Dance - Knots in May

What comes to mind when you think of Morris dancers? Pigs' bladders on sticks? Be-ribboned men with beards clacking sticks and jangling leg bells? With the Knots in May Morris team, you get something different, largely because the members are all women. They seem to have a strong connection with my mum’s home county of Lancashire. The dancers wear outfits similar to the traditional garb of Lancashire Mill workers, with aprons over long dresses. They dance with sticks that would originally have been made from empty cotton bobbins and decorated with bundles of cotton. And their dances, rather than being in the more traditional Cotswold style, are based on those from the North West, including clog dances from Lancashire and shoe dances from Cheshire. I remember seeing them perform at Garland Day a few years ago, and was interested to discover that they were responsible for reviving it as an annual Lewes event. Apparently, the original purpose of the day was to ‘channel into a respectable outlet the activities of urchins’. Perhaps in many ways, it still is. The group have clearly become part of local culture - demonstrated by Harveys’ decision to produce a seasonal brew entitled 'Knots of May Light Mild' in 1995, to celebrate their 21st birthday - though whether the women prefer their beer with a lower alcohol content is unclear. The Knots of May team apparently have ‘a loyal band ready to play in all weathers’, which is fortunate given the biblical quantity of rain we’ve been experiencing. EC