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Product Description
In the middle of the 1970s, a storm swept through the world of Morris: women had started to dance what, up to then, had been widely considered to be a men-only tradition. John Cutting had joined Herga Morris in 1972 and was thus a newcomer at the time, and he was both surprised and curious at the strength of the emotions aroused. His long-standing interest in history was triggered and the seeds that grew into this book were planted. What, then, was this Morris tradition? Was it entertainment? Was it some mystical rite? Or was it somewhere halfway between? Where did it come from and how old is it? This book attempts to separate fact from fantasy and to answer some of these questions.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
John Cutting has written a discursive and enlightening history of the Morris from its first definite sightings (1458 is the key date to remember) through to 1850, when documented living memory could be said to have taken over the mantle of preserving the story.
As a dancer and an obvious devotee of the Morris, his approach is that of the expert amateur, gently mocking some of the more obtuse academic analyses while not afraid to defeat some of the more fantastical claims of pre-Christian ritual survival by holding them up to the actual evidence.
He treads much the same path as John Forrest's book of a few years ago, examining the verifiable records and the evidence and attempting to strip away myth and conjecture; but Cutting approaches the material with a much less rigidly academic approach, a practitioner's standpoint verging at times on the self-deprecating (`I, for my part, intend no more than a light skip across the quicksand' he says at one point of particular controversy).
The book examines documents, etymology, pictorial evidence, the links between the Morris and the emerging arts of masques and drama, and many other facets of the story.
This is an entertaining, highly readable, and affectionate addition to the Morris bibliography.
As a dancer and an obvious devotee of the Morris, his approach is that of the expert amateur, gently mocking some of the more obtuse academic analyses while not afraid to defeat some of the more fantastical claims of pre-Christian ritual survival by holding them up to the actual evidence.
He treads much the same path as John Forrest's book of a few years ago, examining the verifiable records and the evidence and attempting to strip away myth and conjecture; but Cutting approaches the material with a much less rigidly academic approach, a practitioner's standpoint verging at times on the self-deprecating (`I, for my part, intend no more than a light skip across the quicksand' he says at one point of particular controversy).
The book examines documents, etymology, pictorial evidence, the links between the Morris and the emerging arts of masques and drama, and many other facets of the story.
This is an entertaining, highly readable, and affectionate addition to the Morris bibliography.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
A 'must'
23 Sep 2006
Is Morris dance heritage mysticism, dance, or entertainment? It's long been shrouded in mystery, and research John Cutting spent some thirty years dancing, teaching and researching the Morris dance from its roots until 1850: HISTORY AND THE MORRIS DANCE: A LOOK AT MORRIS DANCING FROM ITS EARLIEST DAYS UNTIL 1850 follows its evolution and answers many questions. A 'must' for any college-level dance history holding.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
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