Troupes of rival of morris dancers will be visiting Fitzrovia to entertain the hordes outside some of the neighbourhood’s overflowing pubs this week.
Westminster Morris Men will be squaring up to the Blackheath Morris Men and Greensleeves Morris Men for a showdown on Wednesday evening.
Morris dancing is a traditional English dance, with different varieties across the country. The Westminster mob perform dances from the Cotswolds region, which crosses Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, and Wiltshire.
Once performed by the men in the villages, the dances were specific to a particular town. As such, the dance traditions are named after the village they come from. Each tradition has distinctive movements and figures, although the overall structure and shape of the dances are very similar.
Cotswold morris is not the only style of dancing referred to as morris dancing — the term is broadly applied also to the North West Clog style dances, the longsword and “rapper” sword dances from the North East, and the rambunctious dances from the Welsh Borders.
On Wednesday 10 May 2017 the dance spots are: 7.45 pm The Green Man, Riding House Street W1W 7EP; 8.30 pm The King and Queen, Foley Street, W1W 6DL; and 9.15 pm The Duke of York, Rathbone Street, W1T 1NQ. Please behave yourselves.