Ann Arbor Morris

Once upon a time…there was an annual “Ann Arbor Medieval Festival,” a community event which featured many types of performances including plays, music, combat, and dancing. One year (1976) as the festival came to a close, the members of the Morris dance group said to one another, “We’re having too much fun to stop now – let’s do this year ’round!” And, with that utterance, Ann Arbor Morris was born. Since then we have performed traditional English Morris dances in the streets of Ann Arbor and elsewhere.

Want to catch one of our performances? We appear at the following events in a typical year:

• May Day – We dance the sun up every year without fail on May 1st. Look for us at 6:15am in Nichols Arboretum, at the overlook down the road from the Geddes Rd. entrance, rain or shine.
• Midwest Morris Ale – An annual gathering of 200 or so Morris dancers from all over the Midwest and beyond, held over the Memorial Day weekend. Moves around from city to city (last seen in Michigan in 2018)
• Michigan Celtic Festival (fka Saline Celtic) – OK so Morris isn’t Celtic, but the Festival is a great event and we’re thrilled to be part of it. Usually the second weekend of July (mi-celtic.org)
• Dancing in the Streets – Currently on hiatus but we hope it comes back! (https://aactmad.org/dancing-in-the-streets)
• Midnight Madness – This Ann Arbor tradition kicks off the holiday season  downtown with roving street performers and shops open late. Always the first Friday in December (mainstreetannarbor.org/midnight-madness)

Here is our performance repertoire:

Bucknell

Hankies

Banks of the Dee
People’s Dance
Oddfellows

Sticks

Donkey Riding
Strike the Hedgehog
Tick-Tock

Misc.

Hick-Stanky (stick plus hanky)
Three Delinquent Youths (jig)

Ascott-under-Wychwood

Hankies

Lollipop Man
All Souls’ Night
Mary’s Dance
The Wall
Death of Nelson

Sticks

Black Joke
Bring Yer Own Straw

Other

Bordering on Twittiocy – Useless Twittington*
Traveling By Steam – Useless Twittington*
Absolutely Fabulous – Useless Twittington* (but mostly Bucknell)
Simon’s Fancy – Bampton
Ockington

* Useless Twittington dances are our own invented dances that don’t follow the dictates of a particular tradition, but incorporate whatever we felt like when composing them

To reach us regarding attending practice, booking requests, or general inquiries, email a2morris@umich.edu.