OUR DANCES

East suffolk Morris Men dance mostly dances from the Cotswolds - although at Christmas we also dance (Welsh) Border Morris. Our Repertoire of about 70 dances can be found here.

The Cotswolds seems to have been the centre of the English tradition of ritual dancing, although the area extends beyond the geographic Costwold region. It is likely that all parts of England had traditional dancing which waxed & waned through the centuries, & our current knowledge of The Morris is largely due to the "snapshot" of dances and records collected by Cecil Sharp during the early C20. Certainly there was a tradition of "Molly" dancing in East Anglia, the details of which has been largely lost.

The Welsh Border dances are another local tradition & share with some North West Morris character, e.g. the habit of blackening faces whilst dancing - which served to cloak the performers from recognition by their employers or others who might disapprove.

ESMM also has a team which dances Rapper and Longsword dances from the North East of England