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85-572: The exhibition includes among many other artworks the famous gothic Morris dancers , created by Erasmus Grasser for the festival hall of the Old Town Hall , and the original puttos of the Mary's Column . This exhibitions explains the history of the former "Hauptstadt der Bewegung" (Capital of the [Nazi] Movement). More than 2.000 musical instruments from Africa, America, Asia and Europe belong to this grand collection. This collection displays

170-433: A Bavarian building or structure is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Morris dance Morris dancing is a form of English folk dance . It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers in costume, usually wearing bell pads on their shins and/or shoes. A band or single musician, also costumed, will accompany them. Sticks, swords, handkerchiefs, and

255-469: A Morris dance from the notes that had been written down by Ceinwen Thomas on one particular dance that she called Y Gaseg Eira . After this 'original' dance had been pieced back together sides began to create more dances that were 'in the style of' this traditional Nantgarw Morris dance. Many of these new creations, such as Y Derwydd , are now held to be just as much a part of the Nantgarw tradition as

340-421: A certain weight to the stick bag, if not the proceedings. The sticks are held skiing -fashion (as in downhill , not slalom or cross-country) and are brought up in front of the face to clash. It was being danced by 1984. Previously known as Y Gamel (The Camel ) until it was renamed after the tune it is danced to. There are only eight sticks in this dance and no clashing except in the chorus. The dance pattern

425-489: A continuous lineage of tradition within their village or town: Abingdon (their Morris team was kept going by the Hemmings family), Bampton , Headington Quarry , and Chipping Campden . Other villages have revived their own traditions, and hundreds of other teams across the globe have adopted (and adapted) these traditions, or have created their own styles from the basic building blocks of Morris stepping and figures. By

510-685: A continuous thread in Italian life from Dante through the Renaissance , the advent of the tarantella in Southern Italy , and the modern revivals of folk music and dance. The carol or carole ( carola in Italian), a circle or chain dance which incorporates singing, was the dominant Medieval dance form in Europe from at least the 12th through the 14th centuries. This form of dance

595-713: A dance with Arab influence and movements from Malta, the Sfessania . Some decades later we find Villanella , and once again Ruggiero , Sfessania and Spagnoletta in Giambattista Basile 's collection of Neapolitan fairy tales, the Pentameron (published 1634-36). No reference is made in either work to the name which would later be the definitive dance of Naples, the Tarantella , but Bragaglia thinks that

680-620: A degree that makes them largely twentieth-century inventions as well. Some traditions have been reconstructed in several strikingly disparate ways; an example would be Adderbury, danced very differently by the Adderbury Morris Men and the Adderbury Village Morris. The North West tradition is named after the North West region of England and has always featured mixed and female sides, at least as far back as

765-630: A form of disguise , or a reference either to the Moors or to miners; the origins of the practice remain unclear and are the subject of ongoing debate . In June 2020 the Joint Morris Organisation called for the use of black makeup to be discontinued, in response to the Black Lives Matter movement. Groups that used face paint changed to blue, green, or yellow and black stripes. The earliest (15th-century) references place

850-693: A founder of the Espérance Club (a dressmaking co-operative and club for young working women in London), and Herbert MacIlwaine, musical director of the Espérance Club. Neal was looking for dances for her girls to perform, and so the first revival performance was by young women in London. In the first few decades of the 20th century, several men's sides were formed, and in 1934 the Morris Ring

935-678: A kingdom of the Austrian Empire in the 19th century. Later, the Dalmatian city of Zara with other small local territories belonged to Italy from 1920 to 1947. During the World War II , from 1941 to 1943, Italy annexed a large part of Dalmatia, including it in the Governorate of Dalmatia . Dalmatia, especially its maritime cities, once had a substantial local ethnic Italian population ( Dalmatian Italians ), making up 33% of

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1020-525: A majority German-speaking population. The dance culture is similar to that of Southern Germany and the Austrian state of Tyrol with such typical dances as Ländler , Schuhplattler , Dreirtanz , Schustertanz , Bregenzer and Masolka . Central Italy refers to the areas of Tuscany , Marche , Umbria , Lazio , Abruzzo and Molise . Southern Italy refers to the regions of Campania , Apulia , Basilicata and Calabria . Insular Italy refers to

1105-780: A new organization, the Ente Nazionale Assistenza Lavoratori (ENAL), headquartered in Rome. In partnership with the International Folk Music Council , ENAL sponsored a Congress and Festival in Venice September 7–11, 1949 which included many of the outstanding researchers in Italian folklore as well as folk dance and music groups from various Italian regions. ENAL was dissolved in late 1978 but earlier in October 1970,

1190-598: A number of traditions which have been collected since the mid-twentieth century, though few have been widely adopted. Examples are Broadwood, Duns Tew, and Ousington-under-Wash in the Cotswold style, and Upper and Lower Penn in the Border style. In fact, for many of the "collected" traditions in Bacon, only sketchy information is available about the way they were danced in the nineteenth century, and they have been reconstructed to

1275-586: A scheme which became common in Renaissance dance. One of the earliest known depictions of Italian folk dance is part of a set of frescoes at the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena by Ambrogio Lorenzetti (about 1285-1348). Part of his Allegory of Good Government (Effetto del Buon Governo) painted about 1338-40 shows a group of nine dancers, all women and accompanied by another woman singing and playing on

1360-428: A side performing it. This is the first of three dances which conform to a standard pattern; which can, with a little care, be memorised and need, therefore, no calling. Like Y Gaseg Eira it is a handkerchief dance. The current practise with the music is to use hornpipe time , which lends a lilt to the dance that some people find attractive. It had been added to the Nantgarw repertoire by 1984. Sixteen sticks lend

1445-531: A single local festival or event (such as the Abram Morris Dancers ), the majority of teams now rehearse throughout the year, with the majority of performances occurring in the spring and summer. The dances themselves were often called 'maze' or 'garland dances' as they involved a very intricate set of movements in which the dancers wove in and out of each other. Some dances were performed with a wicker hoop (decorated with garlands of flowers) held above

1530-566: A tabret". In 1600, the Shakespearean actor William Kempe Morris danced from London to Norwich , an event chronicled in his Nine Daies Wonder (1600). Almost nothing is known about the folk dances of England prior to the mid-17th century. While it is possible to speculate on the transition of "Morris dancing" from the courtly to a rural setting, it may have acquired elements of pre-Elizabethan (medieval) folk dance, such proposals will always be based on an argument from silence as there

1615-485: A tendency to truncate the second double step and leap straight into the capers, leading to a loss of balance and poise. The hand movements are straight up-and-down, with Adderbury -style circular movements at waist level for the capers. In the 'chipping' sequences in Y Gaseg Eira and Hunting the Hare the arms are raised in turn and in time with the single stepping which accompanies it. Morris dancing has been practiced in

1700-451: A tradition, but the original Nantgarw dance, Y Gaseg Eira , is considered to be a dance for the Welsh sides. Consequently, it is often performed by the sides Isca Morris and Cardiff Morris. It was members of Cardiff Morris who developed the modern Nantgarw dances and so they are the most common performers of these dances. It has been pointed out that there are "obvious" similarities between

1785-833: A variety of other implements may be wielded by the dancers. Morris dancing first appeared in England in the 15th century . Its earliest surviving mention dates to 1448 and records the payment of seven shillings to Morris dancers by the Goldsmiths' Company in London. The term "Morris" comes from a Flemish form of " Moorish ", although Morris dancing has no known historical connection to the Moors. Three prominent groups organise and support Morris in England: Morris Ring , Morris Federation and Open Morris ; all three organisations have members from other countries as well. There are around 150 Morris sides (or teams) in

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1870-509: A woman on tambourine. It can be seen in Simone Prodenzani's Liber Saporecti (or Il Saporetto ), published 1415, which describes music and dance at an imaginary court, and from other works, that in the early 15th century the direction of transmission of dance forms was from the popular folk dances of the towns and countryside to the courts of the nobility. But a new attitude appears at court which elevates dance to an art form. In

1955-770: Is associated with Plough Monday , is a parodic form danced in work boots and with at least one Molly man dressed as a woman . The largest Molly Dance event is the Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival , established in 1980, held at Whittlesey in Cambridgeshire in January. There is also Stave dancing from the south-west and the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance . Italian folk dance Italian folk dance has been an integral part of Italian culture for centuries. Dance has been

2040-462: Is divided opinion on the question of whether the estampie / istanpitta was actually a dance or simply a musical form. Curt Sachs in his World History of the Dance believes the strong rhythm of the music, the name, which he derives from a term "to stamp", and literary references point to the estampie definitely being a dance. Vellekoop, on the other hand, looks at the evidence and concludes that estampie

2125-569: Is first recorded in English in the mid-15th century as Morisk dance , moreys daunce , morisse daunce , i.e. 'Moorish dance'. The term entered English via Flemish mooriske danse . Comparable terms in other languages include German Moriskentanz (also from the 15th century), French morisques , Croatian moreška , and moresco , moresca or morisca in Italy and Spain. The modern spelling Morris-dance first appears in

2210-422: Is identical to that of Hunting the Hare, even down to the half-heys in the chorus, except that the corner figures are completely replaced with Stars. It was put together in 1991. This is a stick dance based around circular hays. This is a processional dance. Unlike the other dances which take place in one location this dance takes the dancers from one place to another. It takes its name from an old Welsh carol,

2295-688: Is no direct record of what such elements would have looked like. In the Elizabethan period, there was significant cultural contact between Italy and England, and it has been suggested that much of what is now considered traditional English folk dance, and especially English country dance , is descended from Italian dances imported in the 16th century. By the mid 17th century, the working peasantry took part in Morris dances, especially at Whitsun . The Puritan government of Oliver Cromwell , however, suppressed Whitsun ales and other such festivities. When

2380-536: Is often a supernumerary "character", who dances around, outside, and inside the set. The English mummers play occasionally involves Morris or sword dances either incorporated as part of the play or performed at the same event. Mummers plays are often performed in the streets near Christmas to celebrate the New Year and the coming springtime. In these plays are central themes of death and rebirth. Other forms include Molly dance from Cambridgeshire . Molly dance, which

2465-490: Is performed almost exclusively by girls and women in Lancashire, Cheshire and parts of North Wales. Performances typically take place in sports halls and community centres and participants more closely align with British carnival performances such as jazz kazoo marching bands, entertainer troupes and majorettes, than with the morris performances of the folk revival. In 2005, playwright Helen Blakeman staged 'The Morris' at

2550-554: Is said that the dance found its way to the area through Cornishmen who migrated to work in the Rossendale quarries. Carnival morris dancing shares a parallel history with North West morris dancing but began to evolve independently from around the 1940s onwards. It remains extremely popular with upwards of 8000 current dancers. Girls' carnival morris dancing is highly competitive and characterised by precise, synchronous routines with pom-poms (or 'shakers') executed to pop music. It

2635-400: Is the sword dance tradition, which includes both rapper sword and longsword traditions. In both styles the "swords" are not actual swords, but implements specifically made for the dance. The dancers are usually linked one to another via the swords, with one end of each held by one dancer and the other end by another. Rapper sides consist of five dancers, who are permanently linked-up during

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2720-965: Is the hub for Morris dancing in the Midwest , with 6 teams in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area and 9 teams in the whole of Minnesota. Dancing the sun up on May Day is an important activity for many American Morris dance teams. Today, there are six predominant styles of Morris dancing, and different dances or traditions within each style named after their region of origin. Lionel Bacon records Cotswold Morris traditions from these towns and villages: Abingdon , Adderbury , Ascot-under-Wychwood , Badby , Bampton , Bidford, Bledington , Brackley , Bucknell , Chipping Campden , Ducklington , Eynsham , Headington Quarry , Hinton-in-the-Hedges , Ilmington , Kirtlington , Leafield (Field Town), Longborough , Oddington , Sherbourne, Stanton Harcourt , Upton-upon-Severn and Wheatley . Bacon also lists

2805-562: Is widely regarded as the starting point for the Morris revival. Cecil Sharp was visiting at a friend's house in Headington , near Oxford, when the Headington Quarry Morris side arrived to perform. Sharp was intrigued by the music and collected several tunes from the side's musician, William Kimber , including Country Gardens . A decade later he began collecting the dances, spurred and at first assisted by Mary Neal ,

2890-603: The British Library (Add. 29987), folios 55v-58r and 59v-63v, contain 15 monophonic pieces of music, the first eight of which are labeled istanpitta . Of the next seven pieces, 4 are called saltarello , one trotto , one Lamento di Tristano , and the final one is labeled La Manfredina . These are the only known examples of instrumental dance music from Italy in the Middle Ages and all of them have similarities to earlier French dance pieces called estampie . There

2975-609: The Joint Morris Organisation , organises joint events and discusses issues that affect all members, such as access to both public liability and personal insurance cover. The United Kingdom experienced a revival in folk dancing and Morris dancing in the 1960s. In Wales this meant, in part, a resurgence in interest in the Nantgarw tradition from sides who were looking for Welsh dances to add to their English ones. Cardiff Morris Men began piecing together

3060-478: The Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro (OND) or National Recreational Club as a means of promoting sports and cultural activities and one of its accomplishments was a wide survey of folk music and dance in Italy at that time. The work was published in 1931 as Costumi, musica, danze e feste popolari italiane ("Italian popular customs, music, dance and festivals"). In September 1945 OND was replaced by

3145-401: The Sfessania can be regarded as the ancestor of that dance. Even by the late Renaissance and the elaborate choreographies of Caroso, a link between court dance and country or folk dance can be seen. Elements of folk dance invigorate courtly dances and folk dances take over movements and styles from courtly dance. The difference between the two forms was likely one of style and elegance. By

3230-634: The Tarantella as a solo. But the Tarantella as a couple dance telling a story of love in mime does appear in a description by Orgitano in the middle of the 19th century. Also appearing in illustrations and texts is the Saltarello as a rustic dance of Romagna in Central Italy. This is a name which also appears in the earliest Italian dance music and throughout the Renaissance. It is not clear, however, that these various mentions represent

3315-459: The bassadanza and the ballo , possibly related to the earlier simple dance forms of Boccaccio's time. The bassadanza , allied to the similar French basse dance , is a slow dignified dance without leaps or hops, while the ballo was a livelier dance often containing pantomimic elements. The terms saltarello or piva were sometimes used for more sprightly versions of the ballo . The dances are for couples, holding hands or in lines. Dances in

3400-751: The pavana . The faster, athletic gagliarda often followed the pavana but was also done as a separate dance. Other similar fast afterdances were the tordiglione and the saltarello (another term seen more often in music than dance descriptions). Further types were the Spagnoletta and the canario with its unique stamping patterns. Some of these names are seen again in the 1588 poem about life in Naples , Ritratto ... di Napoli by Gian Battista del Tufo (about 1548-1600) where dances like Spagnoletta or Tordiglione , and Rogier , Lo Brando and Passo e mezzo are mentioned but not described. But he does tell of

3485-542: The tambourine , executing a "bridge" figure where dancers go under the joined hands of the two lead dancers. Another 14th-century illustration comes from the Florentine painter Andrea Bonaiuti (1343–1377). One of his series of paintings The Church Militant and Triumphant (Chiesa militante e trionfante) done in 1365 at a chapel in the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence also shows women dancing accompanied by

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3570-495: The 17th century. In Edward Phillips's The New World of English Words , first published in 1658, the term morisco was referenced as both "a Moor" and "the Morris dance, as it were the Moorish dance", while John Bullokar defined it in 1695 as "a certain dance used among the Moors; whence our Morris dance". It is unclear how the dance came to be referred to as Moorish, "unless in reference to fantastic dancing or costumes", i.e.

3655-642: The 18th century, the name Tarantella does appear in illustrations and travelers's accounts in Southern Italy. When the German writer Goethe describes the Tarantella which he saw performed in Naples during his trip to Italy in 1786-87, it appears as a dance for women only, two girls dancing with castanets accompanied by a third on the tambourine. Madame de Staël had also traveled in Italy and in her 1817 novel Corinne, or Italy , she has her heroine dance

3740-490: The 18th century. There is a picture of Eccles Wakes painted in 1822 that shows both male and female dancers. Historically, most sides danced in various styles of shoes or boots, although dancing in clogs was also very common. Modern revivalist sides have tended more towards the wearing of clogs. The dances were often associated with rushcarts at the local wakes or holidays, and many teams rehearsed only for these occasions. While some teams continue to rehearse and dance for

3825-545: The English writer and politician Horace Walpole dated 1740 from Florence declares "The Italians are fond to a degree of our country dances" One of the earliest attempts to systematically collect folk dances is Gaspare Ungarelli's 1894 work Le vecchie danze italiane ancora in uso nella provincia bolognese ("Old Italian dances still in use in the province of Bologna") which gives brief descriptions and music for some 30 dances. In 1925, Benito Mussolini 's government set up

3910-685: The Italian folklore groups who had been members of ENAL set up a separate organization, which in 1978 became the Federazione Italiana Tradizioni Populari (FITP). The FITP publishes a newsletter and a scholarly publication Il Folklore D'Italia . Some prominent 20th-century Italian folk dance researchers are Anton Giulio Bragaglia, Diego Carpitella, Antonio Cornoldi, Giuseppe Michele Gala, Bianca Maria Galanti, Giorgio Nataletti, Placida Staro and Paolo Toschi. (see Bibliography) An interest in preserving and fostering folk art, music and dance among Italian Americans and

3995-551: The Liverpool Everyman, inspired by her childhood experience as a carnival morris dancer. In 2017, an exhibition of photographs taken at a carnival morris dancing competition in Southport by artist, Lucy Wright was presented at Cecil Sharp House. The term "Border Morris" was first used by E. C. Cawte in a 1963 article on the Morris dance traditions of Herefordshire , Shropshire and Worcestershire : counties along

4080-621: The Medieval period, no writer describes dance steps or figures, it being assumed that everyone knew how to dance. By the early Renaissance the simple circle and chain dances of the earlier centuries still exist - there are references to the round dance ( ridda ) and dancing in circles as late as the early 16th century in Straparola 's Le piacevoli notti ( The Facetious Nights of Straparola ). But we also find that couple dances and mimetic elements now appear and formal choreographies emerge for

4165-548: The Morris Ring (this has now changed), two other national (and international) bodies were formed, the Morris Federation and Open Morris . All three bodies provide communication, advice, insurance, instructionals (teaching sessions) and social and dancing opportunities to their members. The three bodies co-operate on some issues, while maintaining their distinct identities. An umbrella body that includes all three,

4250-456: The Morris dance in a courtly setting. The dance became part of performances for the lower classes by the later 16th century. Henry VIII owned a gold salt cellar which depicted a Morris dance with five dancers and a "tabrett". A "tabret" is a small tabor drum. On 4 January 1552, George Ferrers , the Lord of Misrule of Edward VI , put on a show in London which included "mores danse, dansyng with

4335-855: The United States since at least 1908, although an article published by the Country Dance and Song Society points to 1910 as the year Morris dancing truly took off in America. The primary organization supporting Morris Dance in the US is the North American Morris Dance Organization, which is affiliated with the Country Dance and Song Society as well as the Morris Ring, Morris Federation, and Open Morris. British-American musician and folklorist Tony Barrand

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4420-670: The United States. English immigrants form a large part of the Morris tradition in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Hong Kong . There are relatively isolated groups in other countries, for example those in Utrecht and Helmond , Netherlands; the Arctic Morris Group of Helsinki, Finland and Stockholm, Sweden; as well as in Cyprus and St Petersburg, Russia. Throughout its history, the Morris seems to have been common. It

4505-407: The Welsh Nantgarw style of Morris dance and the English Lichfield style of Morris dance. It is known that there were potteries in Nantgarw and these were largely staffed by workers from Staffordshire where Lichfield Morris was danced. This handkerchief dance has a pattern entirely peculiar to itself and was the first Nantgarw dance to see the light of day with the Cardiff Morris. The name of

4590-435: The West Country, from Malvern to Bicester and from Redditch to Moreton in Marsh . By 1910, he and Cecil Sharp were in correspondence on the subject. Several English folklorists were responsible for recording and reviving the tradition in the early 20th century, often from a bare handful of surviving members of mid-19th-century village sides. Among these, the most notable are Cecil Sharp and Mary Neal . Boxing Day 1899

4675-451: The border with Wales. Characteristics of the tradition as practised in the 19th and early 20th centuries include: blackface or coloured facepaint (in some areas), use of either a small strip of bells (in some areas) or no bells at all (in others), costume often consisting of ordinary clothes decorated with ribbons, strips of cloth, or pieces of coloured paper (known as 'raggies'); or sometimes "fancy dress", small numbers of traditional dances in

4760-404: The crown was restored by Charles II , the springtime festivals were restored. In particular, Whitsun Ales came to be celebrated on Whitsunday ( Pentecost ), as the date was close to the birthday of Charles II. A regional reference occurs in Horsham , Sussex in 1750. Morris dancing continued in popularity until the Industrial Revolution and its accompanying social changes. Four teams claim

4845-489: The cultural history of the puppet theatre. The Fotomuseum was founded in 1963 and owns already more than 500.000 photographs. The museum with its large archive shows weekly screenings and has once become well known for the restoration of movies of Fritz Lang , Ernst Lubitsch , Georg Wilhelm Pabst and Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau . 48°08′6.36″N 11°34′22.98″E  /  48.1351000°N 11.5730500°E  / 48.1351000; 11.5730500 This article about

4930-407: The dance is a Welsh idiom for a very large snowball , and it is so named because at one point in the dance the hand waving movements resemble the movements of somebody rolling a large snowball. This is the original Nantgarw dance and was being danced by Cardiff Morris by 1974. An article in the Welsh Folk Dance Magazine published in 1959 featured an article on this dance along with a photograph of

5015-436: The dance. The rapper sword is a very flexible strip of spring-steel with a wooden handle at each end. The longsword is about 2'6" (0.8 metres) long, with a wooden handle at one end, a blunt tip, and no edge. Sometimes ribbons are threaded through a hole in the tip of the sword, and the dancers grab on to them during the course of the dance. Longsword sides consist usually of five to eight dancers. In both rapper and longsword there

5100-419: The dancer's head. Some dancers were also associated with a tradition of mumming and hold a pace egging play in their area. The Britannia Coconut Dancers , named after a mill not far from Bacup , are unique in the tradition, in that they used sawn bobbins to make a noise, and perform to the accompaniment of a brass ensemble. They are one of the few North West Morris groups that still black up their faces. It

5185-435: The dances done, danza and ballo . Some scholars assume that all the terms are synonymous since the dance forms are given no distinctive description, but others take these to mean separate dances and trace the names forward to the Renaissance dances bassadanza and ballo . These descriptions from Boccaccio are, of course, all of townsfolk dancing but the Decameron also gives at least a glimpse at peasant dances as well. In

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5270-471: The dedication and leadership of Elba Farabegoli Gurzau led to the formation of the Italian Folk Art Federation of America (IFAFA) in May 1979. The group sponsors an annual conference and has published a newsletter, Tradizioni , since 1980. Northern Italy refers to the regions of Aosta Valley , Piedmont , Liguria , Lombardy , Veneto , Emilia-Romagna , Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Trentino-Alto Adige . Several types of weapon dances are known from Italy,

5355-512: The deliberately "exotic" flavour of the performance. The English dance thus apparently arose as part of a wider 15th-century European fashion for supposedly "Moorish" spectacle, which also left traces in Spanish and Italian folk dance . The means and chronology of the transmission of this fashion is now difficult to trace; the London Chronicle recorded "spangled Spanish dancers" performed an energetic dance before King Henry VII at Christmas in 1494, but Heron's accounts also mention " pleying of

5440-406: The first time. This new Art of the Dance can especially be seen at the major courts of Milan , Padua , Venice , Florence , Bologna , Pesaro , Urbino and Naples . With dancing elevated to new heights, dancing masters make their appearance at court and the first dance manuals are known from the middle of the 15th century. The three 15th century treatises divide their dances into two types,

5525-459: The larger towns and some villages in the western part of Istria. Dances done by both the Croatian and the Italian communities include Molferina or Mafrina and Kvadrilja . Dances specific to the Italians include La Veneziana , Bersagliera , Denci , and more importantly the very similar dances Vilota and Furlana . Dalmatia is today part of Croatia but belonged to the Republic of Venice ( Venetian Dalmatia ) from 1409 to 1797, and became

5610-416: The late 19th century, and in the West Country at least, Morris dancing was fast becoming more a local memory than an activity. D'Arcy Ferris (or de Ferrars), a Cheltenham-based singer, music teacher and organiser of pageants, became intrigued by the tradition and sought to revive it. He first encountered Morris in Bidford and organised its revival. Over the following years he took the side to several places in

5695-462: The manuscripts were often given rather fanciful names, e.g. Lioncello , Gioioso and Rosina , which are often found in more than one work and occasionally as dance names in later times as well. In the late 16th and early 17th century manuals of Caroso and Negri, a variety of dance types can be seen: slow processional dances, longways, various dances for single couples and even a few for trios or five dancers. All are social dances for both sexes with

5780-401: The men's steps being more athletic than the women's. In all the dances the upper body is kept erect, the arms are quiet and there is little movement above the waist. Dance suites usually started with a walking sequence, pavana , a term often found in the music of the time but almost never in dance manuals. The passo e mezzo (literally step-and-a-half) seems to have been a faster variant of

5865-420: The mock battle ( Moresca ), sword dances and stick dances. A number of these are from the Piedmont region of Northern Italy: The region of Friuli has been a crossroads for different cultures throughout the centuries. The inhabitants are mostly Italian speaking as well as the local Friulan language but German and Slovenian are also spoken in some areas. South Tyrol is an autonomous province of Italy with

5950-405: The mourice dance " four days earlier, and the attestation of the English term from the mid-15th century establishes that there was a "Moorish dance" performed in England decades prior to 1494. An alternative derivation from the Latin mos , moris (custom and usage) has also been suggested. It has been suggested that the tradition of rural English dancers blackening their faces may be

6035-434: The original dance. Today there are five Morris dances that are commonly recognised as being a part of the Nantgarw tradition. The five dances in the Nantgarw tradition include: Y Gaseg Eira (The Snow Mare ), Hela'r Sgwarnog (Hunting the Hare ), Ty Coch Caerdydd (Red House of Cardiff), Y Derwydd (The Druid ) and Y Goron (The Crown). There are no hard and fast rules as to which Morris sides can perform dances from

6120-554: The refrain. The circle then reforms and the leader goes on to the next stanza. However, it is Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375) who illustrates the social function of dance in the Decameron (about 1350-1353). In Boccaccio's masterpiece, a group of men and women have traveled to a countryside villa to escape the Black Death and they tell a series of stories to while away the time. There are also social activities before and after

6205-459: The regions of Sicily and Sardinia . The peninsula of Istria , today part of the countries of Croatia and Slovenia , belonged to the Republic of Venice ( Venetian Istria ) from the 13th century to 1797, and became a margraviate of the Austrian Empire in the 19th century. Later, Istria belonged to Italy from 1919 to 1947. Local ethnic Italians ( Istrian Italians ) were more than 50% of

6290-569: The same or even related dances. In the North, in Venice , there was the "wild courtship dance", known as Furlana or Forlana which was danced by Casanova in 1775. References to figure dances similar to English country dances and French Contradanses also appear as early as the first part of the 18th century. Dances of this type from the 18th and 19th centuries in Italy include La Contraddanza , Quadriglia and Il Codiglione . A letter from

6375-526: The second story of the Eighth Day about the priest and Monna Belcolore, of the latter the story says: The two terms for dance that Boccaccio uses, ridda and ballonchio , both refer to round dances with singing. Another variant of the round dance with song is the Righoletto, known from Florence and the surrounding countryside in the 14th and 15th centuries In a 14th-century Italian manuscript in

6460-618: The stories which include song and dance. After breakfast at the beginning of the first day: For each of the ten days, song and dance are part of the storytellers' activities - at the end of the sixth day: And further after storytelling on the seventh day: The dance passages in the Decameron show that the carol was always sung but could be accompanied by instrumental music as well, both men and women danced though women seem to dance more often than men, and all knew how to dance. Boccaccio also uses two other terms besides carola to describe

6545-433: The team repertoire, often only one and rarely more than two, highly variable number of dancers in the set and configurations of the set (some sides had different versions of a dance for different numbers of dancers), and an emphasis on stick dances almost to the exclusion of hankie dances. Usually regarded as a type of Morris, although many of the performers themselves consider it as a traditional dance form in its own right,

6630-461: The total population for centuries, while making up about a third of the population in 1900, number that decreased further after the Istrian–Dalmatian exodus (1943–1960). Italian cultural influence has resulted in the resemblance of many Istrian dances to those of Northern Italy. This applies to dances done by the modern day Croatian population and by the Italian national minority found today in

6715-803: The tradition from Lichfield, which is Cotswold-like despite that city's distance from the Cotswold Morris area; the authenticity of this tradition has been questioned. In 2006, a small number of dances from a previously unknown tradition was discovered by Barry Care, MBE , keeper of The Morris Ring Photographic Archive, and a founding member of Moulton Morris Men ( Ravensthorpe, Northamptonshire )—two of them danceable. Other dances listed by Bacon include Border Morris dances from Brimfield , Bromsberrow Heath , Evesham , Leominster , Much Wenlock , Pershore , Upton-upon-Severn, Upton Snodsbury , White Ladies Aston , and miscellaneous non-Cotswold, non-Border dances from Steeple Claydon and Winster . There are

6800-476: The tune for which was used for the melody of " Deck the Halls ". The figures can be summarised as Foot Up, Corners Change, Top Hey, Bottom Hey and Circular Hey, with usually a distinctive verse figure unique to each dance. There is double step throughout, except when 'chipping' (hopping in one spot whilst simultaneously rotating). The basic pattern is two double steps followed by four capers. There had been

6885-482: Was found in Italy as well and although Dante has a few fleeting references to dance, it is Dante's contemporary Giovanni del Virgilio (floruit 1319-1327) who gives us the earliest mention of Italian folk dance. He describes a group of women leaving a church in Bologna at the festa of San Giovanni; they form a circle with the leader singing the first stanza at the end of which the dancers stop and, dropping hands, sing

6970-505: Was founded by six revival sides: In the 1950s and especially the 1960s, there was an explosion of new dance teams, some of them women's or mixed sides. At the time, there was often heated debate over the propriety and even legitimacy of women dancing the Morris, even though there is evidence as far back as the 16th century that there were female Morris dancers. There are now male, female and mixed sides to be found. Partly because women's and mixed sides were not eligible for full membership of

7055-407: Was imported from village festivities into popular entertainment after the invention of the court masque by Henry VIII . The word Morris apparently derived from morisco , meaning ' Moorish '. Cecil Sharp , whose collecting of Morris dances preserved many from extinction, suggested that it might have arisen from the dancers' blacking their faces as part of the necessary ritual disguise. The name

7140-805: Was key in developing and documenting Morris history in the US, including founding the Marlboro Morris Men as well as the Marlboro Morris Ale. Most Morris sides in the United States are concentrated on the East Coast , particularly in the Boston-Washington development corridor . Large regular events in this part of the country include the Marlboro Morris Ale and Dancing America Rapper Tournament (the American offshoot of Dancing England Rapper Tournament ). Minneapolis

7225-491: Was simply a name for early instrumental music. The other seven dances in the manuscript have the same general musical structure as those labeled "istanpitta" but are simpler and probably more suitable for dancing. Saltarello is a dance name found in later centuries as well but the later examples may not refer to the same dance as these 14th-century pieces. The last two dances in the manuscript, Lamento di Tristano and La Manfredina are notable as being pairs of related dances,

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