• Meet at the Palo Alto Baylands  (Take Embarcadero East from the US-101 to the end of the road, turn left, go past the airport, bear right, past the Duck Pond and Gate B, right again to the parking lots) by 5:30 am. Coffee and muffins will be available.
• Watch in entranced silence to the open strains of the haunting Abbots Bromley Horn Dance, followed by the welcoming processional of all the teams together.
• Join as everyone learns and dances Sellenger's Round (or The Beginning of the World).  Yes!   We actually teach it!
• Some Teams will be performing around the South Bay throughout the day.  Contact each team for specifics.
• For more information contact:
• Deer Creek Morris Men: email squire
• FFL, email
• Entanglement Sword or Mad Molly: email or call (408) 730-9622
• Wildcat Morris: email squire

(2007 info) San Diego with Moreton Bay Fig Morris

• Meet us before dawn at the top of Mount Soledad Park in La Jolla.  Arrive early to hike up the hill.
• 5:45 am - Dance up the sun on Soledad Mountain
• 6:30 am - Breakfast at Harry's in La Jolla
• Locations/Directions (directions are progressive):
  • Mira Mesa and I15: Take I15 South to SR163.  Keep Right on to SR163.  Take the SR52 exit to go West.  Go straight over I5 onto La Jolla Parkway.  Turn Left at the Torrey Pines Road Intersection.  Go up Hidden Valley Road until it T's into Via Capri.  Turn Right onto Via Capri.  Wind up the mountain until that T's into Soledad Road and La Jolla Scenic Drive.  Turn left onto Soledad Road and drive through the gate, if it is open, or park if it is not.
  • Soledad Mountain (From I5): Take Garnet West to Soledad Mountain Road. Turn Right/North on Soledad Mountain Road and go till it ends in a T. Turn Right onto La Jolla Scenic Drive. Drive into the Soledad Natural Park and look for morris dancers.
  • To Harry's - (from Soledad Mountain): From the park head back down Via Capri La Jolla Parkway and Torrey Pines Road.  Go West on Torrey Pines Road, Left on Girard at the Von's.  Harry's should be right there on your left (across from the Von's Parking lot).
• For more information, email squire or call (858) 689-8947
   

What IS Morris Dancing?

Morris dancing is a living tradition of English celebratory and ritual dance with live music, with origins shrouded in mystery and the mists of time.   Shakespeare used it in his plays and it was old then.  The dancers usually wear bells at their knees and often wave hankies (to attract and welcome benevolent spring and summer spirits) or clash sticks (symbolizing the eternal battle between winter and summer), and the dances have traditionally been performed around the time of major celebration or seasonal crosspoints in the calendar.  Indeed, dances of comparable form and dancers in similar costumes are found elsewhere in Europe and around the world, and may be thought to be part of the universal urge to influence and honor the unknowable forces which govern our lives.

One of the most colourful descriptions of morris was provided in the 15th century, by Edmund, Duke of Edinburgh, the Black Adder who said, "Morris dancing is the most fatuous, tenth-rate entertainment ever devised by man.  Fourty effeminate blacksmiths waving bits of cloth they've just wiped their noses on.  How it's still going on in this day and age I'll never know."

Modern morris includes several different types of dance, all from different regions of England; Cotswold Morris from the south, Border Morris from the west, Molly Dancing from the southeast, and Northwest Morris from the northwest.  Other dance styles such as Longsword, Rapper (sword), Clog, and Garland are often included in the term "morris".

There are lots of ways to get more detail about Morris dancing, but the absolutely best way is to find a morris dancer, take them to a pub, offer them refreshment, and ask for the real story.  It's guaranteed good luck, too!