Style and repertoire
Wild Blue Morris’s dancing style and repertoire are based on those collected by dancers from Ilmington, Warwickshire.
Keith Chandler, in his book Morris Dancing in the English South Midlands, 1660–1900: A Chronological Gazetteer and his article “Ilmington Morris Dancers: The Revival of 1908″, tells us:
- There was morris dancing in Ilimington probably in the late 18th century.
- The Ilmington morris was revived in the first decade of the 19th century by George Arthur, who came (probably) from Snowshill, Worcestershire, and probably taught the dances as done there. This revival seems to have lasted until about the early 1850s.
- Another revival began around 1858 and continued until about 1867.
- Yet another revival, stimulated by the success of the Bidford-on-Avon team, lasted from 1886 to about 1890.
- The next revival began in 1908. It was prompted by the early Esperance Club based urban morris revival, and led by fiddler Sam Bennett, who seems to have indulged in a certain amount of “tradition creation”: “The repertory as noted was ‘Bumpas o’Stretton (Morris on), Maid of the Mill, Black Joke, Old Mother Oxford, Shepherd’s Hey, Constant Billy and The Buffoon.’ Of these seven, only four correspond with those given as featuring in the repertory of the Ilmington side in 1886. Bennett is known to have acquired tunes from other musicians, and had presumably learned those for the Headington Quarry dances he had accompanied in 1907. He may, then, have introduced some of these ‘external’ tunes at this date. This, combined with other choreographic features originated by Bennett, and the criticism of his revival side by three of the older dancers who had been active in the 1886 incarnation, led Sharp to publicly denounce Bennett’s dancers as ‘untraditional.’” This team continued until the First World War.
- Bennett trained some children’s sides after the war.
- The present Ilmington side started up in 1974.
This is probably some sort of record for number of revivals of a traditional side. There appear to have been three occasions when the dancing may have been substantially altered, in the 1800s and in 1908 as noted above, and also in 1858. Bacon’s Handbook of Morris Dances notes some differences in the figures between the “1887/97″ version, the “1906″ [sic] version, and the versions written up by Sharp (who was attempting to reconstruct the 1867 style) and Schofield (apparently writing up what he saw in 1945); he also says “From 1887 to 1914 [single step] was used instead of [double step]…” and “before the revival in 1860 the tradition included galleys…”
Wild Blue Morris’s first Fore, Fred Henson, learned Ilmington as a member of Minnesota Traditional Morris. Their versions of the dances appear to differ from all of the above, most closely resembling the 1945 Bennett style but in some respects more like Sharp’s version. Furthermore there are important differences between what we do and what MTM does.
Hence the wide variety of styles all going by the name of “Ilmington”. “Ilmington-based” would be a better description of Wild Blue’s style.
Dances
Collected dances
Collected Ilmington dances listed in Bacon’s A Handbook of Morris Dances are as follows. Ones marked with asterisk are (in some version, not necessarily matching any in Bacon) are done by Wild Blue Morris:
Processional:
- Ilmington Processional Dance
Stick dances:
- Shepherds’ Hey
- The Cuckoo’s Nest
- The Black Joke
- Constant Billy
- The Jubilee Dance
Hand-clapping dances:
- Shepherds’ Hey
- The Cuckoo’s Nest*
- The Black Joke
- Constant Billy
Handkerchief dances:
- Morris On
- The Maid of the Mill
- The Old Woman Tossed Up in a Blanket*
- Bumpus o’ Stretton
- Molly Oxford
- The Buffoon
Jigs:
- Nelson’s Praise
- The Lively Jig
- Greensleeves (Bacca Pipes)
- Jockie to the Fair
- The Old Woman Tossed Up
Other dances, unknown provenance
Some of these may also be from Ilmington.
Stick dances:
- Beansetting (Dommett, Roy Dommett’s Morris Notes)
- Evesham* (Henson)
Handkerchief dances:
- Haste to the Wedding* (Dommett)
- Highland Mary (Hairy Mary) (Dommett)
- The Keeper (Dommett)
Broomstick:
- Broomstick (Dommett)
Other dances, known provenance:
Handkerchief dances:
- The Lollipop Man* (Wild Blue Morris)
Tunes for these most of these dances are here.
I was delighted to find your website, as it makes reference to my 4x great grandfather, George Arthur! My mother and I have been led to understand by my grandmother that the Arthurs were of Welsh origin and I believe that George may have been born in Ceri (Kerry) Mongomeryshire in 1763. I would be interested to hear from anyone who has definite information that George was born not in Ceri but in Snowshill. Is there any evidence that the Arthurs were of Romany stock? There is some to suggest his wife, Elizabeth Stanley, was Romany, however, the family were in Ilmington and Snowshill for many generations. I was also thrilled to find music and dance is in my blood – I lived in Cheltenham as a teenager and learnt ballet and national dance which included some Morris Dancing, all the while never knowing I had Gloucestershire-born ancestors.
Cherry, how wonderful to hear from you! Your comment combines two of my enthusiasms, morris dancing and genealogy. As far as I know it was Chandler who claimed Arthur probably was born in Snowshill. He gives Arthur’s birth and death dates as 1769 to 1836. He also mentions Thomas Barnett Arthur (ca 1802 – 1890) and James John Arthur (1828 – 1906) as members of the Ilmington morris side — all three listed as musicians (pipe and tabor), not dancers. He doesn’t clearly give a source for the information on Arthur’s birth, though. I’m not sure how to get in touch with Chandler but I can probably find out if you would like me to.