Come One, Come All!
It’s May Day morning -
Help us dance up the sun!

(the Morris community’s answer
to "dancing 'till dawn")

 Morris Dancer
Original image reproduced courtesy EFDSS


Morris dancers throughout the west coast of North America will gather together with their sticks, ribbons, bells, hankies, and baldrics, for music and dance in our annual May Day celebrations (this year Friday, May 1st, 2009).  We dance to wake up the Sun and keep it coming back up for a whole year!  Besides being a great deal of fun, does this show dedication or what?!  You may have noticed that it works, too.

Be a part of it. Show up while it’s dark and watch the Sun make its grand entrance. See the spectacle! Watch the magic! Cheer the dancers! Join in the celebration!  Wonder why you’re up at this hour!   Wear whatever you want, but bring layers - it may be cold this early in the morning.

Meanwhile, taste the imagery of Rose Blakeley's Ceremony of May

Click on a Location or Team below to get details about a specific venue:

Locations (north to south):

Teams:

  

Note: Sunrise and event starting times can vary significantly depending on location or weather.  You may need to reach a specific team's contact (squire) directly to find out more about the local schedule.

Vancouver with Tiddley Cove Morris and Vancouver Morris Men
  • 5:30 am - 7:00 am Vancouver Morris Men and Tiddley Cove Morris dance up the dawn at Sparrow Fart in Trimble Park (Trimble St and W 8th Ave) in West Point Grey
  • Activities include a Padstow style 'obby oss, the Helston Flora dance, and an audience circle dance at the end.
  • 7:00 am - Off to breakfast, then to work for them that must.
  • For more information email or
Victoria with Hollytree Morris, Island Thyme Morris, and Quicksbottom Morris

Quicksbottom Morris
  • Continuing their 20+-year tradition, the Victoria sides will be gathering around 5:15 am at Clover Point, located on the Victoria waterfront along Dallas Road just east of Beacon Hill Park.  See a variety of dance styles with Hollytree performing Cotswold, Island Thyme performing Northwest, and Quicksbottom performing Border.  The Maypole goes up around 5:30 am and dancing will begin soon after.
  • There's also community dancing (audience participation) and a Spiral Dance after sun-up.  Feel free to gather some of the May Pole garlands and take them home.
  • Afterwards, there's a potluck champagne breakfast for dancers and friends at someone's home.  Let us know you're coming and we'll invite you too!
  • Contacts for more information (including other possible events during the day)
    • Island Thyme's or call 250-598-2612
    • Hollytree's or call 250-656-9609
    • Quicksbottom's or call 250-656-2920
Island Thyme dancing Skirmishes
Quicksbottom dancing Duntz Head or Drowsy Maggie

Seattle with Misty City Morris, MossyBack Morris Men, North by North West Morris, and Sound and Fury Morris

  • The Seattle sides will be gathering about 30 minutes before sunrise (5:52 am) at Gas Works park. The entrance is located on the north side of lake Union, at 3300 Burke Ave N, Seattle WA.  Dancing will be on the southern most point of the park near the water.
  • For more information:
    • Misty City Morris - email squire
    • MossyBack Morris Men - contact the squire or call 206-812-9249
    • North by North West - email the or call Libby 206-323-7519 or Judy 206-634-2535
    • Sound and Fury Morris - email squire
A sample of the Mossyback Morris Men

Portland with Bridgetown Morris Men, Iron Mountain Sword, Renegade Rose Morris, and Wild Rose Garland
 
 

Bridgetown Morris Men performing Abbotts Bromley or White Ladies Aston
Renegade Rose Morris dancing The Idiot or Weavers March
Sebastopol with
Apple Tree Morris
  • 5:30 am  - Come help Apple Tree Morris celebrate the beauty of Spring in Sonoma County as we dance up the sun on May Day at the Teen Garden Labyrinth next door to the Sebastopol Community Center Youth Annex, 425 Morris Street, in Sebastopol.  The dancing goes through sunrise and a little bit more (around 6:20 am), and then you are welcome to join us for a potluck breakfast at 7:00 am nearby.
  • There will be morris dancing to watch and country dances everyone can do, as well as wonderful music and singing. We'd love it if you'd join us for this celebration!  Dress warmly, since it tends to be chilly before dawn, and you may want a lawn chair or blanket to sit on.
  • Directions:
    • From Santa Rosa and points east: Get onto Highway 12 around Sebastopol.  Turn right/north at the light onto Morris Street, and park when the street turns left.
    • From Sebastopol: Get onto Highway 12 heading towards Santa Rosa, and at the first light outside of town (near Bradley Video), turn left/north onto Morris Street and park when the street turns left.
  • More Dancing throughout the day:
  • For more information, email or call 707-823-6925
    Apple Tree Morris dancing Grenadiers or Speed the Plough

San Francisco with Goat Hill Morris

  • Meet at the top of Twin Peaks around 5:45 am, in the parking lot overlooking downtown, the East Bay and (in theory) the rising sun.
  • For EXACT directions and more information, email or call Jocelyn at (415) 731-7104
     
Berkeley with Berkeley Morris
  • Meet at Inspiration Point, high up on Wildcat Canyon Road in Tilden Park  dance from 5:20 am to 6:45 am.  Check their website for directions or see the map
  • 11:00 am to 2:00 pm - Dancing at various locations in Alameda.
  • For more information, email the

Palo Alto with Deer Creek Morris Men, FFL, Mad Molly, and Wildcat Morris

Deer Creek Mad Molly
  • 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 details.   Specifically, Mad Molly will perform that evening around 9:30 pm at the BACDS Palo Alto English dance.
  • For more information contact:
    • Deer Creek Morris Men: email squire
    • FFL, email
    • Mad Molly or Wildcat Morris: email squire or call 408-830-9109
    See video excerpts of May Day past, care of Maryam Webster
    (disclaimer - some names of persons and dances in titles are inaccurate)
Santa Cruz with Seabright Morris and Sword and White Rats Morris 
  • 5:30 am or so - Meet at the Lighthouse, 701 on West Cliff Drive (take Hwy 1, turn on Bay St. towards the ocean, go all the way to the end, then right onto West Cliff Drive - leave extra time to find parking.  Dancing begins at 6:00am.  Sometimes we even bring coffee and poppy seed cakes.
  • 7:00 am - breakfast at the Zackary's Restaurant, 819 Pacific Avenue.
  • 9:00 am - Louden Nelson Center, 301 Center Street.
  • 10:30 am - 11:00 am - Santa Cruz Waldorf School 2190 Empire Grade above UCSC
  • 11:30 am - Bookshop Santa Cruz, 1520 Pacific Avenue (at Locust Street).  Maybe you'll see the famous Seabright Keyboard Dance.
  • 12:30 pm or so - Kirby Prep School, 425 Encinal Street
    - and after a break for lunch -
  • 3:30 pm or 4:00 pm - Felton Covered Bridge Park, Graham Hill and Mt. Hermon Road
  • 4:30 pm or 5:00 pm - Boulder Creek Brewery and Cafe, 13040 Highway 9, Boulder Creek, CA 95006
  • For more information, contact Seabright squire or call 831-338-4687

Santa Barbara with Monarch Grove Morris

  

  • We start at Stearns Wharf at the foot of State Street in Santa Barbara around 6:00 am (that's when they open, although some folk show up earlier).
  • The morning includes morris dancing, maypole raising, country dance (everyone invited), singing (some years - everyone invited), more morris dancing and eating (EVERYONE invited!)
  • Things change at the last minute so be sure to email or squire before coming.

Los Angeles with Rising Phoenix Morris     

  • 5:45 am at Venice Pier - use the parking lot at the end of Washington Blvd (Ocean is the last main cross street) - in anticipation for the 6:00 am sunrise (you should be able to find a Washington off-ramp from I-405 and head west).
  • Breakfast is at a nearby cafe after the dancing.
  • For more information email squire

San Diego with Moreton Bay Fig Morris 

Morton 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 619-602-6169
     

What IS Morris Dancing?

Morris dancing is a living tradition of English celebratory and ritual dance with live music, and 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! 
 

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Last update April 30, 2009
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