Posted by Louise Parmakis 28 August 2010
Whitby-based graphic artist David Own has a mission - to show the world (or at least London) that Morris dancing, when done well, is as powerful and as striking as any other dance form in the art world.
To this end David is organising a 3-day event, ’5,000 Morris Dancers’ at London’s Southbank Centre over the weekend of 3-5th September 2010.
As well in various art installations by David himself, there will be 2 special screenings of a new full-length film Way of the Morris (directed by Tim Plester & Rob Curry). Over 100 dancers from a diverse array of ’sides’ have been invited to dance at the event, and The Magpies Nest (the 2010 winner of the BBC Folk Club of the Year award) will be putting an another of their theme clubs with some great artists lined up to entertain - Saturday sees Dogan Mehmet and the Deerhunters, The Hut People and Mawkin, and Sunday brings they bring you JigJaw, another chance to catch The Hut People and Zoox.
As if all that wasn’t enough to convince you to get yourself down to the banks of the Thames for the weekend, there are also 3 great evening concerts to tempt you:
Friday 3 September: The Demon Barber’s Roadshow bring you their idiosyncratic and exhilarating brand of folk, together with traditional rapper and clog dancing. Tickets £15.00
Saturday 4 September: Morris On. Release in 1972, the album Morris On brought together traditional morris tunes with a line-up that reads likes a who’s who of the 20th century folk revival - Ashley Hutchings, Richard Thompson, Dave Mattacks, John Kirkpatrick and Barry Dransfield with guest vocals from Shirley Collins. The evening will commence with Ashley Hutchings in conversation about the history of how the album came to be recorded and then you’ll be treated to re-playing of the album courtesy of an all-star line-up of the young artists of the new folk revival - Jim Moray, Sam Sweeney, Saul Rose, Sam Carter, John Fuller and Dave Burbridge, with guest vocals from Jackie Oates. Tickets £17.50
Sunday 5 September: The Imagined Village folk collective featuring Simon Emmerson, Martin Carthy, Eliza Carthy, Chris Wood, Andy Gangadeen, Johnny Kalsi, Simon Richmond, Ali Friend, Sheema
Mukherje and Barney Morse Brown. Tickets £22.50/£20.00