Editing Morris dance (section)

===North West===
[[Image:North West Morris 20040501.jpg|thumb|Horwich Prize Medal Morris Men, a North West Morris side based near Bolton]]
The North West tradition is named after the North West region of England and has always featured mixed and female sides, at least as far back as the 18th century. There is a picture of Eccles Wakes painted in 1822 that shows both male and female dancers.<ref>'Eccles Fair Wakes - Mayday 1822' by [[Joseph Parry]]| [https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/eccles-wakes-fair-1822-165461/search/keyword:joseph-parry]</ref>

Historically, most sides danced in various styles of shoes or boots, although dancing in [[Clog (British)|clogs]] was also very common. Modern revivalist sides have tended more towards the wearing of clogs.<ref>[http://www.crimple.demon.co.uk/clogshoe.htm Use of clogs]</ref> The dances were often associated with [[rushcart]]s at the local [[Wakes week|wakes]] or holidays, and many teams rehearsed only for these occasions. While some teams continue to rehearse and dance for a single local festival or event (such as the Abram Morris Dancers<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://abram-morris-dancers.org.uk/|title=Abram Morris Dancers|website=abram-morris-dancers.org.uk}}</ref>), the majority of teams now rehearse throughout the year, with the majority of performances occurring in the spring and summer. The dances themselves were often called 'maze' or 'garland dances' as they involved a very intricate set of movements in which the dancers wove in and out of each other. Some dances were performed with a wicker hoop (decorated with garlands of flowers) held above the dancer's head. Some dancers were also associated with a tradition of [[mumming]] and hold a [[Pace Egg plays|pace egging play]] in their area.

[[File:ModernNorthwestMorris.jpg|thumb|left|North West Carnival Morris troupe dancing in [[Skipton]], Yorkshire in 1987]]
The [[Britannia Coconut Dancers]], named after a mill not far from [[Bacup]], are unique in the tradition, in that they used sawn bobbins to make a noise, and perform to the accompaniment of a brass ensemble. They are one of the few North West Morris groups that still black up their faces. It is said that the dance found its way to the area through Cornishmen who migrated to work in the [[Rossendale Valley|Rossendale]] quarries.

Carnival morris dancing shares a parallel history with North West morris dancing but began to evolve independently from around the 1940s onwards. It remains extremely popular with upwards of 8,000 current dancers.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wright |first=Lucy |date=2018 |chapter=Girls' Carnival Morris Dancing and the Politics of Participation |title=The Histories of the Morris in Britain |publisher=Vaughan Williams Memorial Library Press |pp=295–312 |url=https://media.efdss.org/docs/HOM/HOM%20Wright%20Girl%20Can%20Morris%20Dance.pdf}}</ref>

Girls' carnival morris dancing is highly competitive and characterised by precise, synchronous routines with pom-poms (or 'shakers') executed to pop music. It is performed almost exclusively by girls and women in Lancashire, Cheshire and parts of North Wales.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wright |first=Lucy |date=2017-04-03 |title=Girls' Carnival Morris Dancing and Contemporary Folk Dance Scholarship |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0015587X.2016.1231486 |journal=Folklore |language=en |volume=128 |issue=2 |pages=157–174 |doi=10.1080/0015587X.2016.1231486 |issn=0015-587X}}</ref> Performances typically take place in sports halls and community centres and participants more closely align with British carnival performances such as jazz kazoo marching bands, entertainer troupes and majorettes, than with the morris performances of the folk revival.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wright |first=Lucy |date=2019 |title="What a Troupe Family Does": Family as Transmission Narrative in the British Carnival Troupe Dancing Community |journal=Dance Research Journal |volume=37 |number=1 |pp=35–58 |url=https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/drs.2019.0252?journalCode=drs}}</ref>

In 2005, playwright Helen Blakeman staged 'The Morris' at the Liverpool Everyman, inspired by her childhood experience as a carnival morris dancer.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.everymanplayhouse.com/whats-on/the-morris |title=The Morris |date=2005 |publisher=Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse |access-date=19 March 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2005/may/16/theatre1 |title=The Morris |work=The Guardian |last=Hickling |first=Alfred |date=16 May 2005 |access-date=19 March 2025}}</ref> In 2017, an exhibition of photographs taken at a carnival morris dancing competition in Southport by artist, Lucy Wright was presented at Cecil Sharp House.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://museumcrush.org/this-girl-can-morris-lucy-wright-photos-celebrate-girls-morris-dancing/ | title=This girl can Morris: Photographer Lucy Wright celebrates girls' Morris Dancing |last=Moss |first=Richard |work=Museum Crush |date=5 April 2017 |access-date=19 March 2025}}</ref>