Nancy Butterfly

were formed in 1980. We dance in the North-West Morris tradition. Amongst the many things which distinguish it from the other Morris traditions are the distinctive clogs which can be seen and heard during our performances!

See the original sketch map by Norman Neasom RWS, RBSA, (from which the name 'Nancy Butterfly' was derived - it's on a house towards the left of the drawing.).

We are members of the Morris Federation.

See some videos here.

And photos from previous events here

NANCY BUTTERFLY are helping to keep the North West Tradition alive, there are relatively few sides in the western Midlands who dance in this style, others preferring Border, or Cotswold Morris. Our main preference is to dance at Folk Festivals and with other Morris sides on Days of Dance, events, or at pubs, and inns. We occasionally welcome bookings to dance at other local events, however, due to work commitments we often find it difficult to fulfil requests for daytime bookings (Mon to Fri). Contact us to check our availability at Weekends and evenings.

Please note that due to the nature of our footwear it is necessary to have a hard, non-slip and preferably flat surfaces to dance on! (ie. not grass/gravel etc.)

Thinking of joining us or 'having a go'?

We are always happy to welcome new Dancers and Musicians as members!

Dancers need not be experienced, we will teach you our dances, the main qualification needed is enthusiasm! You will not need to think about kit or subscriptions until we, and you, are sure that you are happy to continue! Just come along to the practices with comfortable clothing and footwear and enjoy the sessions. We can talk about kit etc. later, and how we can help by eg. loaning clogs.

Musicians can be provided with music and join in with our band who have a range of expertise and experience. Please bring your instrument along, we are happy to accommodate most acoustic instruments! You can hear some of our tunes by watching the videos.

We do request, because of some of the venues we visit, that u16's are accompanied by an adult.

And we would be very happy for you to come along with a friend!

Practices from September to April take place on Monday evenings at the Catshill Methodist Church Hall 66 Golden Cross Lane Catshill B61 0LG (map here). They are ongoing, (times and dates HERE)- or contact us for details. You can just turn up at the practice but it is a good idea to check the calendar to see if we are practicing, as, especially during the 'season', we try to arrange 'Dance Outs' with other sides at different venues. If you let us know you are coming it can help us tailor the evening better for you!

 

OUR DANCES
There are several types of Morris Dancing. 'Cotswold' is the tradition that most people will be familiar with, often white shirt and trousers with a distinctive coloured baldrick, using sticks or handkerchiefs. However, there are other traditions such as 'Border', often stick dances, dancers wearing rag jackets, coloured faces, lots of energy and noise! And 'North-West' the tradition we follow. ('Bells' feature in most performances from all types!) Check out also 'Molly' and 'Rapper'.

Our dances derive from the North-West Morris tradition based mainly around industrial Lancashire and Cheshire. Some are traditional, some our own. In those dances which we have developed ourselves, we have maintained the tradition of naming the dances after the places where they were performed. (Many of them now locations for traffic jams on the M6! - Knutsford, Holmes Chapel etc...) So our dance 'Crabb's Cross', for instance originates from an area of Redditch near to where we practiced for many years.

Morris dancers in the North-West often used to (and in some places still do) accompany a 'Rush Cart' to the village church at the annual 'wakes week', processing through the streets. The team danced along and stopped now and then to do a figure. Because of this, the 'chorus' in North-west dances is frequently called 'up streets'. The dances performed tended to follow the same pattern but the figures, arm movements, etc. would vary.

Nancy Butterfly are a 'called' side which means that dancers are expected to perform the movements that the 'caller' shouts. Other sides use either whistles or arm signals for the same purpose. Most of the time it goes to plan!