Dance Traditions

Adlington Morris Men's dances mainly originate from the Cotswolds.

These have been varied over a number of years to keep our interest and provide new challenges. We have a comprehensive selection of dances and our current repertoire is

Fieldtown

Photo - R Jackson

The dances from Leafield in Oxfordshire are danced in an interpretation derived from Bert Cleaver of Greensleeves Morris Men. This was learnt at a workshop attended by Duncan Broomhead in December 1985. This has been developed by the side under the successive guidance of Duncan, Dave Bailey and Tim Shaw. We try to instil a restrained skill and precision in the dancing, which sets the tradition apart from others that we dance.

Our current dances are Gary Owen, Signposts (Shepherds Hey), Dearest Dicky and Valentine.

Ilmington

The dances from Ilmington in Warwickshire were taught to us by the Traditional Ilmington Morris Men in November 1986. The tradition was carried through by Sam Bennett of Ilmington until his death in 1951, and was revived in 1974. The dances have had some changes (some by accident and some by design of our chargehand John Portlock) from what was taught, but they have received no violent objections when seen by Ilmington Morris Men.

Of the repertoire of 16 Ilmington dances, we currently perform Jubilee (1897), Constant Billy, Down With the French (which was made up by Adlington Morris Men in 1989), Bumpus o' Stretton, Old Woman Tossed Up, Cuckoos Nest and Old Molly Oxford

Photo - R Jackson

Photo - Morris Ring Archive

The Bampton Side in 1895

Bampton

The dances from Bampton in Oxfordshire were originally done by Adlington Morris Men as a double step tradition. After a rest of many years, we have revisited this as a single step tradition. Our chargehand Ray Archer has introduced us to the Hammersmith style, and very elegant it looks too - especially when Hammersmith dance it!

Our current dances are Trunkles, Sidestep (which is danced to the Swedish tune Serpentiner och Konfetti), The Rose Tree, Step and Fetch Her, and the incredibly energetic Webley Twizzle.

Lower Swell

We are one of the few sides who perform this tradition. The dances from this tiny Gloucestershire village outside Stow-on-the Wold were collected by Cecil Sharp. Working from copies of the manuscript notes, John Portlock and Adlington Morris Men revived the dances in 1991; although we made some changes to make them work. (Sharp's notes are extremely sketchy and open to interpretation).

Our current Lower Swell dances are London Pride (No 1), Arthur's McPride (No 2) and Lily Bolero (No 3)

Photo - R Jackson

Pictured in Lower Swell on our

annual tour of the Cotswolds.

Photo - Morris Ring Archive

Headington Quarry Morris Men in 1897. Cecil Sharp's encounter with them, lead to his interest in English traditional dance and recording of these ethnic dances for future generations

Headington

There are 28 traditional dances belonging to this Oxfordshire tradition. These were taught to Adlington Morris Men at a special workshop in February 1989. Our interpretation or style-unification by chargehands Duncan Broomhead and Phil Raynes has been helped by careful study of the workshop video.

Our current Headington dances are Rigs of Marlow, Hunt the Squirrel, Blue Eyed Stranger, and Double Set-back

Others

We perform a number of other dances, which we find to be really fun or challenging. These include

Postman's Knock Adderbury
Sweet Jenny Jones Adderbury
Old Figure Eight Eynsham
Brighton Camp Eynsham
Vandalls of Hammerwich Lichfield

Photo - R Jackson

We also perform the Helmsley Longsword dance.

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