Monday, 15 July - Morris Dancing at Oxford Experience

The Charlbury Morris Side were dancing in Tom Quad this evening.  As always, the dancing, despite the heat, was superb and a great deal of fun was had by all.

At the end of the dance session, there was a general invitation for members of the audience to join in, and quite a few took part in the last dance of the Charlbury side.  The very last dance, however, was a Rapper Sword Dance which was danced by members of another Morris Side who were joined by Peter from the Charlbury side.

This ‘sword dance’ comes from the Northumberland mining country and actually uses double handled flexible blades that were once used to wipe the sweat from the pit-ponies.  It is a very complicated dance and after many elaborate contortions as the dancers move in and out of the circle of ‘swords’, it finishes with the ‘swords’ being held aloft in an interwoven pattern.

See more photos on our Facebook Site here...

You can find out more about the Charlbury Morris Side here... 

And, if you are interested in Cotswolds folk tradition and music, you can see the Morris Side at the Finstock Village Music Festival on YouTube here...