Welcome!
Mianus River Morris, organized around 1977, was a
mixed Cotswold Morris side (mixed = includes both men and women
dancers) whose stomping (and capering and beetle-crushing)
grounds included the villages of lower Fairfield County,
Connecticut and Westchester County, New York, to the north and
east of New York City. We performed stick, handkerchief and
hand-clapping dances from many village traditions including
Bampton, Adderbury, Bledington, Bucknell and quite a few more.
Our musicians included Leah
Barkan and Paul Kerlee on accordion and other instruments,
with occasional help from Andy Kuntz, Jim Norman, Walter Olson and others.
The last Squires (people who ran the group) were John and Carol Mazza. (See
the member list for previous squires.) Our kit included white
shirts, brown knickers and orange baldrics with shield, and
orange, green and yellow ribbons. We are immortalized somewhere
around page 180 of Martha Stewart's Wedding Book, depicted
dancing at a wedding in Stamford in 1984.
(A litle bit on our roots from Connie
Rockman's history of the Round Hill Contra Dance)
"Under the guidance of teacher Tony Poile, a group of Greenwich
boys formed the Greenwich Guard Rapper Team which perfomed
during the BiCentenniel Celebration in New York in 1976. Not to
be left out, the girls began to learn Morris dances from Tony
during practice sessions, forming a Morris team called the
Burgundy Belles. Gail Beers and Amy Brewer, the two team members
who were still in high school in the fall of 1977, started the
Mianus River Morris Team with Tony Poile’s help that year..."
The team has now been disbanded, having
had our last performance on 5/16/04, but we'd love to hear
from you.
Accomplished children's music teacher Paul
Kerlee, of Mianus River Morris, has published two books "Welcome
in the Spring" and Son of Welcome In The Spring, which are
highly recommended. It has a tape (or 2 CDs) of Morris music
included as well! It can be ordered from the publisher World Music Press
or see CDSS .
Some Morris links
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