Corporate Morris Dancing again

Peter J, Allen and I were hired again by Rampage Events to teach morris dancing to teams from a different organisation. This time it was CBS, who weren't natural bonders like the Loctite people. We mistook the initials - maybe it was GBH..? (cue stick clashing...) they still enjoyed it though.

We only managed to see 5 of the 7 teams that were coming down the river. Maybe they got lost and took a wrong turn - up the Fleet or the Effra or maybe the Wandle?

Here's Allen keeping supple by dancing a Princess Royal while waiting for the trainees:

Eventually the chickens needed feeding and we had to go home. But spending an afternoon chatting in the sun outside a pub isn't too hard a chore...

Chelsea (and Kensington)

At the Anglesea Arms, and then the Scarsdale Tavern in Edwardes Square

the weather had been threatening downpours all day, but the magic of the morris kept it away, and we had a nice evening's dancing. And pleasant audiences too.

Bloomsbury Tour

at the Norfolk Arms and Rugby Tavern (sorry I only had my camera out at the Norfolk Arms)

we were joined by Dan Kenning, who is now working in these part, but work is too busy to bring whites too :(

The Norfolk Arms is quite a gastro-pub these days, but the patrons still enjoyed the show, as did a coach-load of american tourists, before going off to investigate the darker recesses of London

Myrtle came along as official morris-beast-in-training

and enjoyed dancing Bonny Green Garters

after that over at the Rugby tavern. It was the barman's first day, poor thing, and I've been very lapse lately in warning pubs we were coming. He was getting worried that he'd lose his job by the pub losing it's licence on the first day he'd worked. 

We reassured him that Morris wasn't included in the music licensing laws "because it isn't entertaining" (?) 

and even more:

that the chances of us still noisily dancing after 10pm were fairly slim....

Loctite Adhesives

Peter J, Allan and I were booked for the day by Rampage Events doing a corporate team building exercise for Loctite Adhesives. The contestants were going down the river and doing different tasks at points on the way - a bit like the Generation Game.

They stuck with it and were very tenacious. 

We decided to score for style, effort, energy and beards. 

Not many points on the beard front

Good fun, and loads of points to all of them for everything else

Fitzrovia: Duke of York and The Fitzroy Tavern

We were joined by a mystery man in the audience who seemed to know all the dances: Andy Roberts in civvies, Andy's now the foreman of Allington Morris, having moved away from London.

There was a stag night in a local pub, so we blessed the groom-to-be by dancing a Rose around him guaranteeing plenty of fertility

Flagons of beer around...

Unfortunately no photos; from me, anyhow - I forgot my camera.

Allan wasn't too upset...

A few of us had thought we might be able to come for a garden party his local Quakers were organising.

In the event only Antony made it, and I'd phoned up to say I wouldn't after Allan had left home. I had visions of Allan arriving with no-one else around. 

In the end however they found someone who knew the tunes, borrowed a recorder, and did some jigs.

Sheltered Schemes in Notting Hill

Another visit to the sheltered schemes where I work. Much enjoyed by all.

Kensington Tour

No photos of the Elephant and Castle yet, though some may follow from a generous member of the audience.
We were a fairly bare side - someone else's diary crashed this time...
But we still managed to do a good show, to an appreciative audience.

After that up to the Uxbridge Arms, where we were watched by 5 year old Matthew, who'd stayed up specially - " and this is a special dance for Matthew..." and the locals, who are a good bunch. One went to the same schools as Noah and Ezra, and they all agreed they were the best schools ever.

One group had thought they might have a quiet evening to discuss the forthcoming redesign of their webpage - buckman-coats.com. It's going to be what Burberry etc. wanted to be but didn't. Apparently. We were assured that Lord Buckman himself would have been an avid morris dancer if there was a lady to impress.

And Ezra danced a jig all by himself!!




Next time he'll have to do it with bells on!
...but very well done...

Thaxted Ring meeting

Off for the Thaxted Morris Ring meeting, here's Ezra and myself dancing a jig in Finchingfield
Noah and Ezra heading for the coach.
those are eggs, and they didn't break them.
this should hopefully (if I've done it right) be a bit of the background sound from the weekend - everywhere there's bells ringing.

Highbury Tour - a lesson in calendar management

... for me
I'd done a first draft of the programme, then Allan pointed out that Thursday 22nd May was the same as the LP country dance evening. I seem to have just changed the "Thursday" to "Tuesday" and forgot the date. When Antony pointed out that there wasn't a Tuesday 22nd I looked in my calendar, where I had it down as Thursday, and though I must have meant the Thursday.

So it's probably my fault that not many men came along...



The photo is of Ezra warming up by bouncing a ball against the Compton Arms.
However he did treat the audience to a double jig with Allan, and Allan did a Princess Royal Jig too

Peter Judge joined us down at the Marquess Tavern, and we found a surprising number of dances that we could dance with 3 dancers, and either Peter on concertina or myself on recorder.
No photos of that I'm afraid as hands were busy.

A pleasant audience, and we enjoyed the evening, so all was not in vain.

Cecil Sharp House May Fair, Part II

Liz Hall, the Chair of the Friends of Cecil Sharp House, took these photos. Thanks Liz!

Cecil Sharp House May Fair, 17 May

We met a London Pride Jig Doll










Enjoyed the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library











And took part in the May festitivities.








Kitty danced her first jig in public - but don't call her a jig doll!
No photos of the morris or other dancing yet...

Warm up act for Danny and the Champions

A very pleasant evening, dancing at the Betsy Trotwood pub in Clerkenwell, as guests of Danny and the Champions of the World (Myspace preview here), and then listening to the bands.




Comparing accordion playing styles:

and crashing out in the cellars listening to music:

Some more photos from Kew Gardens

Woodland Wonders in Kew

Last year's Woodland Wonders at Kew were a bit of a wash-out, weather-wise, but we enjoyed them. This year, there was sunshine and big audiences with lots of children.





No photos of the whole side dancing, as my camera hand was busy







We had plenty of dancers, and Kitty and Hannah both performed.

Kitty joined in the maypole dancing.







Circulus were there again. Well worth checking out their Myspace page for medieval hippy music.






And there was a zipwire!


One small thing we could improve for next year: a volunteer to bring beer!

London Pride in Bronze...

I've passed this statue a million times, and never noticed the title.









We're pleased sculptor Frank Dobson decided to commemorate us









but he appears to have forgotten our hats and other regalia (and presciently sculpted women)

Mayday 2008 part 2 - dancing with Leaves

This year, the Deptford Jack progressed along the Thames between London Bridge and Waterloo. Peter K, Peter J. Ezra and Kitty joined in - catching up with the Jack just before Shakespeare's Globe.








We carried on to the Founders Arms, and then past Gabriel's Wharf











and on to the Bull Ring roundabout where -








the Jack took a sudden turn, under a railway arch and through a narrow doorway, into the Leaky Cauldron - sorry, the Hole in the Wall pub, but it all looked a bit Harry Potter to us.

Mayday 2008 part 1 - Dancing with Bees

This year, before we joined the Deptford Jack in the Green, Peter K, Peter J, Ezra and Kitty had an appointment with some bees.







On the roof of the Royal Festival Hall, is the Royal Festival Hive an experiment in keeping bees in a very urban environment, and part of a campaign to alert us all to the danger our bee population faces from disease and pollution.

We were invited along to dance for the bees, and produced a couple of jigs.


Myrtle enjoyed being on the roof of the Hall, and










Peter K and Kitty both got to taste the Royal Festival Honey






Photos mostly by Rebecca Fielding.

Here's some photos of Nkem on St George's Day. We're waiting now to see the documentary!
What impressed me was Nkem dancing on the way back after filming the final bit...

Out on St George's Day

Hooray for St George! We danced out with our friends, New Esperance, as well as the Hammersmith Men and the Old Palace Clog. No photos of us yet but we're hoping... Somehow, we're usually too busy dancing to take photos.

This one, from the Esps' Facebook page shows even a broken ankle can't stop a Morris dancer - or not Fiona, anyway!

London Pride Morris featured a first performance by Nkem, and also by Hannah Judge (that's why we were London Pride Morris on this occasion, not London Pride Morris Men).

Thanks for having us, ladies - we enjoyed the dancing of you and your other guests immensely!

Kitty Joins LP at the Tooting Bec Lido

Kitty danced out with London Pride for the first time at the Cold Water Swimming championships at Tooting Bec Lido.

It was a crisp sunny day, with plenty of audience - and the opportunity for a cold swim and/or a dip in a hot tub afterwards!

Our next booking -- Feb 9 in icy waters

We've been booked for the World Winter Swimming Championships on February 9 at Tooting Bec Lido.

We don't have to swim - we're dancing. And I think we could probably be described as the warm up act.

London Pride Feast 2007

It's a month since our feast now. We enjoyed excellent food courtesy of Michaal, and played, sand and danced in a very nice hall in Battersea.

The only photo I have is this one of the Kanssens in action.

And the biggest item of business was our decision to open up London Pride to include a mixed side, including Hannah and Kitty Judge - and anyone else who would like to join us, of course!

A festive display for London Lite

In the words of Cosmo Brown, "Dignity, always dignity".

London Lite asked us to prostitute our art, and dance with tinsel and funny hats for a promotional calendar. We said yes, for a small donation, so we spent some time with photographer Richard Ansett on Monday night. He clearly has the gift of getting the best out of his subjects - here you see him capturing the umpteenth take of a festive leap.

We like his other work, and hope to see more of him.

We also hope to see the final calendar.

Dancing with the Esps

We had a nice Saturday afternoon, on 29 September, dancing with New Esperance and some other sides. They were in London for the Morris Federation AGM - and taking a tour round some of the best pubs near London Bridge - so we joined them and, with the loan of a musician, took part.

Thanks for having us!

Our own section in Waterstones?

Waterstones in Piccadilly has a section labelled London Pride!

Strange though, I don't recognise any of the chaps on the magazines in the picture...

Transformer Morris!

Practices start on Monday and this is the new uniform.






Here's Ezra wearing the headgear. Everyone else will be keeping to the usual costume.







We were given a Transformer helmet by a man in the audience at the Canal Festival.

It also suits Noah.


























Help! It's stuck!

Angel Canal Festival

This was yet another enjoyable Canal Festival. We don't have any photos of us dancing yet, just climbing a wall we found before our last show. but we certainly got involved in plenty of other activities.

Before that, we paddled a large canoe - and chaollenged the Islington Boat Club to a canoe race next year (and maybe a dance-off!).

If we follow up on this, the canoe team will need to take spare clothes next year.



We had plenty of audience for all three shows, and plenty of dancers too. Roland joined us for all three shows, and extended his repertoire to Bampton Glory Shears as well as the sidestep - well done!

During out last show the audience included two lads on bikes, who earlier had to be persuaded to give back Peter K's hat, when it fell off from the top of the climbing wall. They seemed strangely impressed by the dancing.

But some young men were even more enthusiastic, joining in Bonny Green. One of them gave his transformer robot mask to the Kanssens. Expect some robotic Morris in future

Oh, and there was an angel, on a Segway scooter. There's a video here.

Morris versus Hip-Hop

We nearly got involved in this video.

Moulton Morris take on Hip Hop dancers in a "viral" advert for Ribena.

They didn't need us in the end, but I'm putting the link here, as it might amuse you...

Photos from Cecil Sharp House's May Fete

We've been sent some photos from our show at Cecil Sharp House back in May.






For several of us, it was the first time dancing at Cecil Sharp House. We felt pleased and honoured, and enjoyed the nice shiny dance floor you can see in these photos.





Present were the two Peters, Antony, Nick, Michael Runge, Noah and Jeremy.







Jeremy was there in any case, playing for a children's display of Maypole and Garland dancing.










Thanks to Liz Hall for sending the photos!

TMO Fun Day, Holland Park 21 July

This picture pretty much sums up the TMO Fun Day, I'm afraid.

Some people there were having fun. There were moments when we were having fun, too.

With four men plus musician, we managed to put on a show in the drizzle, and then another one in the feeble emerging sunshine.

It had its dispiriting aspects, but the barbecue was tasty. And some children were quite enthusiastic to join in. Including one ten-year old girl that wanted to "borrow" a stick, and then got quite energetic with her sticking practice....

There could be official photos later....

Who was that Baroness?

We met a Baroness on our Fitzrovia tour, on 17 July. She came up to us at the Duke of York, very pleased to see Morris on the streets.

It turns out she was one of the peers who moved for Morris to be exempt from the Licensing Act 2003. The Act required all premises that have entertainment to have a licence. Morris was exempted, following an amendment in the House of Lords.

But who was she? We didn't catch her name except that it began with a B. Happily, the Morris Discussion List helped out. She is Baroness Buscombe, and she did indeed work on amendments to the Licensing Bill, to make it less hostile to live entertainment.

We thought she said Baroness Buskin (or possibly Busking?), and wondered if she had a professional interest in the Act. At the time of the debate, she was in fact Opposition spokesman for Culture Media and Sport in the House of Lords. Here's TheyWorkForYou's profile of the Noble Lady.

An exemption for Morris dance is a very good thing. Without it, we'd have to argue that Morris was automatically exempt because it isn't very entertaining, and who knows where that might lead?

We were so overwhelmed to have a peer in the audience, we made a bit of a fluff of Dearest Dickie.

Following that, at the Fitzroy Tavern - a pub we've been dancing at for probably 40 years or more - Richard Wyber turned up in his dog collar, added a fine touch to some Bampton, and talked to the audience.





Ezra was there











So was Antony











As well as Peter and Nick and Allan (and me).

More Lensbury photos

These aren't so good as the official chap's pictures of our dancing at The Lensbury Club Ball , but I think they give a flavour of what it was like.

Firstly, here's the Kanssen double jig outside the front entrance





Notice the lack of audience. Cars pulled up and people went inside.








We consider whether to change our hats from the traditional bowlers, or at least to allow Exra to wear a bearskin, to adjust the height differential....









... which looks particularly striking here. We danced in amongst the diners later, to some approval.







As the light fades and my phone struggles, Michael B looks almost incorporeal.

Sheltered Housing in Notting Hill

It wasn't a very promising evening, with rainclouds threatening.

And when we got to the first stand they turned out to have got their wires crossed and had all waited for us the week before. (I've been on Jury Service so communication has been difficult.)

So we decided to repair to the pub before the next engagement, which turned out to be a good idea as the rain poured down just as we got there, and in the time that we would otherwise be walking between the two places.
"It never rains on the Morris" - "because they're in the pub"

We danced inside, even though it had by then stopped raining. As you can see, there was just about enough room for us and our audience.

Afterwards we joined the residents for Sundanese food laid on by one of them, Eh'san Khogali.

Lensbury Club Summer Ball

We danced for the Lensbury Club's Summer Ball, a very prestigious do; with guests in DJs etc. (photos from the photographer for the evening, Chris Bissell)








They'd decided on a "Home Nations" theme this year, so guests were greeted by Pipe Major Roger Huth, us dancing on the lawn, the London Male Voice Choir and then irish band Waggle Taggle playing.

It was a lovely evening. Roger turned out to be a good sport and we persuaded him to play a couple of morris tunes on his pipes. When I looked him up later I found he's actually the "Pipe Major" of the Piping Society of London. I wish I had the time to take him up o