When I lived in New York City--from 1979 to 1992--this was my subculture. I loved dancing at the church at 13th and Seventh on Tuesday and Saturday nights. It makes me happy to know the dances are still going on. The Times story quoted someone I used to know in the dance scene in New York, Olivia Janovitz. (Hi, Olivia!)
In those days I belonged to a women's sword dance troupe, too. We did things like this.
I miss it! And them.
9 comments:
Oh my gosh! I used to Morris Dance (including sword dances)! And most of my friends still do. It really is an amazing subculture. I used to say that Morris Ales (weekend gatherings of dancers) were more fun than adults should be allowed to have. We used to dance for almost 48 hours straight.
Really? Where did you dance? What was your team? I danced very briefly with Ring O' Bells morris in NYC, and even more briefly with Oak Apple Morris here in Madison. Maybe we've met?
And how about those all-night contradances--ever been to one of those in Brattleboro? Talk about too much fun. . . .
It really does look like fun! Think I could fake it?
thanks for sharing. ; )
That sounds like a lot of fun. Except me? Dancing with sharp objects? Yikes!
I want to start taking Irish dance lessons. All Riverdance-y and such.
I've danced with Sixpence (defunct for several years now) and Pennyroyal teams in LA, but have only ever attended West Coast ales. I have a bunch of good friends in Wildwood Morris. http://www.wildwoodmorris.com/
But I'm thinking that ROB attended one of our ales at some point....the name is very familiar.
Carrie--
The swords aren't sharp. :-)
Deja--I didn't know they did Morris out there on the west coast. :-) I'll check out Wildwood.
Harriet,
I could still do plenty of damage. Trust me.
LOL!
There are actually a lot more teams in the Bay Area than in LA, many of which have been around for probably at least 20-25 years. But it's not as well known here as on the East Coast.
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