WORKSHOP AT COMBE BISSETT 1997
A MORRIS AT MALVERN

(Based on Roy Dommett's transcription of
"A Morris At Malvern")

This is the original description of the dance,
as transcribed by Roy Dommett.

K Williams wrote to the EFDSS describing a performance of the morris at Malvern many years ago. A little short of technical description, it evokes the impact of the dancing. The dancers had learnt from older men for use in bad winters or in weather when they could not work. They wore heavy boots, breeches, thick grey stockings or garters. Most had a second waistcoat on top with sleeves rather instead of a jacket, or knitted brightly coloured wool stripped [sic] flannel or moleskin. Woollen wrappers round their neck. Some had hard hats, others slouched felt. Two or three had short, drab, tailed coats. Round their ankles, knees wrists and hats they wore bands of coloured ribbons with strings of bells around ankles and legs. The short sticks had ribbons on the middle.

1. Walk (strut with feet lifted high) in circle.
2. With sudden change of tune they ran nimbly round in a circle. The tune changed again, regular intervals being emphasised by a loud sforsando. At these bursts of melody, the dancers leapt into the air. The tune quickened again. Hopping lightly from one foot to the other, the dancers twirled round as they leaped, waving their staves. Suddenly concertina stopped with a final loud chord and a clash of the little bells and staves on staves. All men stood still for a moment as if petrified, their sticks held above heads.
3. In two lines, pairs facing. Raised their staves and held them resting arch-like - slow wailing tune - men slowly clashed their sticks together, stopped, dibbed at the ground, clashed them together, then leaped into the air so that their bells rang their utmost. They shuffled a little to the side with a twisting heel and toe motion and repeated the slow clashing in the air and the dibbing and knocking together of the sticks at their feet. The movements were all slow except the leap and the final clash, but very precise and determined, thorough and entirely rhythmical. After several repetitions of these strenuous motions the men suddenly relaxed.
4. A lively jigging measure. Dancers formed up into two rings, one inside the other, facing opposite ways. For a minute or more, they danced round so, one ring keeping outside all the while. At a quickening of the tune, they zig-zagged, each man alternately passing in and out before the next one. As they did so they skipped lightly, turning out the toes and knees with a fling much like a hornpipe. The staves were flourished in the air, thrown from one hand to the other and occasionally tapped together most often irregularly but at intervals with a simultaneous crash and a stamp of the feet. Like the previous dances, this one ended with a jerk as though music and energy were cut off at one slash.
5. In two lines, Danced forwards with quick springing movements accompanied by plentiful flexing of hands and arms and legs and feet. Passing each other the dancers danced forward till they were back to back several yards apart. At a louder chord from the concertina they all spun round on the toes, danced towards each other and passed again, repeating this half a dozen times with a light click of the staves in passing. Marked by only a slight acceleration of the tune, the dance changed so that the men were together in pairs, prancing round each other, a pair keeping together as partners. This dance seemed to allow for considerable variation in each couple's performance as they hopped and skipped, turned and twined and twisted and twirled, joined hands or arms in different positions, loosed again, tapped staves together, danced back to back or side by side and executed a whole galaxy of fancy steps within the bounds set by the tune of the music.
6. Two lines - no music. Men stood shoulder to shoulder. Setting their faces sternly they marched towards the opposite line of men. The march was made with the greatest dignity and hauteur, every muscle strained, feet were rigid, chins out, heads held up, chests arched, left fists clenched in front and staves grasped in a tight grip before the faces. At the step the knees were raised high, the toes pointed and the feet put down firmly. Then almost touching, the two ranks of men stood facing staring each one to the other with a threatening scowl. They clashed their staves together once, hard and loud and in perfect unity gave one heavy stamp with the right foot, then assuming a disdainful expression of countenance retreated in perfect order but not turning using a peculiar rear-kicking step. Three times this proud and fierce set of minatory movements were gone through, each half dozen men moving in perfect accord as one body.
7. After this display of masculine bellicosity, the twelve young fellow threw down their staves in a heap and danced round them. The accompanist played a lively jig as fast as he could and the dancers went round the ring with endless variety of individual motions. They threw their bodies and arms and legs into all manner of postures joining together in twos, threes and fours and separating again, executing as many fancy steps as their wit and ingenuity could devise.

What does this tell us about the dance
(personal musings)

There was a lot more repetition than would normally be acceptable today:

"In two lines, pairs facing ... men slowly clashed their sticks together ... They shuffled a little to the side ... and repeated the slow clashing in the air and the dibbing and knocking together of the sticks at their feet ... After several repetitions of these strenuous motions ..."; "they all spun round on the toes, danced towards each other and passed again, repeating this half a dozen times" and later "Two lines - no music ... they marched towards the opposite line of men ... They clashed their staves together once ... then ... retreated in perfect order ... Three times this ... set of ... movements were gone through"

It would take a fair amount of courage nowadays to put together a choreography involving something like a minute and a half of lines forward and back, with no music and only three stick clashes. Even when we are taking absolutely traditional descriptions as the basis for a performance, it may be necessary to alter tham to suit modern-day audiences.

There was more complexity and variety in the stepping than most teams actually use today:

Walk (strut with feet lifted high) in circle ... they ran nimbly round in a circle ... They shuffled a little to the side with a twisting heel and toe motion ... they skipped lightly, turning out the toes and knees with a fling much like a hornpipe ... Danced forwards with quick springing movements accompanied by plentiful flexing of hands and arms and legs and feet ... executed a whole galaxy of fancy steps ... in perfect order but not turning using a peculiar rear-kicking step

Sides like Ironmen and Shropshire Bedlams are widely imitated, even though they point out that they did not base their stepping on any particular historical evidence. To an etent the high-knee border step has become accepted as the "Authentic" style of stepping, but we can see from this description that other steps were used, and indeed that the stepping varied within the same dance.

There was a fair amount of variation in the performance style.

The staves were flourished in the air, thrown from one hand to the other and occasionally tapped together most often irregularly but at intervals with a simultaneous crash and a stamp of the feet ... This dance seemed to allow for considerable variation in each couple's performance as they hopped and skipped, turned and twined and twisted and twirled, joined hands or arms in different positions, loosed again ... executed a whole galaxy of fancy steps within the bounds set by the tune of the music ... the dancers went round the ring with endless variety of individual motions. They threw their bodies and arms and legs into all manner of postures joining together in twos, threes and fours and separating again, executing as many fancy steps as their wit and ingenuity could devise.

Some of this might be attributable to the fact that the dancers didn't know the dance, or hadn't practiced very much. But other descriptions such as... "clashed their staves together once, hard and loud and in perfect unity gave one heavy stamp with the right foot" and "each half dozen men moving in perfect accord as one body", seem to indicate that they knew what they were doing. This may well indicate that some steps were showing off, and others were subject to considerable latitude in how they were interpreted. A figure with a side all doing different things, might look quite strange to our eyes and would certainly need to be presented carefully.

The musician fitted the tune to the dance(s):

... with sudden change of tune ... The tune changed again, regular intervals being emphasised by a loud sforsando ... suddenly concertina stopped with a final loud chord ... slow wailing tune ... a lively jigging measure ... at a louder chord from the concertina ... marked by only a slight acceleration of the tune ... no music ... played a lively jig as fast as he could

It's common in Cotswold dancing for musicians to pay great attention to precisely how to get into and out of the slows, but this is much less common in the Border style. That's not to say that putting a big band up in front of the set and pumping out a straight hornpipe is necessarily wrong, just that it's not the only valid approach. But then I would say that, wouldn't I?

How to put the choreography together.

There is plenty of material here to put together a complete dance - or in fact a complete repertoire of five or six dances with a similar theme, which you could claim was the sort of thing that the original team might hav danced. Bear in mind when you read the descriptions that although the local residents might disagree, Malvern (and indeed the Vale of Evesham) is close to the Cotswolds in Morris terms, so that the side may have been heavily influenced by Cotswold style dancing which they might have seen

The aim here is not to faithfully reproduce the Malvern dance or dances; that wouldn't be possible from the material here. Instead, we'll try to produce a notation for everyone to take away. Your notation ought to be cohesive by modern day standards, but a little out-of-the-ordinary. It should also incorporate some of the elements of the description, obviously, but perhaps also be 'elastic morris', so that, with a little bit of tinkering, it will work with different numbers. If you have a distinctive bit which won't work with only four, then think a bit about how you would modify it and see if that affects your interpretation. Even if you're never short of numbers, thinking about the dance from this point of view may make a difference to the way you dance it.

It's possible to interpret the dancers moving round in pairs as being a double hey. With twelve, it's easy enough to get into this from the grand chain, and with six it would look even more like the description if the end couple turn the hard way. It won't work with four, but perhaps think about substituting a square hey. Stopping halfway to part, and do two slow sticks plus two lots of 123-, means half of the dancers are swapping sticks, like it says, but hey presto, we have chorus. It's not the only way of doing it, so think about others.

The minimum layout might be just two figures (certainly all there'll be time to work out in a workshop) and you could consider the contrast, in line with the notation, of having one which works in pairs, and one which uses all the dancers.

Rounds on, into grand chain, into chorus, figure, chorus, figure

end with a chorus, grand chain, throw down sticks and dance off with show-off steps. Remember the variety of the stepping in the original.