This is Morris Dancing

Documenting English Traditional Music, Dance and Song

Winster Morris, Castleton Garland Day and Tideswell Wakes

Concentrating on the Winster Morris team, this film examines the history and traditions of the distinctive form of morris dancing found in Derbyshire. The history of the teams is traced back to the early nineteenth century, with press cuttings, photographs and old film clips. The background to the village and an account of the re-formation of the team in 1977 is given.

There are shorter sequences showing the place of dancing in the Castleton Garland ceremony and the Tideswell Wakes torchlight procession.

The second part of the film includes complete coverage of all the dances at Wakes Saturday 1981 – though other dances have been added to the repertoire since – and includes general footage of the Wakes day celebrations.

Garland Films

“as a visual record of the tradition it is excellent…a lively, attractive and accurate account”. Roy Judge.