A fools guide to England 1 - Morris Dancing

[richoxxx]

Jolly good wheeze - I spent 15 years morris dancing; the trick is to do it with six pints on board. Now doing my last 18 months in Strangeways . . .

Graham

[unomnacajit11]

This is an ancient pre-christian Romanian dance brought to Britain by Dacians incorporated in Roman legions. Search for "Calusari Dance" to see the original version :)))

[TenouHaruka0]

rofl@ at the guy in the weird costume. 

[CJWensleydale]

FILA owes you a lot of money mate!..Don'ey make shoos or summink?..

[amedieval]

Amusing intro, decent camera angle, good view of the Wild Worm.  Overall, a good video of the dance.

[psviking1]

morris dancing got it's name from moorish dancing, which was brought back to england during the crusades, by the christian army of king richard the lion heart, after they saw the muslim moors doing a similar dance in the holy lands.

[08vetinari]

Great! There might be people on the continent who believe this ;-)

[john9ten]

My ancestor Juan deRobles sailed with the Sanish Armada. While on that trip, he kidnapped and later married Mathilda Morris. Being a typical barbarian Spaniard, he forbad any of his issue to participate in Morris dancing. Since that time, our family has been pursued all over the world by British agents seeking to bring us to justice.

In haste and in hiding,

John Robles

Somewhere in California

[Palifiox]

So what do you make of the Padstow obby oss then?  I realise that the Cornwall isn't quite England?

Just a question from up over.

Are you allowed to dance if your name is Austin?

[BobbyBorg26]

You look like Harry Potter

[Morgana0x]

Thanks for the video. Made me laugh and was interesting too.

[Rainwing101]

this was rly kool! ^^ cheers mates XD

[smittypap]

Thank you. I now understand the origins of the Monty Python "twit" sketches.

[annebolynzarsilve]

@smittypap It always reminded me of the fish slapping dance acctually...

[Earphonesareawesome]

It's times like these im proud to be british :P i love dry humour.. especially when half the people fall for it :P

[danousd]

Looks like a good aerobic work out. Hopping around works your legs and banging sticks works the upper body. Genius.

[inkatrit]

see that you send six homos out with clubs to slay a dragon and they dance around play patty cake and never see the dragon right behind them....dam shame

[happychick94]

Morris is very interesting and weird....and what is that man supposed to be dressed in the bedsheets, is he a dragon or something?...and why?

[ThePiscean1]

I found it amusing, good dry British sense of humour ;)

[ThePiscean1]

My brother is currently serving 2 years in jail for failing to be in the village green for the "dance". The court would have been lenient but my dear brother had missed the previous one too. He has to do his next dance under supervision in the prison courtyard with his fellow morris inmates.

[smithysrat]

Our laws are cruel. Glad you understood the humour, many didn't.

[jamesfeenstra]

For those interested, the last Canadian prosecution for failing to Morris Dance was I believe May 27, 1931. The 1931 Statute of Westminster absolved citizens of Commonwealth countries, the Dominion of Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, the Irish Free State and the Dominion of Newfoundland, of compulsory Morris dancing. There was a move to make Failure to Morris a crime in the name of the Governor-General but this was narrowly defeated.

[Samua3]

@ThePiscean1 Haha!! That made me laugh loads!! I wish they'd made my brother do that!!

[tube2346]

You guys will go out for anything! You couldn't get people out here to see a spaceship land on the capital and free beer!

[53Aubergine]

I am amazed how many dont catch your incredibly dry wit.

bravo. Dry wit isnt dry enough if half the folks just dont get it.

[tacfoley]

Sir, your commentary is absolute garbage. Little of it bears any resemblance to reality.

The word 'morris' is derived from 'moorish'  - a term used to describe any 'outlandish' form of dance or behaviour.

Please refer to the Encyclopaedia Britannica for FACTS about Morris dancing, rather than gp public with your embarrassing balderdash.

tac

[smithysrat]

Thanks for the comment tac. It seems that the category "Comedy" has gone over your head. I am aware that everything said in my commentary was made up on the spot. This video was merely a tongue in cheek jest with my viewers as are the other videos in the series, The outakes where I had to stop myself from laughing are numerous. I apologise for any offence that this may have caused to the Morris dancing community but I hope that most will see it for the joke that it is.

Thanks,

Roland

[Garytilingtips]

ok it is english, its not quite a guide, but you are a fool, 2 out of 3 aint bad, gary

[outfromtheshadows1]

My brother in law who is a Morris was thrown in the Tower for six weeks a couple of years ago. He now teaches a group once a week.

[aberdeenfc1983]

And you english say us Scots are ay for wearing a 'skirt'?

:L

Lmfao! Queer or what?

[ilovemorrisdancing]

i am an expert at morris dancing.

and i have been dancing for a number of years.

and i am disgusted by your presentation, as it is inaccurate.

and you are boring, slow and dull.

you really need to lighten up abit duck

:)

love always.

Bernard.

x

[4ntarctic]

Behold: The Morris!

[rrjimlad]

I tried this dance last May Day. It is Very dangerous especially after 10 pints of 'Boddies'

Jim Septic Knuckles

[Lenthecooper]

Nice stick work on that old dance.

It's good to see the tradition of the fool and the camera man standing in the way of the audience hasn't fallen out of practice.

Smithyrat, wnderfully droll, I wonder how many people actually believed you?

[WHandV]

We all had to change our names by Deed Poll before we were allowed to form the side.

[smithysrat]

Are you from the group in the video? If you are I hope you understood that all the sarcasm was only for comedic effect!

[WHandV]

No, not us We dance 'Border' style. We don't recognise the team either however we can tell you that the Dance comes from the Cotswolds

and the Horse from Sellafield.

[smithysrat]

Sorry buts its taken me 8 months to get the Sellafield joke. LOL.

[erzbet07]

Lots of fun. We don't see Morris dancing in he States (except at folklore shows) so I enjoyed this clip and its lively music. But I wonder, has DESMOND MORRIS, the author, ever done any Morris dancing? Thanks for the video.

[logibear64]

I have nightmares of doing this kind of dance naked in front of a large crowd.

[peacockgold]

My surname is Morris! I suppose I should learn this dance. . . . I dont want to be imprisoned!

[smithysrat]

Quick I've heard they are launching Morris detector vans!

[Cosmoline]

Morris dancing? Where's my rifle..

[HenryFalkner]

'Not another academic ...ing in public' I thought. I am of Germanic descent, hence the humor is too subtle for me.

[Mikefule]

Not bad dancing. Better than the camera work. Then again, it should be, they've had time to practise - the dance has been going almost as long as the jokes in the preamble.

[popebenadict16]

south of the river this time of day you must be joking

[trillian57]

That's discriminatory! Why are only the Morrises allowed to dance, I'd like to know?  Cool traditional dance, anyway.

[Tipples84]

Wikipedia's opinion on the dragon-man - Many sides also have a beast: a dancer in a costume which is made to look like a real or mythical animal. Beasts mainly interact with the audience, particularly children. In some groups this dancer is called the hobby. And we Brits wonder why we get laughed at!

[LucifersTear]

Laugh...why do they laugh? We owned 3/4 of the globe, still laughing were they?

[gumleyboy]

My wife loves this sort of thing, but personally, I like to stand well back. You could get a nasty poke from one of those battons.

[smithysrat]

I was more worried about the half-hearted dragon man!

[MHarris1920]

I loved that.

[smithysrat]

It was really weird as I hadn't seen Morris dancers in years, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

[positivesue]

I remember years ago my brother had a friend that did morris dancing....but his name wasn't Morris

[smithysrat]

That's illegal!

[richw4]

Prof CIAB here and I can verify that your account of this popular cultural acivity is extremely factually accurate yes that's right..indeed I hear Morris (the fat controller) has been out doing it too (must get hold of the tape)

[smithysrat]

Thanks for the verification Professor Basket.

[LeSaMilano]

We had a Morris in our family, but it was a she, for it as an automobile, and she didn't run, let alone dance!

[smithysrat]

I remember them well!

[mrsmokidd]

Wonderfully light on their feet, almost like fairies :p

[Natural20Films]

I liked Morris the dragon best. His dance was just right.

[smithysrat]

Yes a half-hearted attempt, obviously annoyed at getting the short straw that day.

[oneiblind30]

I was so waiting for one of those dudes with the sticks to just beat the hell out of that dragon/lizard looking dude! lol! Pretty interesting.

[smithysrat]

You and me both - that was what made the whole thing great. I'm British and I didn't have a clue.

[oneiblind30]

LMAO!!! I owe ya a beer!

[billpg]

What was with the guy in the dragon costume?

[smithysrat]

I have no idea, I was hoping somebody else could shed some light on that....If it had been St Georges day I might have understood.

[evilibby]

The dragon dude would be the 'fool' of the side... Either honorary for the day, or normal. They pretty much do that, and sometimes scare the crowd. They're supposed to act like a fool, hence the name.

[samsarajade]

Every spring I thank my parents for not naming me Morris! Although I have been known to have a bit of a dance round the MayPole. . . got to love a bit of pole dancing! :)

[smithysrat]

lol