Shropshire Bedlams

[Jacques]

A border Morris team performing in the Square, Shrewsbury.

[ColinM]

Great scene Jacques.
I'm just trying to imagine what the soundtrack to this was like

[Anthony]

Interesting, I have never seen Morris Dancers with black face paint.

[Jacques]

The 'blacking up' is a tradition that goes back well before PC existed, I am told that groups of less well off people used to dance for money, to save being recognised they blacked their faces, the tradition continues with many Morris teams in the Midlands ' blacking up ' there is no racist intent.
The music is a bit basic a couple of accordions provide the base music with the sticks providing a beat as the contact the other members in some quite intricate sequences.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Thanks for providing new insights into an old folk tradition

[Jacques]

The acceptable face of Morris dancing ! ?

[Bjørn Rørslett]

At least what we have seen many times before ....

[Gary]

I've never heard or see Morris Dancing ... tell me more.   

[Jacques]

A short video of my local black faced morris team the Shropshire Bedlams performing at their home pub The Three Tuns, Bishops Castle, Shropshire, I found this on You Tube, not the best quality but will give you an idea of the complexity of the dances and this is one of their more sedate routines !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTcOwqHGbkg

[Airy]

The 'blacking up' is a tradition that goes back well before PC existed, I am told that groups of less well off people used to dance for money, to save being recognised they blacked their faces, the tradition continues with many Morris teams in the Midlands ' blacking up ' there is no racist intent.
The music is a bit basic a couple of accordions provide the base music with the sticks providing a beat as the contact the other members in some quite intricate sequences.

On the other hand, Morris (as I read) could have been derived from "mauresque" / Morisca. See also the Corsica flag with the "tête de maure", represented as a man with subsaharian features. This does sure not imply racist intents. The best would be to ask the dancers themselves.

If you want to shoot racist behaviours, visit Béziers and its mayor, a direct import from brown planet. but back to photography...

[Bruno Schroder]

I saw such a group at Widecombe Fair in September, with no blackened face by the way, and only now understand what I saw . Thanks for the explanation.