North by North West Morris
We are a group of men and women dancing traditional dances from the North West region of EnglandThe style of dancing we do started around the turn of the century in the mill towns of the English, NorthWest counties of Lancashire and Cheshire. Our dances were made up by local people using steps borrowed from other traditional folk dancing styles; most especially from the very popular individual "step clogging" of the time. The early dances were performed mostly in the cobbled streets of the mill towns, and the shape of the dances reflects this, most dances are danced in straight line "sets" and are usually for a "side" of eight dancers. Many sides in the early 1900's would have had two of even three sets of dancers dancing all together. What a wonderful spectacle that must have been!! We dance in wooden clogs - the form of footwear traditionally worn at the time by working people. Clogs are still being made and worn by some people i England, but are now mostly commonly used by dancers. Our musicians play both music and instruments that would have been played for the newly created sides of the late 1800's early 1900's. Typically, musicians would have been drawn from the town's brass band. NORTH BY NORTH WEST MORRIS' aim is to have fun recreating and performing this energetic, precise style of traditional English dancing. we would welcome more women and men to dance with us, and more women or men to play for us. We practice once a week throughout the year on Monday evenings in the Ballard area. If you would like to join us - either as a dancer or musician - or wish to know more about us please contact:
Libby 206-323-7519
Judy 206-634-2535
(Musicians) Greg Ure 206-285-6247