Clodagh Chapman remembered

Clodagh Chapman who was an original member of Bury Fair (founded in 1977, but originally part of Hageneth Morris) and a founder member of the Haughley Hoofers died in June.  Her funeral will be at the Bury St Edmunds Crematorium in Risby at 9am on Monday 2nd July 2018.  Colourful clothes and Morris kit should be worn to celebrate her 95years.

Clodagh (back right) with Bury Fair in 1981

(photo from the East Anglian Daily Times December 2010)

I have known Clodagh since her days with Bury Fair and in 2014 I wrote the piece below for the Mardles Magazine and re-publish it today in her memory.  She is the only person I know who created a dance and an embryonic “tradition”.  Like many new dances some worked and some didn’t but Clodagh had one big “hit”; Fires of August which is still being danced today by people who have never heard of Clodagh Chapman.  The Suffolk Weaver is still also danced by Bury Fair but has not been picked up by other sides as much.

I saw “Fires of August” (in the “Buxhall tradition”) performed four days after she died, not in her memory; no-one dancing it knew she had died.  It was danced because it is a good dance (a bit like Brighton Camp, Stanton Harcourt) and can be made into an entertaining race between musicians and dancers.  Few who dance it will know that it was written by Clodagh in the 1980s.  It was originally performed by Bury Fair but has migrated to Little Egypt Morris Men and Westrafelda and maybe others besides.  Hageneth practiced it and I remember performing it once on the Angel Hill in Bury St Edmunds.  Unfortunately we never mastered it and it disappeared from our programme.  You really need to go to the Little Egypt summer solstice event to see it danced with enthusiasm and at a pace which always impresses the audience.

“It’s not just skipping around waving handkerchiefs”- Clodagh Chapman remembers creating dances.

From Mardles Magazine September 2014 

Read more: Clodagh Chapman remembered

Maypole Re-mixed

 
 
 
Breaking News; - deadline of 11th May extended by EFDSS following Mardles appeal
"I will definitely extend the deadline for applications - we don't want anyone to miss the opportunity.  We really hope we can get a number of young folk dancers to be part of this project". Cassie Tait, Education Manager, English Folk Dance and Song Society

Call for young dancers: Maypole Remixed outdoor dance event

Mardles.org has just received this call for young dancers to appear in Ipswich on 14th July. You can apply as a dance group, or an individual, by completing the expression of interest form on the website by Friday 11 May.  The press release from EFDSS was only released on 25th April and invites young dancers (12 -19 years or up to 25 years for dancers with special needs) to perform as part of the U.Dance 2018 annual dance festival. 

U.Dance 2018

The dancers will perform a new dance work centred on a maypole created by Folk Dance Remixed.  Maypole Remixed will celebrate some of the old and new dance and music cultural heritages to be found in the region - fusing traditional folk dance styles from the East of England with contemporary hip hop dance and especially commissioned recorded and live music.
 
To be included dancers must commit to attending all the rehearsal and performance dates below. Travel bursaries are available.
 
There will be three creative workshops and rehearsals with professional dancers and live musicians, leading to two outdoor performances on Saturday 14 July as part of the U.Dance 2018 festival. 

Rehearsals

Sunday, 24 June, 1 July and 8 July
10.30am–4.30pm (tbc)
Chantry Academy, Mallard Way, Ipswich, Suffolk IP2 9LR

Performances

Saturday 14 July
The Waterfront and one other outdoor location in Ipswich, times tbc
 
For more information please contact the webpage and online form for applications to the project.
 
Direct link to form:
 
Dave Evans
9th May 2018
 
 
 

MORRIS SHORTS - Brief news from the world of Morris - Updated February 2019

All My Life’s Buried Here – The Story of George Butterworth

The Diss Corn Hall will be showing this new documentary film about George Butterworth, the English composer, Morris dancer and folk song collector who was killed in 1916 at Pozières, France during the Battle of the Somme aged just 31. In the chaos of war Butterworth was buried where he fell and his remains were never subsequently identified.

The film will be shown on Wednesday 27th February 2019 at 10.30am and at 7.30pm.  Following each performance there will be a Q & A session with the director Stewart Hajdukiewicz

A trailer for the film is available at www.georgebutterworth.co.uk

Tickets are available from the Corn Hall box office.

Read more: MORRIS SHORTS - Brief news from the world of Morris - Updated February 2019

Come and Try Morris Dancing

Kings Morris need you

 Kings Morris, now a mixed side, are holding a Morris dancing taster day

at The Ferry Lane Social Club, King's Lynn PE30 1HN on Saturday the 26th October from 11am to 4pm with a break for lunch at 1pm

Traditional Cotswold morris dancing is easy to learn and a lot of fun for all ages and abilities.

Entry is free and you’ll get a free beer at the end of the day!

Kings Morris

Arthur (Bagman Kings Morris)

Hageneth Morris Men 1977- 2019; Rest in Peace

A celebration/wake for Hageneth will be held at the Chestnut Horse, Great Finborough at 12.30pm on 10th November and a great turn-out of ex-members and friends from other sides is expected. We hope that a Hageneth side of some kind will dance as well as the Haughley Hoofers. All are welcome.  The Chestnut Horse has been chosen for the event because that was where Hageneth first performed in public in June 1977, as below.

Hageneth 1977 the first public performance

Hageneth June 1977

 from left, Codge Barber, Bruce Sydell (hidden), Ronnie Godbold, Brian Francis, Sally Green, Dave Burt

Hageneth, founded as “Haughley Festival Morris” in 1977 to perform at Haughley’s Queen’s Silver Jubilee celebrations, have been suffering a mid-life crisis for the last 2 or 3 years. They managed to reach their 40th birthday but have now sadly passed away after 42 years. The side have decided that because of a declining number of fit and able men, it is no longer possible to continue as an independent side. Some members of the side will continue dancing with other local sides.

Read more: Hageneth Morris Men 1977- 2019; Rest in Peace

Morris Dancing and Me

A new BBC 4 TV Programme - For Folk's Sake: Morris Dancing and Me will be shown on Sunday 31st March at 2.55am and Monday 1st April at 9pm

I have just heard about this programme and hope you see this message before Monday 1st April as, judging from the BBC trailer for the programme (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p074rfsv ) it looks like it could be worth watching.  It seems to cover a bit of Morris history, the usual speculation about origins (is it called Morris because it sounds like “mores” when pronounced in a Chaucerian fashion?), as well as an insight into the challenge of learning the mysteries of the “one, two three hop” double step.  It raises the question of how to save an ageing generation of Morris dancers from extinction and wonders whether the solution is to encourage people other than men to dance the Morris (no, really, it does!  Imagine, whatever next?). 

Moulton Morris Men at Thaxted Ring meeting 2014

As the programme goes to Thaxted to interview dancers as well as audience you can imagine how some of the issues are addressed but it also goes to Bampton and meets a young dancer from Moulton Morris.

The BBC press release for the programme goes as follows;

Read more: Morris Dancing and Me