Who are Red Raven Morris?

We maintain traditional Morris in and around Melbourne; amusing ourselves, and occasionally the public, since we formed in 2005. We dance several village traditions: especially Fieldtown, Adderbury, Brackley, Abingdon, Bampton and Hinton.

We also dance Border Morris as well as occasionally attempt some Sword Dancing.

And at Christmas or other times we may perform a medieval resurrection/redemption play known as a Mummers play.

What is Morris Dancing?
It is as English as spotted dick and at least 500 years old…

Morris Dancing is usually performed by a team of dancers opposite one another in two lines of three, with handkerchiefs or sticks. Some think that it dates from pre-Christian times, celebrating the cycles of the year, especially the Mayday resurrection; but it may relate to ‘moorish’ – dances brought back to England at the time of the Crusades. In modern times, Morris was revived around 1900, through the collecting work of Cecil Sharp and others, and yet again in the 1970s.

There are several major dance traditions:

Cotswold Morris: from the Cotswolds area to the west of Oxford, in Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire. Dancers traditionally wear white shirts, coloured waistcoats or baldrics (sashes), white or black trousers, black shoes and distinctive hats – often top hats or straw hats.
Border Morris: from the English–Welsh border country. Dancers usually wear multi-coloured ragged-strip clothing, with distinctive hats, and blackened faces.
Clog Dancing: from northwest England, i.e. Cumbria, Lancashire, and Cheshire. Dancers wear distinctive waistcoats and sashes, breeches, coloured stockings and heavy wooden clogs.
Sword Dancing: from Yorkshire and the northeast. Yorkshire Longsword dancers carry long wooden or metal swords whereas Rapper Swords (from Durham and Northumberland) use shorter flexible-steel ‘rappers’.

How can I join?

Why not come along to one of our practice evenings and give it a try? It’s not hard and you might even enjoy it! We always give a hearty welcome to new members.

We practise on Tuesdays – usually the second Tuesday of the month, at:
New venue tba
We start at 7.30pm and go to around 9.30pm.

How can you contact us?
If you would like to try Morris Dancing, or book us for an event, contact:

Neil Barker
9846 5280, or neil.barker@fostersgroup.com

Wayne Burtt
5348 4430, or wayneburtt@bigpond.com