Editing Morris dance (section)

==History in England==
[[Image:Will Kemp Elizabethan Clown Jig.jpg|thumb|Illustration of William Kempe Morris dancing from London to Norwich in 1600]]
[[Image:Morris dancers Thames at Richmond.jpg|thumb|Morris dancers and a [[hobby horse]]: detail of ''Thames at Richmond, with the Old Royal Palace'', {{circa}} 1620]]
The earliest (15th-century) references place the Morris dance in a courtly setting. The dance became part of performances for the lower classes by the later 16th century. [[Henry VIII]] owned a gold salt cellar which depicted a Morris dance with five dancers and a "tabrett". A "tabret" is a small [[Tabor (instrument)|tabor]] drum.<ref>Francis Palgrave, [https://archive.org/details/antientkalendars02grea_0/page/286/mode/2up ''Antient Kalendars of the Exchequer'', vol. 2 (London, 1836), pp. 286-7]</ref> On 4 January 1552, [[George Ferrers]], the [[Lord of Misrule]] of [[Edward VI of England|Edward VI]], put on a show in London which included "mores danse, dansyng with a tabret".<ref>Clare Sponsler, 'Morris Dance and Theatre History', Thomas Postlewait, ''Representing the Past: Essays in Performance Historiography'' (Iowa, 2010), p. 96: John Gough Nichols, [https://archive.org/details/diaryofhenrymach00machrich/page/12/mode/2up ''Diary of Henry Machyn'' (London: Camden Society, 1848), p. 13]</ref> In 1600, the [[William Shakespeare|Shakespearean]] actor [[William Kempe]] Morris danced from London to [[Norwich]], an event chronicled in his ''Nine Daies Wonder'' (1600).

Almost nothing is known about the folk dances of England before the mid-17th century.<ref>the first description of such dances was [[John Playford]]'s ''[[The English Dancing Master]]'', published in 1651.</ref> While it is possible to speculate on the transition of "Morris dancing" from the courtly to a rural setting, it may have acquired elements of pre-Elizabethan (medieval) folk dance, such proposals will always be based on an [[argument from silence]] as there is no direct record of what such elements would have looked like. In the [[Elizabethan]] period, there was significant cultural contact between Italy and England, and it has been suggested that much of what is now considered traditional English folk dance, and especially [[English country dance]], is descended from Italian dances imported in the 16th century.<ref>M. Dougal MacFinlay & M. Sion Andreas o Wynedd, [http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/lod/vol4/pretty_conceit.html#n1 To Tame a Pretty Conceit], volume 4 of the ''Letter of Dance'' (1996).</ref>

By the mid 17th century, the working peasantry took part in Morris dances, especially at [[Whitsun]].<ref>{{cite book | title = Llewellyn's 2012 Witches' Companion | publisher = Llewellyn Worldwide | year= 2011 | page = 125}}</ref> The [[Puritan]] government of [[Oliver Cromwell]], however, suppressed [[Parish ale|Whitsun ales]] and other such festivities. When the crown was restored by [[Charles II of England|Charles II]], the springtime festivals were restored. In particular, Whitsun Ales came to be celebrated on Whitsunday ([[Pentecost]]), as the date was close to the birthday of Charles II.{{clarify|date=September 2013}}<!--yes, but where is the reference that at the time, "Whitsun Ales" involved Morris dancing specifically?-->

A regional reference occurs in [[Horsham]], [[Sussex]] in 1750.<ref>{{cite news |title=Highwayman's 1750 confessions reveal 'unusual' ambivalence about gay sex |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/feb/13/highwaymans-1750-confessions-reveal-unusual-ambivalence-about-gay-sex |work=The Guardian |date=13 February 2021 |ref=highwayman |language=en}}</ref>

Morris dancing continued in popularity until the [[Industrial Revolution]] and its accompanying social changes. Four teams claim a continuous lineage{{Clarify|Continuous to when or to whom?|date=December 2012}} of tradition within their village or town: [[Abingdon, England|Abingdon]] (their Morris team was kept going by the Hemmings family),<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.communigate.co.uk/oxford/mrhemmingstraditionalabingdonmorrisdancers/index.phtml|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060402235702/http://communigate.co.uk/oxford/mrhemmingstraditionalabingdonmorrisdancers/index.phtml|url-status=dead|title=Hemmings tradition|archivedate=2 April 2006}}</ref> [[Bampton, Oxfordshire|Bampton]], [[Headington Quarry]], and [[Chipping Campden]].<ref>[http://www.chippingcampdenmorrismen.org.uk/ Chipping Campden Morris Men | Homepage<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070208070428/http://www.chippingcampdenmorrismen.org.uk/ |date=8 February 2007 }}</ref> Other villages have revived their own traditions, and hundreds of other teams across the globe have adopted (and adapted) these traditions, or have created their own styles from the basic building blocks of Morris stepping and figures.

By the late 19th century, and in the [[West Country]] at least, Morris dancing was fast becoming more a local memory than an activity. D'Arcy Ferris (or de Ferrars), a Cheltenham-based singer, music teacher and organiser of pageants, became intrigued by the tradition and sought to revive it. He first encountered Morris in Bidford and organised its revival. Over the following years he took the side to several places in the West Country, from [[Malvern, Worcestershire|Malvern]] to [[Bicester]] and from Redditch to [[Moreton in Marsh]]. By 1910, he and Cecil Sharp were in correspondence on the subject.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Judge |first=Roy |year=1984 |title=D'Arcy Ferris and the Bidford Morris |journal=Folk Music Journal |volume=4 |issue=5 |pages=443–480 |jstor=4522157}}</ref>

Several English folklorists were responsible for recording and reviving the tradition in the early 20th century, often from a bare handful of surviving members of mid-19th-century village sides. Among these, the most notable are Cecil Sharp and [[Mary Neal]].

===Revival===
[[Boxing Day]] 1899 is widely regarded as the starting point for the Morris revival.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Burgess |first=Paul |date=2002 |title=The Mystery of the Whistling Sewermen: How Cecil Sharp Discovered Gloucestershire Morris Dancing |journal=Folk Music Journal |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=178–194 |jstor=4522669}}</ref> Cecil Sharp was visiting at a friend's house in [[Headington]], near Oxford, when the Headington Quarry Morris side arrived to perform. Sharp was intrigued by the music and collected several tunes from the side's musician, [[William Kimber]], including [[Country Gardens]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Country Gardens (Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection (at Clare College, Cambridge) CJS2/10/946)|url=https://www.vwml.org/record/CJS2/10/946|access-date=2020-11-17|website=The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library|language=en-gb}}</ref> A decade later he began collecting the dances, spurred and at first assisted by [[Mary Neal]], a founder of the [[Espérance Club]] (a dressmaking co-operative and club for young working women in London), and Herbert MacIlwaine, musical director of the Espérance Club. Neal was looking for dances for her girls to perform, and so the first revival performance was by young women in London.

===Organisations===
[[File:Morris dancers, York (26075936964).jpg|thumb|Morris dancers in North Yorkshire]]
In the first few decades of the 20th century, several men's sides were formed, and in 1934 the [[Morris Ring]] was founded by six revival sides:

*[[Cambridge]] Morris Men
*[[Letchworth]] Morris
*[[Thaxted]] Morris Men
*East Surrey Morris Men
*Greensleeves Morris Men (based in [[Wimbledon, London|Wimbledon]])
*[[Oxford]] Morris (which was not at the initial ring meeting at Thaxted but was influential in the creation of the Ring's constitution).<ref>{{Cite web |title=History {{!}} The Morris Ring |url=https://themorrisring.org/about-mr/history |access-date=2022-07-22 |website=themorrisring.org|date=19 August 2020 }}</ref>

In the 1950s and especially the 1960s, there was an explosion of new dance teams, some of them women's or mixed sides. At the time, there was often heated debate over the propriety and even legitimacy of women dancing the Morris, even though there is evidence as far back as the 16th century that there were female Morris dancers.<ref>[[William Kempe]], ''Kemps Nine Daies Wonder'' (1600) :"At Chelmsford, a Mayde not passing foureteene yeares of age, dwelling with one Sudley, my kinde friend, made request to her Master and Dame that she might daunce the Morrice with me in a great large roome. They being intreated, I was soone wonne to fit her with bels; besides she would haue the olde fashion, with napkins on her armes; and to our iumps we fell. A whole houre she held out; but then being ready to lye downe I left her off; but thus much in her praise, I would haue challenged the strongest man in Chelmsford, and amongst many I thinke few would haue done so much".</ref> There are now male, female and mixed sides to be found.

Partly because women's and mixed sides were not eligible for full membership of the Morris Ring (this has now changed), two other national (and international) bodies were formed, the [[Morris Federation]] and [[Open Morris]]. All three bodies provide communication, advice, insurance, instructionals (teaching sessions) and social and dancing opportunities to their members. The three bodies co-operate on some issues, while maintaining their distinct identities. An umbrella body that includes all three, the '''Joint Morris Organisation''', organises joint events and discusses issues that affect all members, such as access to both [[public liability insurance|public liability]] and personal insurance cover.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.morrisfed.org.uk/about/who-we-are/ |title=Morris Federation: Joint Morris Organisation |publisher=morrisfed.org.uk |access-date=5 July 2020}}</ref>