In honour of Plough Monday, a photo of my uncle George, my mother’s brother, who was killed in WWII. (She was the baby of her family and I’m the baby of mine.) I don’t know much about him, since my father disapproved of my mother telling me anything about my relatives-and I never met any…
Yesterday my new morris side, Sutton Masque – a mixed Border Morris side – welcomed in the official start of summer on the 1st of June by dancing outside a couple of pubs in Ely. It was freezing, rainy and grey. A hardy Greek family sat outside The Cutter, under the porch heaters and watched…
1. If you’re not having fun, it’s not worth doing. Just as nobody dons their baldrics and bellpads and capers in the street for strangers to sneer at because they think they’ll gain great glory or wealth from it, so you probably won’t gain great glory or riches from writing. You dance because it’s fun,…
This was a great do! I’m still not quite up to dancing, but I can now breathe well enough to play the whistle. As my ladies’ side, Ely and Littleport Riot, had decided to come even though they did not have any of their musicians, that wasn’t a problem – I just turned up as…
On May Day morning, about 4.30am, the stalwart members of Coton Morris Men and the Ely and Littleport Riot rolled out of bed, put their bells on and journeyed to Ely Cathedral. There they performed the ancient dances of their folk, starting in the icy darkness before dawn, to encourage the sun in its journey…
This week I have mostly been… ill. It started off on Saturday, which was unfortunately also the day of this year’s Straw Bear festival. I was in that half way state where you know you’re ill but you don’t yet know what it’s going to be when it’s fully manifested itself. So I dressed for…
I’m blogging over on the LGBT Fantasy Fans blog today on a subject close to my heart – ritual dance. http://lgbtfantasyfansandwriters.wordpress.com/2012/12/03/dancing-with-destiny/ Which was prompted by a great time at Mill Road Winter Fair at the weekend. One problem with playing music for one side while dancing for another comes when both sides turn out to…
Well, it really is. Here I am, reading up on Romanian folk music, after having been informed that it wasn’t at all the same thing as the muzica lautareasca I posted about earlier – shame on me for propagating bad information – when I come across this: and it turns out that here is another…
I’ve had Ely Apple Day on my mind for a week. I blogged about it last week, full of enthusiasm with the memory of good dancing and good music on a day when it didn’t rain, even though it looked like it wanted to. I’d been looking forward to seeing the photos, but when we…
To recap: 1. Post about something that made you happy today, even if it’s just a small thing. 2. Do this everyday for eight days without fail. 3. Tag eight of your friends to do the same (Feel free to do it, but don’t feel obliged.) Three things today too, all morris related, as I’ve…
