Wild Hunt Bedlam Morris, based in West Croydon, were only six dances into their show at The White Lion, in Warlingham, when officers gate-crashed and halted the display, following a complaint.Yes. One complaint. One.
After pleading with the officers to be allowed to continue, the 15 dancers were told to stop their Tuesday night show, in the interest of "community relations".Hmmm, I wonder what my chances would be of getting some boisterous Diwali dancers or Eid celebrants silenced for the sake of ‘community relations’? Probably slim.
And unlike DumbJon, I fear any new recruit challenged as to exactly what's so 'offensive' about morris dancing could reel off a whole spiel of guff drummed into him at Hendon.
The dancers are baffled and angry:
"It's the first time we've encountered anything like it.
"We felt treated like yobs. But we've got ex-oil executives, business owners and a school secretary in our group.
"We just feel aggrieved that something that has such a long history in the country, at a time when it is hard to keep the old traditions alive, should not be allowed.
"We do it for the love of it. It wasn't as if it was ad hoc, but we obviously offended someone."And in modern Britain, that’s all it takes, it seems. Despite the fact that morris dancing holds a particular position with relation to the bylaws:
So sacrosanct is Morris dancing, it was exempt as a form of entertainment under the Licensing Act 2003, so that pubs could continue the tradition at no cost.I wonder if the police were unaware of the rich tradition of morris dancing? Probably not. Not in Croydon. I bet you they could give you chapter and verse about Black History Month and the Gypsy & Traveller traditions, though! It’s bound to be covered in their diversity courses…
A White Lion worker, who did not want to be named, said: "The police came because they got a complaint from a neighbour.
"I think everyone was a bit surprised really. Morris dancers have been dancing around in the area for years, so I really don't understand it."Me neither.
A Surrey Police spokesman said: "We received a report from a member of the public about noisy revellers outside the White Lion pub in Farleigh Road, Warlingham.
"A neighbourhood police officer attended and spoke to a group who matched the description given.
"The noise had already stopped and no formal allegations were made and the group left the area without incident."Translation: “*shrug* Yeah? So? Storm in a teacup, innit? 'ere, sign my petition about that Winsor geezer, eh?”
20 comments:
'I wonder what my chances would be of getting some boisterous Diwali dancers or Eid celebrants silenced for the sake of ‘community relations’? Probably slim.'
Quite.
http://www.thisiscroydontoday.co.uk/West-Croydon-Carnival-Cultures-brings-crowd/story-17002671-detail/story.html
I've seen several reports of this, but I've found it impossible to determine whether it was just a case of someone complaining about the noise, or whether "community relations" meant there was more to it. Maybe they were waving English flags or something...
When are people going to learn that they do not need to do what a Policeman 'advises', they need only obey the law?
Should have carried on and ignored the Stasi muppets.
How very DARE they blatantly display a traditional English form of community in a soon-to-be-Muslim country like ours!
First person to link this story to Hillsborough or Tomlinson wins a prize.
I wonder whether the reaction owes something to a briefing somewhere about Border Morris or Molly Dancing, for both of which dancers traditionally blackened their faces with soot to disguise their identity:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1196267/Morris-dancers-banned-primary-school-plan-black-event.html
I can't see that particular practice going down at all well in Croydon, though it was reassuring to see Black Dog Molly dancers in traditional makeup recently performing elsewhere in England to unanimous applause from the (multicultural) crowd.
According to their website, "Molly dancing is the earthy, unsophisticated style of Morris dancing"; it gets its name from the fact that at least one male dancers dresses as a woman.
In the US, where political sensitivity means blacking up is out of the question, Massachusets-based Molly team Green River Tap and Die have adopted the striking solution of performing in sunglasses.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsM7OiuIki8&feature=related
Jaded,
What will the prize be?
A cosy sinecure as CC for covering up child abuse or promotion to the 33rd degree?
Maybe just a punch in the face and a quick blast of CS?
First prize-a night out with Noggin.
Second prize-two nights out with you.
Bonus prize for most confusing answer is a visit to Melvins asylum to poke him with a stick through the bars of his cell.
Jaded,
Surely you'd rather have a beer with me than with your erstwhile colleague, Police Constable Stephen Mitchell?
Unless you like a bit of slap and tickle, eh?
"Morris" of course originates from "Moorish", hence the traditional blacking-up.
XX "We received a report from a member of the public about noisy revellers outside the White Lion pub in Farleigh Road, Warlingham.
"A neighbourhood police officer attended and spoke to a group who matched the description given.
"The noise had already stopped and no formal allegations were made and the group left the area without incident." XX
So it is totaly a "Non story" then.
No one was stopped from doing anything. They had already finished. And NOWHERE does it say that the actual DANCE was complained about.
Non story, and, sorry Julia, a NON POST!
What were they expecting, Ninja Morris Dancers?
""Morris" of course originates from "Moorish", hence the traditional blacking-up."
Actually Curmudgen I think you are quite wrong, as was the school who objected. The blacking up has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with race it has to do with disguise, from an era when bosses forbade their workers to indulge in such non-christian activities.
The army still do similar things on night excercises!
I have to say I'm disapointed in the moris side. They should have gone ahead and dared the police to arrest them.
Dear Miss Predator
Surely a case of "It's me culture, guv, innit?"
Carry on then. Mind how you go...
Not.
Absent the identity of the complainant, “community relations” may or may not indicate an ethnic dimension.
Saying you are not the BNP or KKK does rather queer one's pitch. If they can be banned, so can you.
Unquestionably the dancers should have continued to exercise their cultural traditions. If the police officer(s) had used brute force, then Cameron’s ‘Big Society’ could have been deployed to even greater effect.
I suspect that Cameron’s ‘Big Society’ is rather like Blair’s ‘education, education, education’: when Blair said it, education was already well and truly scuppered. Now Cameron has uttered his words, he’s merely telling us and the rest of the world that British society and English society in particular is, well, um, and truly, um, scuppered. Totally.
DP
it would be interesting to know what was actually reported to Police or what the Police thought they were attending. The words 'Community relations' are suspicious.
".. or whether "community relations" meant there was more to it. "
Well, indeed. And yet, in England, why should that be unusual?
Oh. Right.
"..have adopted the striking solution of performing in sunglasses."
Just when you think you've seen everything...!
"No one was stopped from doing anything. They had already finished. And NOWHERE does it say that the actual DANCE was complained about."
Oh, I suspect there was a fair bit of exaggeration going on from the aggrieved party.
Just as I'm sure there was a bit of 'what loophole/PR spin can we put on this?' going on at police press office.
The extraordinary thing is that someone complained, and instead of telling them they were too busy, thanks to theawfultoryfrontlinecuts they came out...
We did six dances and then, at about 9pm, we went in to have a drink before going back out to perform again.
I suspect it was more about timing on a Tuesday evening. If they ended at 9pm and went for a drink - and Morris dancers are known to need to drink freely to keep up with all the leaping - then they were proposing to come out again at 9.30 earliest (and I'm guessing later) and start up again with bells, accordion, and stick-whacking with optional whoops.
Speaking as one who goes to folk festivals and commends to the house the company Fools Gambit, even I'd find my patience wearing thin on a Tuesday evening getting towards News at Ten.
Don't worry Janet. They are probably foriegners with ways different to our own. They may do some more...."folk dancing".
"Oh Brad!....
WoaR, you remind me of a delightfully surreal occasion many years ago.
Visiting a stately home in the throes of a busy Tudor reenactment day, we were puzzled by a jingling sound from behind a hedge. Rounding the corner, we discovered a small queue of morris-men, bells and all, impatiently hopping up and down outside the single staff lavatory.
Obviously all that liquid refreshment has its inconvenient consequences...
FT - nice one!
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