantalising samples of many famous and less famous photographers.

The "main" show, "British Design 1948-2012, Innovation in the Modern Age" was okay but not up to other recent V & A shows.

Still, it had some good things. I really loved the wonderful designs and models for Coventry Cathedral. This cathedral, like one-time architectural showpiece town of Coventry itself, is currently well out of fashion, and even its website doesn't particularly showcase its architecture. I hope that will change, because I love it. Here's some of the cathedral's silver plate against a magnificent sample of a detail of Graham Sutherland's huge Aubusson tapestry that hangs behind the altar.

Apart from Coventry and some interesting stamp designs by the wonderful David Gentleman, the show contained far too many old chestnuts like the 1973 Hovis ad (once voted Britain's favourite in some poll) and Concorde, which was half French anyway. There were short clips of well known films like "Blow Up" (actually an international movie) and things the V & A was selling replicas of in its shop, like the Patrick Ryland fish toy - charming, but hardly an icon of modern design.

I also blinked at how sponsors Ernst and Young glossed over the demise of manufacturing - design culture had "moved from manufacturing to innovative financial, retail and creative services" they said.

So now we have post-industrial places like Stoke on Trent

photo: Geograph

and Middlesbrough (below) as exciting powerhouses of modern design? Er, not exactly.

Photo: Derelictplaces

In fact, not even powerhouses of creative financial design, whatever that is...

Afterwards, I bought a book at the museum shop and my purchase was put into a carrier bag printed with a vintage 1950s design representing "England". As you see it has a castle, some trees, a huntsman with a horn and a bloke in a top hat brandishing a whip.

So not sure I give a thumbs up to this rather unfocused show ... but we went with our brilliant National Art Pass and got in at a huge discount. And then we had a really excellent scone and cup of tea in the gorgeous Victorian cafe

And both of us felt much better for our visit to the V & A.

I have something to do this coming week, and I won't have much internet access so may not post again for a few days, but I'll try to enable the comments.

Jack-in-the-Green

Signs of the past are always to be found in London if you look for them. Nigel, a close member of my extended family, is keen on the folklore of South London, and the strange beliefs that people have held over the ages. He's always finding snippets of uncommon history and he knows a lot of people who are into strange folkloric things at South East London Folklore Society

Since it's early May, I'd been wondering if Nigel was interested in Jack-in-the-Green. This old tradition was associated with chimney-sweeps (in the days when people had chimney sweeps), and essentially it involves dressing up as a bush or shrub in early May, and dancing around.

The ancient Primula variety "Jack in the Green"

Lots of old books refer to the unruly folk who used to dress up in pillars of leaves and brawl around in the streets of London scattering leaves and flowers as they went.

I was interested in this 18th century print showing a jack-in-the-green with a puffing chimney in the background. I'd guess it's a political satire, because the gold-laced, blacked-up figure in the foreground is far too grandly dressed to be a chimney sweep, although he's dancing with a very rough looking lady. My guess is that he was a politiican, but what was his crime? If you have further info about this print, let me know!

Although London had more sweeps than anywhere else, jacks-in-the-green were (and are) widespread. They still are, as you can see from this link to a big celebration in Hastings, Sussex, next weekend).

Anyway it turns out Nigel IS interested in Jack-in-the-Green, and I spotted on his blog that he followed the Deptford Jack-in-the-Green the other day. (That's a picture from his blog at the top of my post, and here's a link to the rest of it.

I doubt if any of these folk from Deptford have ever squeezed themselves up a hot chimney. But meanings of folk events are constantly changing to fit the times, and I'm glad that this old tradition still has a place in modern life.

Next year, I hope I'll remember to find a jack-in-the-green celebration. I'd go to Hastings if we didn't have house guests here in London.

PS I've put a Flower for Leontien on my other blog, better late than never.

The Big (Wet) Ride

Regular readers of this blog might know that I like cycling. It is the cheapest, healthiest and most fun way to get about, or at least it would be if the British weather was better and London was more bike-friendly. This picture shows a bike box on Waterloo bridge - a space where cyclists can get ahead of traffic. But can you spot the bike LANE?

The bike lane is in the little dark space between those two buses. Imagine when the traffic roars away and you're between the canyon-like walls of buses and lorries. There have been fatalities.

So on Saturday T and I decided to go on the London Cycling Campaign's Big Ride. It's aimed at convincing London's mayoral candidates that London needs to be as safe for cyclists as Holland. .

The D-I-S-G-U-S-T-I-N-G, rainy freezing weather hadn't deterred several thousand people from gathering in Hyde Park with bikes of all shapes and sizes.

including some that were downright odd

Many people brought their hardy little kids. This little girl has a huge red butterfly painted on her face, I don't know why. Perhaps "going to the facepainter" was a bribe to persuade her to sit in her cycle cape for 3 hours waving her London Cycling Campaign flag..

The fashionable child below not only had matching suit and accessories but was well prepared with a pink parasol too.

This one looked a bit quizzical. He and his brother were being pedalled along by their dad. Daddy must have the strength of a lion, at least if he takes them anywhere with hills in that massive rig.

This one is attached onto her mum's bike, and Mum has also attached a zebra to keep the child happy.

Many people came in fancy dress. The gentleman below picks up the Dutch theme. (I do approve of Dutch attitudes to cycling, but ... *whisper whisper* you just try driving in Amsterdam at night, with all those crazy cyclists whizzing along with no lights - terrifying...)

The brolly hat shown below seemed colourful and elegant, yet practical. Well, practical anyway. Or maybe just colourful.

This cyclist brought along loads of balloons and made himself a striking hat. Here you see him offering me a tiny balloon the size of a plum.

This man is riding a tandem around Britain with a skeleton on the back. He's cycling to raise money for academic scholarships and has an interesting website here.

(Sorry for the lousy pictures by the way, they were taken on my phone since my camera doesn't like water. )

Some people looked very interesting. A classic bike club came along - I admired this 1920's cyclists's hat.

And this man totally looks the part of "cyclist"

Lots of people liked the bike glimpsed below - it's made of bamboo. And what about those tattoos? one on each calf, AND fab Goretex bootees - think I'll get some of those boots.

The ride was very slow at first, with a lot of waiting around to get through traffic lights - it took about five minutes of waiting at each light, and we were towards the front. Goodness knows what it was like at the back where the crowds had really built up.

We went round Hyde Park, along Piccadilly, past Fortnum and Mason's food emporium, beautifully decorated for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee (I much prefer it to the Olympics, which are overshadowing it.) Those are the Queen's Beasts on Fortnum's facade. Click here if you want to know what the Queen's Beasts are)

We got wetter and wetter and wetter. These are my hands, going numb, cold water everywhere.

I snapped this patient, dripping little boy when we reached Trafalgar Square.

This participant had the inspiring slogan "Never Too Old" and a balloon to prove it.

The bobby on his bike kept a watchful eye on the proceedings. I've always thought it's a pity they don't issue them with policemen's cycle helmets, dark blue with a badge on the front.

There was a long fast run to Victoria embankment, the riders spread out and we ended up whizzing under an arch of red balloons, feeling glad we had made our point that the present system for bikes in London upsets and annoys everyone, and really needs to be changed.

We signed a petition ...

then T and I doubled back towards Waterloo Bridge (site of that awful cycle lane in my top picture).

We had to carry out bikes up four flights of stairs to get to the bridge, but it was worth it to get to the sanctuary of Somerset House with its excellent coffee shop. Below us on the Embankment, the cyclists streamed on towards the finish..

We decided to try and buy a teeshirt like this man's (below). In case you can't read it, it is modelled on a wartime poster which says KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON. The teeshirt designer has added one word, to make it say KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON CYCLING.

Anyway, if you want to vote for the most cycle friendly candidates in the London elections, it's recommended to put Green first and Labour second on the ballot paper. Whether I can bring myself to vote for Ken Livingstone, is another matter though....