THE OLD ENGLISH DANCES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1806, 19 July 1913, Page 11

THE OLD ENGLISH DANCES.

FROM DRUID DAYS. An interesting talk upon old English dances was obtained by a representative of "The Observer" from Miss Mary Neal who was on tho point of producing a performance consisting of a cycle of English dances and English folk-songs in the Globe Theatre, London, a short time aco. They were selected from the Morris, country, and sword dances that have been collected /ftrom traditional sources, from Playford's "Dancing Master," and from the Court dances of Elizabethan days. Discussing the programme and its object Miss Mary Neal referred to the interest that has been taken in Loudon in the Russian and also in foreign .peasant dances, and said: "Very few people realise that we have in England to-day a beautiful set of traditional dances and dancers, and that the tradition in some cases is absolutely unbroken, and goes back to long-past ages. I have discovered at the British Museum that some of the dances probably date from Druidical times, and that they formed part of a Pagan religious ceremonial, much older than Christianity. "In later years the Morris dancers were more or less attached to tlie churches. Expenses for their dresses are to be found in churchwardens' accounts. By the time of Queen Elizabeth these dances had lost their religious characteristics, and had become part of the ordinary peasant revels, and were danced at fairs, lamb ales, and wakea. Traditional Peasant Dances. "My idea is to show London what we possess in the way of' traditional peasant dances. I have-invited a 'side' of Morris men from Bampton-in-the-Bush. whose tradition remains unbroken, to come up to London for May Day and to dance at a matinee at the Globe Theatre a set of dances exactly as they are still danced at Bampton every Whit Monday. "They will dance 'Lumps of Plum Pudding,' a solo jig; 'Glorishears,' a stamping, clapping dance; 'The Rose Tree,' a very pretty and delicate dance; 'Trunkles,' also called 'Old Tmnco' (trunk hose), a corner- dance; and 'Flowers of Edinburgh,' a : very intricate dance, in which the dancers go down on alternate knees, and 'jump off' to the tune of 'Green Garters.' "There are traces in the. ceremonial of these dances of the human sacrifice, the later substitution of the animal, and in still more humane days'' of the ceremonial cake or wafer. When I was at Bampton last Whit-Monday I felt abso-

lutely thrilled at tho thought that possibly' there was<a link between tins simple ceremonial of the Morris cake and the high cerenionifll at St. Peter s in Rome.

Country and Town Dancers. "The second part of the programme will bo given by the Esperance Guild of Morris 1 dancers, who have been taught, not by any professional teachers, but directly, .by the traditional dancers themselves, twenty of whom I have had up in London to teach from time to time. "They are going to dance The Hose Tree' exactly the same as the Bampton men, because I want to show both the difference and the similitude between the. traditional dancers and those whom they have taught.' The traditional, dancers aro countrymen, and the Esperance Guild men and girls aro townsfolk. It will be interesting to see how the latter have taken to the traditional dance and how thoroughly they enjoy it. "Some of the men who are dancme in the Esperance Guild are from Reckitfa Blue factory in Hull, others, are from Thaxted, in Essex, and; the rest.are London mechanics. In addition to The Rose Tree' they will dance Morris, country and sword dances from Lancashire, Oxfordshire, Yorkshire, Berkshire, and j Sussex. The Hon. Neville Lytton will dance a solo jig with one of the men from the Esperance Guild, a most beautiful dancer, who has danced in different parts of the country and is busily engaged, together witli the girls of the guild, in teaching the dances all over England. In my Part of the programme also Air .Clive Carey will sing some May Day folk songs. "The third part will consist of dances from Playford's 'Dancing Master, the most complete set of dances in existence. Miss Nellie Chaplin, who will present, these (lances, .was the first to decinhcr and arrange thein and to introdnco them to the present generation, a work wnicn she lias performed with great success nil over England. They will be followed by some Court dances by Miss Chaplin s company, this completing a cycle of English dances. "For the first part of the programme the Bampton men will bring their own fiddler. Like the men themselves, ho will bo dressed exactly as on Whit-Monday at Bampton. This dress. consists of white duck trousers, whito shirts covored with coloured ribbons, bells on the shins, and bowler hats trimmed' with .ribbon streamers and bunches of artificial flowers and "The dances of the Esperance Guild will be accompanied by the virginals, fiddle, and a beautiful ivory eighteenth-century flute and tabor. "Miss Chaplin's dances from Playford will be accompanied by her string quartet and oboe, and the Court dances by the harpsichord, viola d amor© and viola, da gamb'a."