Kingston Dragon Dance

These are notes from the Helm collection, either by Alex Helm himself or by Dr Chris Cawte, regarding the Kingston Dragon Dance material. I've included them because they show the way in which some of the work on the Ritual Dance Index was conducted.

In our work on the ceremonial dance and allied customs we have begun to accept as a working definition of 'Morris' - under which term we include any ceremonial folk activity, and not exclusively dance - the following:

'A seasonal custom performed by a selected team, who rehearse beforehand, appear at a particular time of the year, and who make some attempt at disguise. Invariably the performers are all male.'

It is within the terms of this definition that I viewed the Dragon Dance, and had to accept that these details were necessarily incomplete.

I cannot therefore find any ceremonial content in this performance as it is described, though obviously it is the tail end of the custom whatever it was. I accept that two at least of the dances were performed at particular times of the year, May, and presumably after harvest, but the dragon dance appears to have no particular season of the year. The performance by children, when they were tired of collecting May Tutties, suggests something in the nature of a children's game.

The lack of description of a costume makes it difficult to discuss this aspect - but I would assume that in some of the instances mentioned, performance at children's parties, in May-time as a relaxation from other things, would preclude there being any particular dress.

For the Dragon Dance itself, obviously something so elaborate must have had prior rehearsal, particularly if the number of performers is so large. It is, in fact, this number of performers which makes me even more suspicious, and suggests that this was contrived for particular occasions ? village fetes, garden parties etc. It would, be a very exhausting dance to perform and would require an extremely large space. At one point, (footnote, indecipherable, probably Grey Hen) where the dancers are in a circle and take 3 steps in, 8 steps out, 3 steps in, etc. I am quite sure the dance would become extremely unwieldy. There is a similar sort of dance, with exact notation, called Rali Twm Shon, published by the Welsh people, which is very reminiscent - though I suggested many years ago that this was a very contrived affair, and was certainly performed under very similar circumstances.

As it stands now therefore, and in the absence of further definite information, I would say that this is not Morris, in the terms of the definition above, but it could be a remnant of an occupational dance. Some of the descriptions of steps - the accented stamping is reminiscent of the Swedish Vava Vaimal (a weaving dance), as are some of the movements - the 'fool' going under the arches, reminiscent of the rising and falling of the heddles in this particular dance. But this is only a guess, and if indeed it were a correct guess, then the occupational side has long been submerged under an artifical overlay.

As far as the Dragon Dance theory is concerned, this is quite unlike anything in this country, although mimetic dances elsewhere are not unknown. They are usually found among primitive peoples, and by the time this dance was being performed, I am quite sure that any primitive remains in Somerset had long gone. I do not dispute the existence of the dragon folk tale, but I have an uneasy feeling that here we have a kindly old countryman telling a favourite child a story which he embroidered to interest her - This Little Piggy Went to Market is a poor analogy, but will serve as example of what I mean as being the sort of thing we all do to amuse children, and of course telling stories is a normal way of driving home a point to a child.

Again, one cannot ignore the time when the dance was remembered - about 1906 onwards. This was the time when there was the beginnings of a revival of the 'Country Dance' - at a time when there was a tendency to equate the folk dance with Merry England. Before this time there had been some interest revived by the activities of people like Percy Manning (Who first revived the Headington Morris, and saw it as an antiquarian relic), and before him D'Arcy Ferris, a professional pageant master, who revived the Bidford Morris, and introduced elements which he thought should be there, but which had no place in the ceremonial dance. People like Ferris, who were employed to make a pageant as a profession, were capable of devising such dances - which employed large numbers of people well trained. One cannot be certain that this is the thing which happened with this dance, but it cannot be ignored.

It is extremely unusual for a dance to change formation as this one does. There is an unpublished Playford dance where the axis of the dance swings through 180 degrees, but this is unusual, and even here the set retains its rectangular shape. It is very unusual for a dance to change from lines to rectangles, to circles as the Dragon Dance does, and the first figure may be nothing more than an effort to bring on dancers for a display and then to divide them into sets.

I have never regarded the Cobbler Dance ('Kibby' Dance) as ceremonial, but like the broom stick dance, or clog dancing, seems to me to be nothing more than a virtuoso performance, which has some traditional roots, but could be performed at any time people were gathered together and gave a 'turn'. It is in fact a party piece - and its inclusion here suggests to me nothing more than an attempt to give a (one line is obviously missing here)

One further suggestion is that this dance could be something similar to the Wyresdale Greensleeves dance - it is clear that although this dance is associated with Wryredale, there was no ceremonial content - it was something which was performed when the people were together at garden parties, wedding parties and so on. By something similar to this, I mean that the Kingston Dance may have been a local affair performed on such occasions - though without the humour of Wyredale.

This does not deny the existence of ceremonial dances in Somerset - the dances mentioned at Kiddington, by Miss Tongue elsewhere seem to me to have considerable ceremonial content, and can be paralleled in other parts of the county. It is a pity that more detail is not known of the latter.