My mother used to sing "I could have danced all night", from My Fair Lady, to time the boiling of an egg. To dance all night now, takes 20 hours and cost forty quid a head. Yes, H and I had decided to go to Tribal Gathering 97, Britain's largest legal dance event, banned last year by the Ministry of Spoilsports.
The butler packed the hamper into the back of the Bentley, and off we went to nearby Luton Hoo. Within an hour H and I were pogoing, and going physically bananas, to the loud sounds of Dr.Didg, much to the consternation of holiday makers in the same traffic jam.
We're very much part of an "entertain me" culture now. There was a time when everyone danced, and we celebrate part of that culture in Morris. I'm of the rock concert generation, where we mainly just watched and listened. Maybe, sometimes, we used to take our clothes off and leap about like whirling dervishes, even though we've never been to Dervia. Those days are gone. It is gratifying, therefore, to find a segment of the "young generation" that just likes to dance, even though, in the UK, there is legislation to impede this. This IS hard core techno.
As we entered the site, we realised that there was a body search. "Quick" I advised H, "hide your stash". I enjoyed the search so much, I immediately got a pass-out to do it again. When we got in, we snorted a couple of lines of H's best ground carrot powder, Columbian Orange. Suddenly, an unpleasant, but very familiar smell, shot up my olafactory canal. "Where did you hide the stash?" I enquired. He just grinned. It started to kick in. My senses became greatly enhanced. I could see the ground in intense detail. This proved to be because I was now laying flat on my face. "My God! I'm having a heart attack!" My chest cavity was thudding violently. I soon realised that the ground of the entire site vibrated from the giant sub-base woofers. When I got to my feet, I was amazed to see how many other dancers had brought their rabbits with them. We immediately took our clothes off and leapt about like whirling dervishes, even though we've never been to Dervia.
Music was tented. At any time you could go into on of twelve giant tents and dance. Unfortunately, the site was limited to 30,000 dancers, but seeing 10,000 dancers, dancing together frenetically, is truly awe inspiring. No hassle - just dance. Each tent was a minor tropical biosphere. The heat generated, produced a fog, cut by the hi-tech light show. But it rained in each tent, where the tent skin touched the below zero atmosphere outside. It rained sweat. Lots of sweat. Cold Sweat.
I don't think anyone has attempted a study of this culture, but let me take a crap stab at it. It First, totally ignore the newspaper "rave" stories. Unlike many other dance forms. it appeals to a wide social range, from crusties, to skins, to Morris Dancers, young and old. Therefore, there is no clear stereotype to quote. Dance is the aim, so clothes are light, such as shorts, or extreme sports gear, such as cycling or snowboard kit. A female may wear hot pants, halter top and climbing boots.(Nice). A chap may have short-cropped hair, dyed in a flourescent colour, and wear just chinos and trainers, bare from the waist up. Some male dancers use personal illumination, in the form of electrical or photo-chemical illumination. Many wear cotton wool in their ears, or buy low-range ear plugs. This does not stop your body reverbrating all the time.
White gloves. I wear them when I drag H though a wide top hat. But some dancers wear them too. Young males, who usually also frequent Drum and Bass clubs, wear then to have these extremities highlighted by the ultra-violet light, strobes and scanning lasers. Some girls wear them too. The dance steps of these people are significantly different from those of the "dance" scene. They perform a running step, identical to the West Indian dual-rope skipping step, so fast that a step must cover each beat.
H hangs out with this crowd. He has dyed his fur flourecsent sky blue, but has left the paws white. You'll be amazed at the number of beautiful young things that follow him around. Bastard!
For everyone else, the dance style is just a faster version of "Vogue" dancing of the late eighties, together with some modified punk pogo and west-coast locking. Dance style varies greatly with the population of the dance area. I dance Border single and double step, using the more fluid arm movements that mixed teams tend to do, and it fits well. In fact, I am disappointed that Border teams to not turn up at such do's. Can I take this opportunity to say to those Morris teams that turned up ap Glastonbury - you were utter crap! Sorry, I;ve used the word "crap" earlier. You were utter bollocks! Oh, um, you people from the US, I'll explain later. The gigs were performed in little corners of this large site, where people would only go if they want to see Morris Dancing. Let's face it. Who WANTS to go and see Morris Dancing? You have to impose it on people! Many of the circus turns, mingled with the crowds and made performances ten times more pleasurable than going to a circus to see them. People who go to such venues are very receptive to dance such as Morris, you know, alternative bloody hippy types. Turn up and mingle. I'm sure if teams performed amongst the crowds of such venues, the Morris Dance population would double. But then it wouldn't be middle-class, would it, and we can't have that could we? I mean, we'd all leave if Morris Dancing was was performed by the masses, wouldn't we?
I would like to take the opportunity to point out that I haven't slept since, oh, I don't know, and I've just opened my seventh can of Carlesberg Special Brew. One more can, and I'll be making indecent proposals to your auntie. In fact, when you see me next, please don't mention this ditty, as I'll be hideously embarrassed by it tomorrow. Oh, and I was a year older today.
Dance steps are informal. Usually a sequence of moves is rotated, very similar to the structure of the music. There is "Loofa", an act that looks like standing up in the bath an using a loofa (What ARE they made of?). There is also "Heavy Shopping" where the dancer stands as though they have a carrier bag in each hand, and try and lift them from the area below the belt to that above the belt, whilst grimacing. The main one is sometimes called "Big fish, little fish, big box, little box" described with the hands. There are many creative variations of this. One locking variation I saw was "snake going up stairs".
Talking of Drugs. Weren't we? To go the distance in dance, you have to take "E". I doesn't matter what kind of Superman you think you are, in reality, our body cannnot take it through such programs of physical stress without artificial aids. Oddly enough, new drugs are legal because legislation, in the UK it's the Dangerous Drugs Act, cannot keep up. The main categories sold in the site shops are Smart Pills, Stimulants (Dance Pills), Hallucinogens and Smoking Mixes. The only Smart Pills that I saw being sold were "Purples". Stimulants included RushX, Up your Gas, Bliss X, Buzz, Road Runner and Guarana, and tinctures such as Cola Nut, Kava Kava,Guarana and Fresh Khat. Smokes include Broom (grows in the garden of our local infants school), Wormwood, Spaceman Bush, Algerian, Skull Cap and Wild Opium Lettuce. Hallucinogens include Cyberdelic, Trip X, Druids Fantasy and Space Cadets, although I really can recommend a piece of Blue Stilton just before you go to bed. Call me old fashioned, but if a drug is legal, it can't be any good. I'm worried that it will only be as good as a ginseng pessary.
Yet so many think that alchohol, tobbacco and meat are bad. What's wrong with them? The Macrobiotic Kitchen had greater queues than the Bar and Burger joint put together.
If you separate Morris people into those that do it as a traditional thing, and those that love to dance, then the former may not appreciate this music. If you are in the latter group, you cannot possibly be unaffected by the compulsion to dance by this music. You don't have to like it, just your body demands to dance to it.
In this type of music there is little hype promotion. You can be an avid fan and don't know the individual names of your heros, and what they look like. I only saw about 5% that was available. In the Comedy tent there were only two jokes against Morris Dancers, one by an American and one by an Australian. I have informed the Immigration Dept. Eddy Izzard was wizz. I saw Fluke, Orbital, X-Dream, Faithless and Daft Punk. Artists were not musicians, strutting their funky stuff across the stage, but skilled technicians tending their consoles. If you're not into this stuff, buy the singles; they're as long as albums. Deck masters included John Peel, Pete Tong and Paul Oakenfold.
The top event was a blast from the past. They must be in their 50's. If they're still alive, then perhaps I am as well. They don't move. Yet it was the most slick set I have ever seen in my 30 years of concerting. (I'm only nineteen). Kraftwerk did what they are best at, showing that what they did eon's ago, is still so relevant to the European dance scene. Their encore was performed by their robots. Not mock-ups. Real, damned expensive ones.
Now sitting in the garden of a London suburban hou......
Oh shit! I forgot the rabbit!
Right on the money, Paul. It works on a number of levels:
1. It might just give us a good idea of the energy levels which are achievable. And by a process of osmosis, maybe the practice of Morris dancing might get re-energised (yes I know there are lots of teams who already put a lot of energy into it, but there are a lot more who don't).
2. Rave dancers seem to balance the effects of alcohol (if used at all) against the dancing much better. How often do we see a side on a Day of Dance or Weekend meeting, rolling up pissed as newts and putting on a lacklustre and/or muddled performance towards the end of the day. OK the audiences enjoy seeing the cock-ups, but go away with the impression that all Morris Dancers are piss-artists who use Morris dancing as an excuse for a good binge. Wouldn't it be better if we could come away with the image of being bloody good dancers first, who also happen to enjoy a pint or 10 of the falling-over water?
3. Whenever you come across new dance forms, there are always ideas you can take away and incorporate into your own chosen form. One of my favourite groups is Seven Champions Molly, who not only are brilliant in the basics of their chosen form, but who incorporate ideas from Sword, Cotswold and encourage improvisation in their workshops. They also have a tradition of utilising music from a range of unusual sources, including performing to poetry being spoken. Morris Dancing is after all, supposed to be a Living Tradition, what Sharp and others recorded was a snapshot of the performances they saw at one given moment - what they wrote down should not be accepted as the be-all and end-all as to how a dance should be performed, because like as not, the original performers would have done it differently over the years, by incorporating new external influences.
4. I think you are very correct in saying that Morris should take a much more in-your-face attitude in presenting itself, particularly if it genuinely wants to recruit new members. This attititude is much more likely to be respected by Ravers, and by the general public at large. Of course, you need to be careful not to be too confrontational, and here getting to know the target audiences beforehand is crucial. But its amazing what the likes of Royal Liberty, Seven Champs, Great Western, Victory et al, can get away with, and still leave audiences going away happy, by knowing how far they can take it. Also checking out other scenes before giving them a taste of Morris can do wonders for reassuring the Morris performers themselves, thus releasing the inhibitions which might get in the way of a poor performance. It can work the other way too. If you think you're gonna die, then you might give them the performance of your life!!! Ask Stevenage Sword about The Crystal Palace at St. Albans!!!
Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed the Gathering, and suggest you try taking your team to WOMAD - and be prepared to really share in the business of music and dance, and find out how much more fun it can be when you mix in with other cultures.
Ian Cropton, ex Mt Bures and Stevenage, recently moved to US and getting itchy feet!!!
As only an occasional voyeur of these pages, I only look at the pictures, it has only recently come to my attention that someone placed a posting in my name.
This was a boring incoherent drink-induced tirade, projected at Morris Dancers. These pages are no place for this, as I hold all Morris Dancers in great respect. This is clearly the domain of the pub after practice night.
There were also insults to fellow Morris teams. A lacklustre performance is no reason for abuse. Such teams should be given positive encouragement, perhaps to improve their act, or preferably to retire.
Drugs were also mentioned. I have never taken drugs, or inhaled, and would never recommend drugs to Morris Dancers. I would, however, recommend them to some of their audiences. Vallium to calm Silurian audiences, amphetamines to keep Kinnerton audiences awake, and for the Prince of Mince, Red Stags, performing Blakes Seven, I would prescribe their audiences with diarrhoea tablets.
So, it was not me. I was on another planet that day.
OK, H. Switch the modem off. What a load of tossers! They'd believe anything, eh? After you with the needle.